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TTC: Other Items (catch all)

Amare said:
oh wait he doesn't really communicate with the public.
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lmao...

You know, the least, the very least TTC could do, is to have the driver relay the announcement to the train. The problem isn't the onboard public com (although there are obvious glitches there too) but in the communications xmssn (ostensibly RF carrier or is it inductive). The driver has constant and legible com with control, surely they can either 'patch it through' in the control cab, or failing that, just repeat the gist of the message.

But no, that's far too obvious...

Addendum: Oh...wait! I'm getting an announcement now...stand by!
Can you hear me now? TTC tackling garbled subway announcements
By BEN SPURRTransportation Reporter
Wed., Jan. 24, 2018

  • immortalized on T-shirts sold at a spoof TTC swag shop.

    But according to the TTC, the common frustration will soon be a thing of the past. As part of a $16.6-million upgrade to radio systems across the transit network, the agency is replacing its 20-year-old analogue subway radio system with a state-of-the art digital one.

    “Customers will hear the difference in the quality,” predicted TTC deputy chief operating officer Jim Ross, who is responsible for subway operations. He acknowledged that garbled subway announcements are “consistently one of the things that gets mentioned in our customer satisfaction surveys.”

    The current system is more complex than most riders likely realize. The voice that passengers hear inside the subway car usually isn’t the driver, but a TTC employee at the agency’s transit control centre, which is at an undisclosed location on the subway network.

    “Because it’s analogue, that’s where you’ll get a lot of the distortion,” said Ross. “There’s lots of limitations that come with it.”

    In addition to poor sound quality, the analogue system only has four channels over which transit control must communicate to passengers, subway crews, and any workers who might be in the tunnel. In the moments after a delay incident, the channels can get tied up quickly as TTC employees scramble to address the problem.

    Ross said that’s why workers making subway announcements can often speak too quickly to be understood.

    “A lot of the time the reason for that is they’re trying to clear that one channel so we can use it for other things,” he said.

    The new radio system, which is called Tetra (short for terrestrial trunked radio), will allow the TTC to operate seven channels underground.

    The TTC has already started to upgrade its surface radio system, and will start work on the subway radio network later this year. The subway upgrade should take one year to complete.

    Adam Cohoon, a member of the accessibility committee for advocacy group TTCriders, said that any change to the current glitchy system would likely be an improvement, “but it’s only half of the job.” He argued that the announcements should also be displayed visually on screens in subway cars.

    “There are a lot of riders that are hard of hearing or deaf … Any messages that are conveyed via audio should be put in a textual message as well,” he said.

    Better radio communication is part of the TTC’s wider goal, outlined in its new five-year corporate plan, to keep customers informed with “real-time information, everywhere.”

    To that end the TTC plans to install digital signage in more locations, and test out “self-serve touchscreens” near station entrances that will include trip planning tools and community information.

    The agency also intends to launch a new information system that will “streamline and standardize” how delays and other disruptions are communicated through audio announcements, text alerts, third-party apps, and platform screens.

    The outdated communication system that relays service information to drivers is also being replaced.

    The TTC board will debate its corporate plan, which sets out the agency’s strategic vision until 2022, at a special meeting Thursday.
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How fffing pathetic...they know about it, and yet refuse to address it. "Public Address" is a complete oxymoron to these morons. The driver has been informed, obviously. Now have him inform the passengers.

Geez...maybe that'll take a committee, an inquiry, an inquest to figure out? Or maybe a Chief Manager who says "feeerrrrrgetit"
 
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Johnny Au said:
Often, the train announcements sound very garbled and spoken too quickly.

It would be great if the announcements were slower and repeated at least twice in succession.
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At least use the displays to show there is an emergency on the train or line, instead of commercials or next station display. Ditto for the displays on the buses (and streetcars) to show problems on the system.
 
Johnny Au said:
Often, the train announcements sound very garbled and spoken too quickly.

It would be great if the announcements were slower and repeated at least twice in succession.
Click to expand...

Often times it sounds like - *buzz...crackle...pop...pop...crackle...delay at....crackle crackle...pop...buzz...pop...beep". Nothing to do with the announcer per se. And it maybe better or worse when the train is at the station with the doors open - you may hear the actual announcement; or you may hear the TTC paternalistic PSAs - which ironically are always at full volume.

steveintoronto said:
lmao...

You know, the least, the very least TTC could do, is to have the driver relay the announcement to the train. The problem isn't the onboard public com (although there are obvious glitches there too) but in the communications xmssn (ostensibly RF carrier or is it inductive). The driver has constant and legible com with control, surely they can either 'patch it through' in the control cab, or failing that, just repeat the gist of the message.
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Some drivers/operators do - but many don't. It's like a big whatever - such as station announcements before the OHRC ruling. Maybe it will take another one to light a fire under their bums?

AoD
 
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TTC's Leslie Barns opens doors for United Way fundraiser

October 23, 2018

This Sat., Oct. 27, the TTC is inviting the public to take a behind the scenes peek at its Leslie Barns facility at an Open House benefitting the United Way.

Guests of all ages can enjoy a variety of activities, including guided tours, a silent auction, food and entertainment, access to the virtual streetcar simulator and streetcar rides as well as a car and motorcycle show.

Date: Sat., Oct. 27, 2018
Time: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Leslie Barns, 1165 Lake Shore Blvd. E.
Admission: Pay what you can - all donations go to the United Way

How to get there: Take Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) to Donlands Station and take the 83 Jones bus southbound to Leslie St. and Lake Shore Blvd. E.; or take the 501 Queen streetcar to Leslie St. and walk south or take the 83 Jones bus southbound at Leslie St.
 
October 23, 2018

Portion of TTC's Line 1 to close this weekend

This weekend, Oct. 27-28, there will be no service on the portion of Line 1 Yonge-University between Lawrence and St Clair stations while Metrolinx crews continue construction of the Eglinton Crosstown LRT.

Shuttle buses will run frequently along Yonge St., stopping at each station along the route. At Lawrence, Eglinton and Davisville stations, customers can get on and off shuttle buses on Yonge St. At St Clair Station, customers board inside the bus bay and exit on St. Clair Ave. E., outside the station. The TTC recommends that customers use the 97 Yonge bus, in addition to the University side of Line 1, as alternatives during the closure.

Wheel-Trans will be available upon request from any station during the weekend. Customers can speak with a TTC staff member for more information about service frequency. As Lawrence Station is not yet accessible, customers travelling southbound should get off at York Mills Station to make an accessible connection.

Current work on the Eglinton Crosstown LRT project includes construction below the existing Eglinton subway station. The Eglinton Crosstown LRT is scheduled to open in 2021.

Line 2 late opening

This Sunday only, Line 2 Bloor-Danforth will open late between St George and Broadview stations while City of Toronto and TTC crews perform subway track work and maintenance on the Prince Edward (Bloor) Viaduct. Shuttle buses will run between these stations. Subway service is scheduled to begin at noon.

Sherbourne and Bay stations will be closed but all other stations will remain open for fare sales and transfers. Shuttle buses will run throughout the morning with customers getting on and off buses outside each station, as follows:

- St George Station - board on Bedford Rd., exit on St. George St.
- Broadview Station - board on Danforth Ave., exit on Broadview Ave.
- All other stations - get on and off on Bloor St.

Wheel-Trans will be available upon request from any station during the weekend. Customers can speak with a TTC staff member for more information about service frequency.

The TTC is committed to keeping customers informed about work and events that impact service and about alternative routes. For the most up-to-date information, follow @TTCNotices on Twitter or sign up for eAlerts.
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Some drivers/operators do - but many don't. It's like a big whatever - such as station announcements before the OHRC ruling. Maybe it will take another one to light a fire under their bums?

AoD
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I thought about my claim again later, and perhaps I wasn't giving the driver the benefit of the doubt as to needing to have unalloyed attention on driving....but then the obvious hit me: Toronto still uses a two-man crew on subway trains. So WTF? Out of the two of them, one doesn't have the job of relaying crucial information to the passengers?

I'm sorry, just what is the guard's job once the doors have closed and the all-clear given?
 
That is a good question. For example over in Japan the guard besides operating the doors will also relay information to the passengers on the train and on the platform if the station in question doesn't have dedicated platform attendants. This includes speaking on the intercom, triggering the departure buzzer/jingle and notifying the driver when it is time to leave (this is why you see trains don't leave instantly after the doors close). On lines which are OPTO the driver pulls double duty.
 
JSF-1 said:
That is a good question. For example over in Japan the guard besides operating the doors will also relay information to the passengers on the train and on the platform if the station in question doesn't have dedicated platform attendants. This includes speaking on the intercom, triggering the departure buzzer/jingle and notifying the driver when it is time to leave (this is why you see trains don't leave instantly after the doors close). On lines which are OPTO the driver pulls double duty.
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Ideally, a properly functioning PA connection to control is a requisite, but at a time when the TTC union is claiming how necessary guards are for safe operation, you'd think they'd take every opportunity to prove that to the public and their employer.

Since they stand there like deadwood between stations, the least they could do is pass on the info they just got themselves from control.
 
steveintoronto said:
I thought about my claim again later, and perhaps I wasn't giving the driver the benefit of the doubt as to needing to have unalloyed attention on driving....but then the obvious hit me: Toronto still uses a two-man crew on subway trains. So WTF? Out of the two of them, one doesn't have the job of relaying crucial information to the passengers?

I'm sorry, just what is the guard's job once the doors have closed and the all-clear given?
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Try to tell the union that the employee has to do more work and be customer centric. STRIKE!!!!
 
muller877 said:
Try to tell the union that the employee has to do more work and be customer centric. STRIKE!!!!
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It's actually in the union's best interest to increase productivity of the second train crew member. I don't put this down to the union though. I put it down to poor management.
 
steveintoronto said:
Ideally, a properly functioning PA connection to control is a requisite, but at a time when the TTC union is claiming how necessary guards are for safe operation, you'd think they'd take every opportunity to prove that to the public and their employer.

Since they stand there like deadwood between stations, the least they could do is pass on the info they just got themselves from control.
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Well TTC will be phasing them out anyways, no?

AoD
 
AlvinofDiaspar said:
Well TTC will be phasing them out anyways, no?

AoD
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Not until next year at the earliest for Lines 1 and 2, by which time ostensibly the PA situation will be fixed. In the interim, a directive can go out to the guards to pass on announcements to the train.

The transit commission plans to convert trains on its busiest subway, Line 1 (Yonge-University-Spadina), by around 2019.
[...]
The TTC eventually plans to convert Line 2 (Bloor-Danforth) to single-person operation, but the T1 trains that run on that line are much older than the Toronto Rocket models operating on Lines 1 and 4. The T1 models will reach the end of their service life within the next 10 years, and Ross said it wouldn’t be cost-effective to retrofit them with OPTO systems now.
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https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/10/02/ttc-forging-ahead-with-one-operator-subway-trains.html
 
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