January 9, 2008
Aunt Cicely Didn't Do This...People Did!
Discovered going eastbound towards downtown on an old, very packed, and very hot subway car at 8:30 on a Monday morning: an old route map, sans Sheppard line subway stations; and an old ad advising riders against the gravest of transit crimes––leg extension.
In response to a letter from someone pleased that the problem with "feet on seats" has improved, but that the ever-present issue of outstretched limbs remains, the late 1980s ad advises that "stretching your feet out into the aisle or resting them against poles makes life difficult for other passengers." Not only that, "it's also bad (as your Aunt Cicely used to tell you) for your posture. Sit up straight. Please." At the dawn of the 90s, ads like these were a great way for TTC riders to act out passive-aggressiveness, and for the TTC to remind its riders of totally obvious social etiquette.
The map beside the ad can be no more recent than 2002, when the Sheppard Subway opened, and seems to have been crudely added to in 1996, when the Spadina line was extended up to Downsview. Too bad, then, for riders on the car hoping to make their way to Bayview Station, Bessarion Station, Leslie Station, or Don Mills Station. (Though they'll probably find their way a little easier than those hunting for the "Criminology" stop.)
Photos by David Topping. Linked Memorial University ad photo courtesy of Joe Clark.
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I came across the same map or car a few weeks back. The map itself was bolted in place.
I remember those old stretching ads, but I can't remember when I stopped seeing them.
I totally remember these! I also remember ads by the same illustrator with a dude with a giant adidas gym bag about not taking up two seats with your stuff.
Interestingly, I have not seen people put their feet up on the pole in...maybe not since these ads were first out! It shows my age to admit that, eh?
On the tube in London two years ago I saw ads about not putting your feet on the seats that were really cruelly worded and condescending. Wish I could remember exactly what they said...
You gotta love the line drawing. And the shoes? It really captures something.
I noticed last week that the center poles have been removed on many of the older subway cars, effectively solving the problem, at least as depicted in the ad.
I imagine they were removed to make these cars more accessible for those in wheelchairs, since they also lacked the gloriously wide doors found on the newer models. Mind you, it is often difficult to figure out what objectives are behind many of the decisions made on our system.
This change seems to work. Those not tall enough to reach the horizontal bars may not agree though.
I, for one, resent these ads!
Some of us are tall and Lurch-like in our build. we have no choice but to slouch so as not to dent our heads on your Lilliputian doorways. After a hard day of scientific research and/or basketball playing, if the TTC is not crowded, I proudly stretch my Tony Robbins-sized frame across a seat or six. What's the harm in that, I say?!?!
Anyway, Aunt Cicily was a bitch and I never listened to her anyway ....
I actually was thinking how I really miss these ads. Okay, the legs one is a bit of a stretch, but some people really, really need a reminder not to put their bags on seats or not to stand in front of the door if there's room elsewhere on the train.
I know this stuff is supposed to be enforced through 'social pressure' but it's not really effective, and any time I've ever seen anyone call anyone on it, it almost always seems to lead to a heated argument that could lead to violence. Better to just have a sign say this stuff for us I think.
Are there any poles left in any subway cars?
I thought they were removed several years ago as a safety precaution.
Seriously. As patronizing as the ads may have been, I think things have really gone downhill. Remember "Walk left, stand right" on the escalators? What the f*** happened to that?
I get that we Canadians (and, for different, more anti-social reasons, Torontonians) place a premium on our personal space, but during rush hour? With the bags on the seat?
I know it's anything but socially acceptable, but if you really want to end it put up signs that say "Putting your feet on the seat makes you a f***ing dipshit."
So much anger. But here's what happened with the Walk Left, Stand Right signs.
Meh, I prefer the old "feet on the seats" ad to the more recent "clean up after yourself" campaign.
David, you could do an entire entry on proper TTC etiquette! My "fave" people (yes, I'm being sarcastic), are those who:
1.) Sit in two-seater streetcar seats on the aisle, leaving a seat empty next to the window. When you ask them to move over, they look at you like you just insulted their mother, and may or may not move over.
2.) Individuals who think TTC subway seats are their personal sofas, and stretch their legs all the way across the seats, or put their dirty shoes on seats.
3.) Groups of tweenie girls who stand in packs on subway escalators, blocking them (usually during rush hour). Likewise the asshats who stand in subway doorways as people try to get on. I once knocked a business prick over when he refused to move as I was taking my Dad to the hospital. Was I hostile? Yes. Do I regret it? No. The old expression, "You'd make a better door than a window, buddy!" comes to mind.
4.) People on the TTC who feel compelled to sing loudly, mutter profanities, talk to invisible "friends," or talk so loudly on their cellphones that you couldn't hear an elephant fart!
And the worst for last, #5: urine on streetcar seats. Why is it that at least once a month I hear someone of the Queen streetcar swear, get up, and frantically try to brush off wino pee? Maybe I'm not being too "sensitive" here, but the last time I checked, a public TTC seat was not the same as a public toilet.
@Doggiez: Yeah those insane people who sing, mutter, and talk to their invisible friends should just get off the TTC and die right?
Dear Antiboy: Umm, I wrote "People on the TTC who feel compelled to sing loudly, mutter profanities, talk to invisible friends"..." Did I use the word "insane" anywhere, or suggest these people die? Perhaps it's time for you to take your issues elsewhere?
They should make one about pole leaning.
Doggiez: My assumption is that many of those people have serious mental issues. For you to be suggesting that they're not allowed to take the TTC is just wrong.
Antiboy: Time to tighten the straps on your hockey helmet and take the short bus back "home." Your quips are pointless and take up valuable storage space.
They should make one about pole dancing.
People off their meds who yap away to themselves [or, I suppose, to someone else we just can't see] and swear and sing and occasionally intrude on our safe little TTC experience are for sure alarming, scary, unsettling, embarassing, and uncomfortable. They have the right to use the TTC just like blind people with a guide dog or a cerebral palsy sufferer or a person with HIV.
People who talk on cellphones loudly are quite different. Unless they too are off their meds. But usually the mobile argument machines are different contexts and demographics.