TTC: Top 5 Reasons for Subway Delays

[wyliepoon]

From a current TTC safety brochure to passengers...

www.toronto.ca/ttc/pdf/serious_about_safety.pdf

What do you think? Is this true, or is the TTC just blaming the victims (ie. the passengers) for causing subway delays?

 

[spmarshall]

I think that's bull. With proper headway scheduling, minor annoyances such as blocked doors and held doors should be minimal.

Signal problems and track maintenance/workers on tracks seem to be more common than illnesses or fires.

Seems to be an extension of the TTC's patronizing campaign of stickers on doors and excessively loud announcments in stations.

And if fires are a problem, why did they take the boneheaded move of removing the rubbish containers from track level?

 

[bizorky]

Blocking and holding doors: maybe. I've never seen a track fire (although in some stations I can understand how this would be possible).

Mind the gap injuries: again, I've never seen one. Maybe I should spend more time on the subway late night on Friday and Saturday.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

I don't even believe track level fires are more common than jumpers.

 

[Observer Walt]

I think it's TTC policy not to discuss or acknowledge jumpers. Some people might decide to copycat.

 

[scarberiankhatru]

Oh, drivers will sometimes acknowledge it if it happens during rush hour and the delay is particularly long and they just feel like chatting.

 

[jayomatic]

I was delayed 2 times yesterday for about 5 mins on the yonge line because someone wouldnt stop leaning against the doors.

I also blame some drivers for being too considerate sometimes on streetcars. Been delayed numourous times on the king st west streetcar at St Andrew station because people keep running to try and get on the streetcar. So instead of everyone getting on the 2 cars behind this one, they stuff onto the first one which holds up the whole line.

 

[spmarshall]

I think it's TTC policy not to discuss or acknowledge jumpers. Some people might decide to copycat.

It's true. The information is still readily accessible by other means though. The words "Injury at track level" are still heard.

Now if GO were to publish a brochure like this....

 

[socialwoe]

And if fires are a problem, why did they take the boneheaded move of removing the rubbish containers from track level?

In light of the 2005 attacks on London's metro, the discovery of a Muslim terrorist cell in the GTA and a man who exploded himself in a Tim Hotton's washroom above Bloor-Yonge Stn it would be extremely reckless if the TTC didn't limit the spaces terrorists could hide chemical/biological weaons.

I think it's TTC policy not to discuss or acknowledge jumpers. Some people might decide to copycat.

Trust me this kind of stuff leaks out. Two train delays, one at St. Clair West and the other St. Andrew, in December were known to be caused by jumpers, one of whom was with child !

 

[jmacmillan]

Shortly after sauntering out of Tim Hortons about 9:45 this evening, I noticed a huge crowd on the north east corner of Bloor and Yonge. Sure enough! The subway was not running. TTC=Take The Car

I support the TTC but every time I see or hear the phrase "world-class city" I wince.

 

[cacruden]

Blocking and holding doors: maybe.

There are a few parts to the door problem (theory).

1. Trains are constantly delayed by people not standing in the exit delaying people from exiting, which slows down the people boarding. This reduces the total number of cars / hour -- reducing the capacity -- which then snowballs a little further.

2. The problem is not just the holding of the doors, it is the rushing and squeezing through the door and in a lot of cases -- this may delay the train a little, but also -- if done over and over will eventually damage the censors which then do not work properly -- forcing the operators to open and close the doors several times until the sensors kick in.

 

[unimaginative2]

I've never found people holding the doors to be a big problem in New York. It's an epidemic on the touristy routes in New York. I was on the Grand Central Times Square shuttle and they had to re-open the doors 6 times because some guy from Peoria kept seeing pretty girls rushing down the stairs to catch the train, not realizing that there's another one coming in 90 seconds.

 

[JoeyCuppa]

I'd guess that delays are mainly the cause of signal problems, or in-tunnel things.

The trains always seem to stop between stations for no reason... the driver doesn't let people know why they've stopped - so it's even more frustrating. Sometimes it's because the driver is getting a red light, although you KNOW there isn't a train directly ahead because you waited 10 minutes for one when you boarded... and sometimes they let a train pass them by going in the other direction.

It's pretty dumb to blame customers for delays... if the subway is busy it's obviously going to take more time to load and unload.

Since someone brought up streetcars... it's the drivers that cause bunching up.

I live near the end of the 506 line, near Main Station, and half the mornings I take the streetcar to work I wait 10 minutes (not fun in weather like today) and then 3 streetcars come all at once - you can NOT blame this on automobile traffic (as there is not very much at this time in this part of the city), or on loading times (as hardly anyone is on the streetcars) - it's because all 3 drivers left Main Station all at once... instead of leaving on time, regularly spaced out.

I sound completely bitchy in the above paragraph, but it's crap service like that that makes me happy I bike to work most of the time. I'm never happy giving the TTC money when I see problems like that caused by laziness and the drivers not caring about the people who pay their salaries.

 

[tplannerIII]

It's not the act of door-holding itself that causes delays, it is the breakdowns caused by door-holding that results in the delay. The TTC's list would appear to be correct to me.

 

[Towered]

Oh, drivers will sometimes acknowledge it if it happens during rush hour and the delay is particularly long and they just feel like chatting.

This has actually happened twice while I was on the train in the past few months. The first time the driver announced: "Ladies and gentlemen, there is a delay at Ossington station due to an unauthorized person making contact with the train.", and the second time the driver tersely said: "To the guy playing chicken with the train - THE TRAIN DOESN'T FEEL PAIN." :lol