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TTC: Other Items (catch all)

DSC said:
Since you are, we hope, recovering from covid, you presumably remember that things around here have not been 'normal' for 2+ years. Organising an event like Doors Open must be a huge job so I think you/we should be happy to see it back - even if smaller than normal. Many City staff are still WFH and /or are on secondment to other areas of the City and many buildings are still not fully opened . (I went to a condo building recently where I not only had to be (well) masked I had to show my passport too. Overly cautious? Maybe but ...)
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Yeah. It's not as robust as other "normal" years, but even just getting events like this back in some form at all is already a win.
 
Gateway newsstands, the provider of most retail in TTC Stations is filing for Creditor Protection owing 20M

www.thestar.com

Gateway Newstands — a mainstay of TTC stations — goes into creditor protection after getting slammed by the pandemic

The Ontario Convenience Store Association said the sector has been losing around six stores a week for the last two years and is now down from about 9,000 locations pre-pandemic to 8,500 today.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

****

I understand how the pandemic has given them a very hard ride; but I have to say they are among the worst convenience operators I've ever encountered, and the right solution here would be to have a professional operator buy them, and their franchisees out.

Some exceptions noted, these units tend to be poorly maintained, have limited selection for the size, be smaller than necessary, have too much otc service vs self-service, and operate poor hours.

They've attracted few loyal customers over the years, as they haven't merited any.
 
Northern Light said:
Gateway newsstands, the provider of most retail in TTC Stations is filing for Creditor Protection owing 20M

www.thestar.com

Gateway Newstands — a mainstay of TTC stations — goes into creditor protection after getting slammed by the pandemic

The Ontario Convenience Store Association said the sector has been losing around six stores a week for the last two years and is now down from about 9,000 locations pre-pandemic to 8,500 today.
www.thestar.com www.thestar.com

****

I understand how the pandemic has given them a very hard ride; but I have to say they are among the worst convenience operators I've ever encountered, and the right solution here would be to have a professional operator buy them, and their franchisees out.

Some exceptions noted, these units tend to be poorly maintained, have limited selection for the size, be smaller than necessary, have too much otc service vs self-service, and operate poor hours.

They've attracted few loyal customers over the years, as they haven't merited any.
Click to expand...

Personally I find them overpriced and of no use. You are right in that they are small, and poorly maintained especially in some of the older subway stations where they not welcoming at all. Other than lottery, I don't see people visit Gateway Newsstands much.

That being said, INS is cornering the market and honestly a much better store. For example, the Gateway Newsstand in Union Subway Station is tiny, and not really selling much of anything. The INS in the York Concourse is a full service convenience store where you can actually browse and see what you are buying.
 
Richard White said:
Personally I find them overpriced and of no use. You are right in that they are small, and poorly maintained especially in some of the older subway stations where they not welcoming at all. Other than lottery, I don't see people visit Gateway Newsstands much.

That being said, INS is cornering the market and honestly a much better store. For example, the Gateway Newsstand in Union Subway Station is tiny, and not really selling much of anything. The INS in the York Concourse is a full service convenience store where you can actually browse and see what you are buying.
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To be fair to Gateway, there are space constraints in many stations; but they could still make better use of what they have, and in some cases, obtain a larger footprint.

Pricing is excessive, but I think, in part that's a strategic failure. The stores simply aren't set up to do volume sales. If you could grab more self-serve product, possibly with a self-checkout as well; or in the alternative,
add vending machines for beverages which could serve customers when the staffed unit is closed, they could easily double and maybe more than quadruple sales volumes, which would allow a somewhat lower price point, and that in turn
would drive more sales.

A big problem here is the decision to go with franchisees as operators who have little flexibility w/the space they've been provided, no incentive to invest their own capital in the premises; and Gateway itself has under-invested.
 
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One could write reams on the ghastlyness of the (new) TTC website - no site map, no site search for example. (The old site looks better and better as time passes!)

It is interesting (if not out of character) that their page on 'transparency' is not (as far as I can see) mentioned anywhere. https://www.ttc.ca/transparency-and-accountability It contains links to the CEOs monthly Reports - of which April 2022 is the most recent. It also links to other 'useful documents' - if it is up to date, it's alarming that most are VERY old!
 
Agenda for the next TTC meeting is up.

Its rather light.

Some ModernTO stuff is worth a look-see.

But for now, from the CEO's Report:

1652380571447.png
 
Northern Light said:
Agenda for the next TTC meeting is up.

Its rather light.

Some ModernTO stuff is worth a look-see.

But for now, from the CEO's Report:

View attachment 399931
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Reliability improvement really means widening headways to increase trip time which leads to longer waits in hopes buses would have enough run times. This leads to more riders waiting at every stop making any delays create bigger ripple effects. In turn they yet again widen the headway to "improve" reliability and the cycle continues.
 
The woman who was pushed onto the tracks at Yonge Station is suing the TTC for $1 million dollars.

While I do think this a cash grab, she does have a point. The TTC knew the mentally ill and homeless were a problem on the system but chose to ignore it. That willfull ignorance led to someone getting pushed onto the tracks.

I'm interested to see where this goes but it may end up bringing changes to the TTC. While not the same this reminds me of the Human Rights complaint that led to announcements, chimes and textured platform edges on the system.

https://www.cp24.com/mobile/news/wo...onge-station-sues-ttc-for-1-million-1.5900821
 
Richard White said:
While I do think this a cash grab, she does have a point. The TTC knew the mentally ill and homeless were a problem on the system but chose to ignore it. That willfull ignorance led to someone getting pushed onto the tracks.
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So the TTC should be checking everyone’s ID to make sure they’re housed and they don’t have a mental disability? Plenty of people who don’t have proper housing or have a mental disability ride transit without incident. Getting randomly pushed on to the tracks is headline-grabbing but very rare.

The issue here is that it took authorities 30 minutes to get to her (according to the article).
 
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marcus_a_j said:
So the TTC should be checking everyone’s ID to make sure they’re housed and they don’t have a mental disability? Plenty of people don’t have proper housing or have a mental disability ride transit without incident. Getting randomly pushed on to the tracks is headline-grabbing but very rare.

The issue here is that it took authorities 30 minutes to get to her (according to the article).
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I'm not saying they should go full Gestapo on everyone but what I am saying is the TTC should have done their due diligence.

The problem of homeless on the system was known for years but the TTC failed to act. Yonge Station had panhandlers for years in the station. It was at one point common to see people begging for money as you came down the escalators.

They would even sit on the platform with signs and a dog. At one point the infamous despesito accordian player was begging in the station regularly claiming he was a "single daddy".

Anyone who has rode the Subway regularly in the past 6 years can admit to having come across homeless either in the stations or on trains.

If proper fare enforcement was done or trespass laws enforced this wouldn't have likely happened.
 
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