Rocket Talk: Can Sunday Subway Service Start Sooner?
Newsstand: November 19, 2009
Gender Studies Coming to a High School Near You
Please Insert Station and Try Again
The Art of Not Knowing
Have questions about the TTC? Rocket Talk is a regular Torontoist column, featuring TTC Chair Adam Giambrone and Director of Communications Brad Ross's answers to Torontoist readers' questions. Submit your questions to rockettalk@torontoist.com!
Reader Paul Hirst asks:
The subway has significant delays or issues from time to time, whether technical, human, or weather related. I can see the screens or hear the PA while I wait on the platform. But riders already on the trains rarely get announcements about problems on the other line, which makes it frustrating to arrive at Yonge/Bloor or St. George to discover that platforms are packed, trains are turning back a few stations away, or running fifteen minutes apart. Why can't the TTC make effective system-wide announcements so commuters know whether to switch to a bus or streetcar to en route, or continue to another crossover station?
TTC Director of Communications Brad Ross says:
Transit delays—be it subway, bus, or streetcar—are incredibly frustrating for TTC customers. They want to get from A to B in a timely and reliable way. When delays occur, they want the best information available about why, where, and how long. We recognize that. As such, the TTC is embarking on a number of initiatives to better communicate with customers when delays do occur.
In January, the TTC launched the first phase of its e-alert system. When a delay on the subway occurs that requires shuttle buses, the TTC issues an e-alert to those who subscribe to the service, notifying them of the delay. That was our starting point.
This month, the e-alert will enter a new phase. Delays—be it subway, bus, or streetcar—will have more information to help customers make decisions about their travel plans. Does this delay affect me? Should I wait it out, or take an alternate route?
People have told me, not infrequently (and in rather colourful language I might add), that there seem to be a lot more delays these days on the subway. What’s going on, they ask? Actually, delays are not on the rise. I suspect, however, that the introduction of e-alerts has caused many to conclude there is an increase in delays because they’re now reading about them on their BlackBerry or Twitter.
So, how do we help everyone better understand what is happening in the system? Adding the "why" to the e-alert equation will help. What is causing a delay is important for customers to understand. Knowing why you’re delayed—whether on the TTC, the 401, or the gate at Pearson—goes a long way to alleviating the frustration of a delay.
E-alerts for the subway will only be issued when a disruption is expected to be greater than thirty minutes. A fifteen-minute delay, while certainly frustrating, is unlikely to make someone change their travel plans. E-alerts are designed to notify customers of significant problems before embarking on a trip, not to advise people when there’s a minor problem that will clear relatively quickly. Public address announcements deal with those issues, and I’ll elaborate on those in a moment.
The other piece of important information that’s needed, both via e-alerts and through public address announcements, is the anticipated length of a delay. Answering that question is, admittedly, a difficult one, depending on the nature of the problem. But we will have the capability of issuing updated e-alerts if a delay becomes prolonged.
Finally, e-alerts will now be issued when significant surface route diversions occur for whatever reason—fire, accident, or other road closures.
And, yes, all-clear alerts will be issued as soon as a problem has been resolved and regular service has resumed.
The TTC is also working on a means to get better information about delays to our bus and streetcar operators, as well as station collectors, so those employees can help better explain the nature of a problem to passengers and what their alternatives may be regarding subway or surface routes.
As I said, e-alerts are designed to notify people of problems on the system before they embark on their trip. But what about those already in the system, either in a tunnel or waiting on a platform?
When an incident occurs, Transit Control Centre staff focus their energy and expertise on resolving the problem. They are professional, knowledgeable men and women trained to deal with subway crises. In the midst of dealing with a crisis, they have the added responsibility of updating passengers via the PA system about what is going on. Some announcements are excellent, some not so much.
Two corporate communications staff (my colleagues) are now at Transit Control from 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday to Friday. In addition to providing live updates to media during peak periods, they will soon begin communicating system delays to passengers on trains and in stations, leaving the Transit Control Centre staff to do what they do best during a crisis.
This change will ensure consistent messages are communicated across the entire subway system, including suggested alternate routing where appropriate. Communications staff will be responsible for making live announcements using the best microphone technology available. We will closely monitor the quality of the audio and make adjustments where necessary. We’ll also fine-tune the messages themselves to ensure customers have as much information as possible to help ease the frustration of a delay.
Transit delays happen for a host of reasons and happen on every transit system around the world. Our customers are not unreasonable: they understand that. But they rightly expect the TTC to be clearer in its communications during delays—why, where, how long. That’s our expectation, too. Making the TTC experience a better one for everybody is our goal.
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If the TTC offered WiFi and/or cell coverage on platforms and on the trains, the e-lerts might be useful for people who have already paid their fare and are in the system. Right now all they do is tell me when not to take the TTC.
Right now all they do is tell me when not to take the TTC.
You mean the subway...
Frank feedback from the TTC is always appreciated. The more information the better.
A question I'd like an answer to is: When are the new subway cars coming?
The TTC website states "The first trains will start in passenger service in 2009."
See link:
http://www3.ttc.ca/About_the_TTC/Projects_and_initiatives/New_Subway_Train/index.jsp
I talked to a guy at the Doors Open event - he said they were getting cars for testing in September, so they wouldn't enter service until early next year. Subject to further delay of course.
So... not really. For me, 15 minutes is a MAJOR delay since most of the time my travel time on the TTC isn't much more than that (often less).
Can they improve the delay announcements they already have?
The PA systems on trains and in stations are so quiet and lousy that all you ever hear is "Attention passengers on the Bloor/Danforth line... we are currently *mmmph* *mpph *mpph* and trains are *mmph* *mphm *mph*... We apologize for any inconvenience." IF the speakers are working at all.
(But oddly enough, you can always hear their promotional announcements clear as day.)
Maybe they have crappy microphone? Or only hire the mumbly?
Ditto. I have lousy auditory perception and so far, in 4 years of being a regular TTC rider, I've never been able to make out the complete announcement. I strain to hear the second iteration, but then the announcer seems to feel a little foolish repeating it and therefore rushes through it in a parenthetical tone of voice. The automated stop announcements and LED screens were a godsend (seriously, thanks TTC) but I wish delay announcers would make an effort to speak slowly, enunciate, and repeat it three times minimum.
I can't afford a smartphone with a data plan so e-alerts won't help.
Exactly. We use the same speakers, so why the difference? As I state in the column, different employees take on the PA task throughout an emergency. By dedicating this function to communications personnel, and using the best microphones at our disposal, I anticipate a marked improvement on this front.
The promotional announcements are pre-recorded in greater fidelity, whereas the live announcements are made by someone speaking into a PA mic (and perhaps either too close to the mic or too far away from it), which explains the discrepancy in how they sound. I have more of a problem hearing announcements on the subway trains themselves, which are often drowned out by tunnel or passenger noise, and if spoken by an on-board staffer, broadcast from the noisy driver booth.
It seems like they have a one broadcast for stations and another for trains. It's no wonder they have to rush through the delay announcements....
Brad - is it possible to make the text bigger on the next train arrival time / delay screens in the subway? It's pretty much impossible to read from halfway down the platform, and most stations only have one screen.
Let me inquire. That's a good point.
It's up to Brad and Adam if they want to reply to individual questions (or follow-up questions) in the comments, but in the past they haven't—the likeliest way to get your questions answered is to email them to rockettalk@torontoist.com!
I think 'e-alerts' are pretty useless for people actually on the subway. Not everyone has a Blackberry or iPhone (or whatever else lets you check your email) and I don't think it works on the subway or platforms, except where it's outside. Besides, why go through all this email trouble when there's a PA system available?
I think what's key here, and completely understated, is when Mr. Ross writes, "[s]ome announcements are excellent, some not so much." As lunarworks mentioned, many of these are completely garbled, while others are very clear (and, yeah, why are the ads so clear!?). In my experience, service announcements are much better recently. It makes me wonder if it depends on the person actually giving the announcement - and I wonder why a TTC employee can get away with such terrible announcements. I remember not too long ago walking into St. George Station in the middle of some incoherent announcement, and the only thing I could understand was "train." When I asked the person in the booth what was going on, he just told me to listen to the announcement as though I was some idiot and refused to tell me what was going on.
I suppose my question to Mr. Ross would be, Why do some employees in the booths refuse to communicate with TTC customers?
Ross can’t seriously expect us to believe TTC will ever actually improve any “quality of audio” issue, given the mispronunciations heard every day in the stop-announcement system. TTC knows all about it and will, of course, do nothing, because the organization refuses to admit it ever makes a mistake, whether minor (Yarmouth Rd. as “Yarr Mouth Road”) or major (the 501 as a single uninterrupted line from the Beach to Etobicoke).
The same complaint applies to the persistent error messages appearing on next-stop displays – obviously a firmware problem and obviously never, ever to be rectified. The system’s already installed! What more do we want, anyway?
TTC’s entire attitude toward “communications” is as follows: Our attitude from the 1950s has been working just fine for us. Curiously meta, but it’s the truth. No amount of Twits from a single employee solves the problem. TTC is markedly not “better” at “communications”; you’ve just been told that so many times you assume it surely must be true. (There seems to be an overlap between credulous, gullible Twitter apologists and equally credulous and gullible people who believe the TTC is actually improving.)
And indeed, dstopping, why would TTC staff use this venue to actually answer questions? It’s all being handled. Trust them.
Joe - Not sure how you reached the conclusion that our "attitude" towards communications is so poor. I was fairly frank in this column about what needs to be done and what we're doing to get there. I have encountered nothing but willingness and eagerness to improve, amongst both my peers and collegaues here at the TTC.
Brad
you're like the cantankerous grandpa I never had and don't particularly want
He's still grumpy that they removed and destroyed an old sign.
Well hopefully they'll commit this nut job soon.
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-bitterness25-2009may25,0,4544029.story
It's scary that people actually follow/agree with him.
Brad, thanks for the in-station display screens. I'm just curious as to why there are so few of them and why they are primarily devoted to advertising instead of TTC information?
I moved to Toronto only six months ago and was completely surprised not to see arrival times in subway stations. The London Underground has had (a clearly visible from the entire platform) system for next train arrival times for well over a decade.
Thanks
The entire system will be installed with Platform Video Screens by the end of the year. All subway station will have next train arrival information then.
The screens are paid for and supplied by One Stop. In turn, they sell advertising and display news, weather, etc. TTC information is also displayed in the ad space, as well the "ticker" portion. Changes to the ticker are in development with One Stop.
I'm just curious as to why there are so few of them and why they are primarily devoted to advertising instead of TTC information?
Because they're owned and operated by an advertising company; where they go is dependent on whether the company thinks there are enough potential eyeballs for the ads to make them worth installing. Yes, they're supposed to be put in throughout the whole system, and I'm sure they eventually will be, but the stations are prioritized based on the collective buying power of the people who pass through them. This is how we do infrastructure in Toronto.
See "Madness: ONESTOP Beyond" (May 2007) and "Just A Chump To The Left, And Onestop To The Right?" (March 2008).
>but the stations are prioritized based on the collective buying power of the people who pass through them
Do you have any proof of this?
No answer? Surprise surprise.
You really need to chill on defamatory remarks you love to make almost every time you open up your mouth.
It's mis-information and it's resembling stilepost already. The poster asked a question. You didn't need to try to mislead them with words in which you have no proof to back them up. But you did.
Look, it's one thing to humbly speculate on things. You don't.
You simply outright lie and present your lies as though they are factual. This is called defamation/slander.
Do you have any integrity at all? Journalistic or social/human?
I really hope I never read another article by you again that calls people or companies immoral or unethical. You're just as big a piece of s**t as those you complain about.
My question is about medical delays on trains.
I have unfortunately been in a subway station twice when someone regrettably jumped in front of a train during rush hour. Both times, the stations remained open even though the trains were not running. Therefore, people continued to flood into the station, not knowing that the subway was out. Even worse, paramedics had difficulty getting into the station as commuters were trying to get out at the same time. This situation could've been remedied had the station entrances been immediately closed and people inside allowed to leave. Also, streetcar/bus drivers should be made aware of the outage. Many people paid their fare, not knowing the subway was out, and then when they try and use a transfer, the drivers inform them that it isn't valid. Again, had the entrances been closed, this would've been avoided.
Lastly, when the subway is shut down, riders have to take shuttle buses. Often, they aren't familiar with the station area and don't know which direction is north/south. It should be the responsibility of the ticket collectors to immediately put up prepared signs on where to get a shuttle bus and the directions. I say prepared signs because the TTC already has enough hand written scribbled ones everywhere.
Toronto is a large city on the move and most of us don't have 24 hour access to email. I lived in London (England) for 5 years, and whilst I think the underground is amazingly efficient, I don't believe that Toronto can't follow their lead. Get the Toronto Transit website up to a better standard, sort the PA system out so the delayed / cancelled messages are clear to those already stuck in the system with no phone signal, but more importantly educate the transit staff, the current action plans in place when something adhoc occurs are pretty seem somewhat 'loose' (ie.shabby). From my experience with the TTC, during cancellations, people are still flooding into stations with no idea anything is wrong, during delays people are not stopped from entering the platforms, which are already overcrowded, which of course is extremely dangerous. Coordinating the staff with some cardboard signs would do wonderfully ;) (and probably the cheapest way to immediately improve).
Much as hating on the TTC is the unofficial sport of Toronto, let's be honest with ourselves; things have definitely improved.
In the last year or so we've gained video screens that display information when there are major subway delays, announcements that follow a more standardized form and more often intelligible, more frequent announcements during delays, and more recently streetcar re-routes are being displayed on the platform video screens.
To that end, I have to give kudos to Brad Ross because an improvement is an improvement, even if there is some ways to go.
I think the point was missed that there often isn't an annoucement on a train. I was recently sitting on a train southbound at Eglinton and there was an announcement about the delay occurring. There was no audio on the subway, but full audio on the platform. If another passenger had no gone out to catch the announcement we would have been clueless.
I also think it would be help full train staff repeated the information. I know they are receiving the information in their booths because if sit near a booth you can hear the muffled announced through the door.
It would be interesting to see the results of a scientific and independent customer satisfaction survey conducted periodically on key metrics and published prominently in plain English on the TTC site (buried deep in a commission report doesn't count). The survey would identify priorities for the TTC as well as progress over time.
Survey metrics would be supplemented with objective operational metrics (on-time performance, delays, time to clear incidents, as well traditional ridership-type figures) and targets adopted for each metric. These would be verified by a third party.
Then we would really know how the TTC is doing.
It's standard best practice around the world, so why not here?
I'd be interested in status updates that could be seen from before the turnstiles... so you don't get all the way to the platform before finding out the trains aren't running.
nutmegger has two good questions -- one on limiting access to overcrowded stations and subway "bustitution" procedures.
On the first, station access is a longstanding problem at TTC and I don't yet see a game plan for addressing it. Improving info from Transit Control to collector booths may help, but collectors can already see crowd conditions via camera.
What appears lacking is a protocol for closing or limiting access to overcrowded stations in very sudden situations. TTC surely does limit access when it can foresee crowding (see Union station after a concert or other big event). But a rush hour snafu at St. George or Yonge/Bloor? Dangerous crowding can occur quickly, without apparent, consistent intervention from TTC staff. I'd love to hear otherwise...
At transfer stations, I have noticed what appear to be unused electronic/backlit signs above some escalators. Rumour is they are emergency DO NOT USE signs, but never having seen them in action this is unconfirmed.
(As for handwritten signs, I do believe TTC has created some permanent signs that collectors previously had to write up themselves. More work needed, but kudos.)
As for shuttlebus procedures, I have been asking officials if TTC ever looked into designating Emergency Shuttle bus stops at stations. I was told for a recent column http://bit.ly/TTCsign that a pilot project is planned. Subsequently, I learned in a discussion group there may be some genuine obstacles to marking such permanent stops. We shall see...
And agence, don't lose that idea... It seems a totally fair request of TTC, as a public body, to gather and publish empirical data on customer views. I have looked into this but have not followed up.
GO Transit does report on customer satisfaction, (not with "key metrics" I expect) and it remains to be seen how transparent the new GO/Metrolinx amalgamation will be. A good topic for Rocket Talk or the Metro column.