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Photo of Wellesley station by David Topping from the 69 Stations project.
On Tuesday afternoon rush hour, as I emerged from the stairs linking the southbound subway platform of Wellesley station to its fare and bus area on the street-adjoining ground level. A man with long-ish ponytail walked by, and then another man shuffled up to him. His friend catching up, I supposed. But then the second man took out a wallet-like case and presented a badge. Oh my. Drug dealer? What could he possibly have done? Another plainclothes police officer (or TTC constable – they were, after all not in uniform) ran up and joined them.
I was of course more than a bit curious. But I was also embarrassed for the suddenly-cornered ponytail guy. I caught pieces of the exchange:
"Did you come through that door there?"
"I was just going out for a cigarette!"
Perhaps for enhanced confidentiality, they whisked him into a little room with a door marked "TTC Janitor."
The man had been confused, frustrated, and perhaps a bit frightened. What a nightmarish situation, I thought, being confronted by police (or transit constables) for evidently having accidentally done something that is apparently against some sort of law of which you were unaware. Also that, while minding your own business, the authorities can appear from the shadows and sweep you away to a secret prison.
I paced in front of the closed door imagining what could be going on behind it and hoping that the guy was making out better than Evey in V for Vendetta. It's always awkward and disconcerting to witness an authority's reaction to an infraction that you have yourself not witnessed and which may or may not have taken place.
Through the doors exiting out onto the platform for the westbound Wellesley bus, entered into the station three people, two guys and a girl, probably all in their mid-twenties. In a moment, they too were headed off by a couple of Toronto's/the TTC's finest and spirited away into my imagined Gulag.
While its door was open this time, I made sure to take a peek: the ponytailed man was sitting at a long table in a somewhat sterile chamber of a room, looking expectedly sullen. The first two cops were there as well. It sure didn't look like a janitor's closet. The door again closed.
As I exchanged somewhat-nervous glances with my fellow riders waiting for the bus. One man remarked, "Those're the third ones in three minutes."
"I guess I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt," I stammered, "but maybe what they did was unintentional."
"Oh no, they knew what they were doing. You see, they came right through the doors and were heading straight for the stairs to the subway. And the guy before, he came through those doors..." He indicated the doors to the bus platform that were closest to the street. "It's a $500 fine."
I thought back to a couple of years ago, when my best friend had a Metropass, and I was still using tokens. I convinced her to let me squeeze into the automatic turnstile with her at Bathurst station's unstaffed Markham Street entrance. She swiped her card, and just as we started pushing on the revolving door, it suddenly stiffened, as though a wrench had been wedged into it. "One at a time, please," a voice boomed over a previously-unnoticed loudspeaker. That was the last time I ever thought of defrauding the TTC.
As I boarded the 94 on Tuesday, I found myself admiring the efficiency with which the Commission had been carrying out its sting operation – but that didn't mean I wasn't also, rationally or irrationally, still a bit chilled by it.
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I hear that in the UK, where I'm from, they're putting up CCTV cameras that speak to you from some anonymous control room when you walk on the grass or something. Now that's scary.
BTW, excellent puns in the title of this post. And I'm a connoisseur.
Thanks so much for the compliment on the puns. I consider myself a connoisseur as well; The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are the gold standards to which my puns aspire.
I've heard about those talking cameras in the UK. Those are definitely freaky, but they're not quite here yet. The Toronto Police Service is smart enough to know that surveillance societies must be created gradually:
http://www.torontopolice.on.ca/media/text/20061214-tps_cctv_project.pdf
If you love the puns, please check my friend's site:
www.pungents.com
You too could live the dream of being a punshine girl or boy.
That is an excellent pun. I congratulate you, sir.
I've seen the TTC cops in action a few times, they are like a paramilitary gestapo - I'm not kidding.
They dress all in black and look more like bounty hunters or a SWAT and not the kind of guys that give you directions. These are not Metro cops.
Once I was on a streetcar near Queen and University and I saw some homeless/hippie looking guy kinda walk across the street and he was tackled and pinned to a car by three of these Delta force looking dudes. Just brutal, and like you I wondered what that beardo must've done.
There isn't much info online about the TTC police but there are some youtube videos. (search for "TTC police" )
The only place I've actually seen transit "cops" is at Wellesley station.
About a year ago or so, I swiped my metro pass and was stopped on the other side of the turnstile, where one of the cops asked to examine my pass. I just got it and hadn't even had a chance to put my initials on it (back when it wasn't transferrable...do you still need initials now?), and the cop treated it like it was the crime of the century. He asked to see my ID, and berrated me for not having my initials on the pass, telling me I could be charged, etc. I was incredibly offended by the way I was being treated, and told them so. They treat you as though you're a criminal, even though they're apparently just doing "routine inspection." Give me a break.
I totally understand going after people who have clearly made an offence, but treating innocent riders the way I was treated is deplorable. They really needed an ego check.
I got chewed-out by a bus driver once for writing my Metropass initials in ballpoint pen instead of magic marker. I stood there by the cashbox like an idiot with a WTF face. By the way, he said it had to be black magic marker, not red, not purple -- black. Apparently, this is all common knowledge.
The thing about that Wellsley entrance is that there almost never is an agent in the east booth and the other agent can't see people entering from that busway. The doors are close to the street and open immediately into the subway stairwell, so without anyone watching, it's a big draw for turnstile-skippers.
While enforcement is necessary, one hopes that it is generally done with a light hand.
A few years ago, I was cramming through the NYC subway turnstiles during my morning commute. There's a magnetic card that is swiped, and then the turnstile lets you through, right? So everyone is literally jammed front-to-back, pressing through the turnstiles, and I'm right behind the woman in front of me, and as I get to the swiper, she misses her swipe. But I'm right behind her, and before I register what happened, I've swiped my card. So she pushes through the turnstile - on my swipe. I yell at her. She just leaves and keeps going. Now I can swipe again, which will cost me another fare. Or I can fight through the 50 people pushing me from behind, and try to explain to the token booth clerk. Or I can hop the turnstile. Which is what I do. And instantly, there's a transit cop.
What follows is a long explanation, followed by checking my card at the token booth and finding out that yes, it was just swiped at this station, and me eventually making it to work.
Did I do something wrong? Weelllllllll, yes, you shouldn't hop the turnstiles. But I *had* paid for my ride.
(The great thing is, that at this station almost 100% of the passengers are transferring from another mode of transit - that is, they're all using free transfers, they've all already paid their morning fare. In fact, I had already paid my morning fare at another station. Absolutely no reason for transit cops to be there, not one cent of revenue would be lost if the turnstiles at this station were opened wide, because everyone was transferring, not entering the system for the first time.)
Honestly, I think public transit should be free to the user, 100% subsidized by other taxes. Eliminate the necessity of SWAT-teaming fare-beaters and take more cars off the road, at the same time.
I've seen this happen at Scarborough Center station. There's an abandoned ticket collectors booth where the GO tickets are sold downstairs, and I've seen three or four of the big, dressed-in-black TTC cops take some lads in there (who hadn't done anything wrong as far as I could see). I was pretty freaked out because the windows are all black and they kept peering out the door and milling about - then they all went back inside nothing happened while I was still there waiting for the bus.
If only there was a big sign warning people that entry through that route was illegal, and could result in a $500 fine...oh.....
So what is a fare here a fare there...who cares? Well how about a loss of $2 million a year....if this was a private business things would be a hell of a lot tougher. Try to evade a fare in Singapore and see what happens......you don't want to know!!!
Many years ago (early 90's) when I was one of those teenagers in Scarborough with a puffy jacket, Georgetown Hoyas hat and big headphones I got a lecture from a bus driver that wanted me to take off my hat so he could see that the picture on my student ID was the same as my real face.
I remember being super pissed off at the time but understood why, even though it still seems a bit over the top.
Last night when I exited at Woodbine I noticed that there was a car parked by the bus entrance (parked almost on the sidewalk) and had one of those TTC police officers in it. So I guess it must be a TTC wide enforcement. Now the question.. do you think you could get busted for EXITING or do you think its by Entry only.. the sign does say ILLEGAL ENTRY so maybe not.
"do you think you could get busted for EXITING or do you think its by Entry only"
My guess is that while there are probably no formal rules against exiting that way, the cops would be "enthusiastic" about telling you why exiting through there is wrong.
I agree with most of you, but why harp on the fact that the TTC cops wear black? Almost all cops, 'regular' or 'extra special', wear black now. Hell, T.O. cops stopped wearing blue shirts years ago...
Anyway, don't actual swat-type (ETF in Toronto, TRUs in Peel and York) cops around here wear very dark green or blue?
My understanding is that the Toronto Police Service's black uniforms were introduced by Fantino in mid-2000 with the express purpose of making officers more fearsome and intimidating.
You'd probably get a lecture on safety, if you're particularly unlucky I'm sure there's something in the TTC bylaws about endangering saftey of passengers they could coose to nail you on.
I suspect there's one of those magic rooms at every station, I saw one at another station that doesn't even have a place you can enter illegally unless you jump the turnstile, the sign on the door said "valve room" but there were no valves in there.
I bet Steve Munro and James Bow would know about those "magic rooms." Are either of you reading this?
Other TTC mysteries: What are those crates on the platform of Lawrence station? And what is with the cage at the sound end of the platform at Museum station?
The cage @ Museum is used for storage.