I was just talking about this with my friend, she stopped taking transit because of how dangerous it has become. The last time she took the subway she witnessed a random assault where someone got punched in the head for no reason.
Lets be clear, this is a serious, awful incident (obviously); its also one of a few of similar scale the last several weeks.
One incident, however infrequent is too many.............
BUT........I ride the TTC, typically , on 2 or 3 days per week, generally 2x each time. In the last 2 years alone that's over 250 days and 500 trips on transit.
How many violent confrontations have I witnessed on TTC? In terms of actual physical contact........zero.
I did witness one altercation between 2 young men who were certainly chirping at one another, on a platform, though in the time I watched them, neither got physical.
Clearly there are many incidents which I did not witness. And in no way am I denying those or the seriousness of several of them.
But I do think we have to be careful not to wildly overreach in taking a few serious criminal incidents, 2 of which (Sherbourne and Yonge/Sheppard) occurred outside the TTC stations in question
and for all we know bear no real linkage to the TTC except proximity.
There is both a real problem, and a perception of a problem and both require some measure of action.
Terrible though this is, I am not really sure what could be done to prevent this kind of thing. Even if there were security guards on every platform, in every vehicle and and in every passageway, someone throwing inflammable liquid on someone (whom they may or may not have known) and lighting it would be almost impossible to prevent. The culprit was, apparently, caught.
I more or less agree with this statement. Though, I would add, as I have above, that perception, and appearing to do something about it does matter, whether or not it would result in a substantively different outcome.
I would also note that one of the serious incidents that has scared people, the 'pushing' incident at Bloor-Yonge could be constructively addressed by Platform Edge Doors, which we should implement for a variety of reasons other than safety as it relates to fortunately rare 'pushing' crimes. Their benefit, in terms of reducing track fires caused by litter, delays by people who jump down to track level to retrieve a dropped item, or their obvious use in preventing suicides all justify their use, with the prevention of this sort of crime as an added benefit.
It depends - we don't know enough about the assailant to know if anything could have been done. Not going to say no until we know more.
Fair.
What the TTC can do is take the general decline in the perception of safety seriously
Yes
- absolutely zero tolerance of bylaw infractions.
No. This will cause blowback with accusation of racism and mistreatment of people and attract negative public perceptions around customer service.
One needs to be selective. Sent out enforcement, behind social workers to address the presence of those who are overtly homeless or suffering addition or mental illness. Try persuasion and offers of help to get people to leave the system; supported, if necessary by some measure of force.
By all means crack down on anything overly criminal, be that violence or threat of same, or vandalism or theft. But open-ended by-law enforcement for say 'loitering' or bags on seats or whatever brings more trouble than is useful; and negative public attention/media focus will make it short lived anyway.
Said it before, will say it again - transit is not a social service, it is a transportation service.
AoD
On this we agree completely. Though we do need to provide that social service for those who need it; and connect people with same proactively wherever possible.