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news

Newsstand: July 12, 2012

Make way for Thursday, the Thuriest of days. In the news: OneCity transit plan dismantled, the TTC releases unsurprising status updates, the TDSB considers GPS in maintenance vans, and some people are just plain mean.

By • Illustration by Brett Lamb

If you hadn’t yet gotten around to the pile on your desk designated for “new new transit plans” and “newer new transit plans,” never fear. City council has lightened your transit homework by basically rejecting most of OneCity. After a long debate, council voted to do a few very measured and council-like things, including designating the east waterfront LRT a priority and a study of transit options for the city. Then Doug Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North) declared his brother, the mayor, back on the transit file. Then the mayor said nothing all day. So for those of you keeping score at home: nothing has changed.

In an effort to be ever more transparent, the TTC is releasing a daily scorecard that documents the reliability of transit services. The scorecard gives us a peek into the inner-workings of what must be complicated metrics put together by smarty-pants engineers. They do hold one important lesson: never trust a bus to be on time. The TTC’s goal for reliability on bus routes is 65 per cent. That’s the goal. That’s them shooting for the stars.

Since news broke that the Toronto District School Board might be overpaying for simple maintenance jobs, the board has been touchy about money. Now a staff report is making an only sort-of-creepy recommendation that all TDSB maintenance and construction trucks have GPS installed. We guess the goal is to creep workers out enough to keep them on target and maintain productivity, which is kind of a weird way to go about that goal. It’s as if these bosses have never heard of positive reinforcement through beer and ice cream sandwiches. As for ending the exclusive deal between the school board and the union of maintenance workers, the TDSB has said, not now.

And some news from the world of jerks. A Sikh elementary school in Brampton was spray-painted with racist comments and symbols. And a memorial set up on the side of the road for a teenager killed in an accident has twice been torn up and removed. Ugh.

Comments

  • Anonymous

    One of the biggest problems with buses (at least for me) is a lack of enforcement from the ttc. It’s fine and dandy to “report” this, but until they crack down on drivers taking elongated breaks at the station (thus making themselves late), its just a dog and pony show.

    • Testu

      This seems like an obvious thing, but it really isn’t that easy. The operators don’t get washroom breaks during their shift. The TTC cannot tell the operators not to use the washroom when in need and they can’t take any disciplinary action against them for it either. Mississauga transit tried that and ended up in the news for it ( http://goo.gl/1c4xQ ). Unfortunately this just adds to the huge number of factors that contribute to bus delays.

      • Anonymous

        Except they sit in the bus or hide behind it to have a cigarette. If they got off to go to washroom, I have no problems with that. Something is fishy about how they act when they roll into the station.

        I sometimes feel (and I’m VERY pro-union) that the TTC union and it’s workers are their own worst enemy.

        • Anonymous

          No, you’re just piling on with the union-busting rhetoric, when it’s pretty clear you have no idea what you’re talking about.

          • Anonymous

            Excuse me? Anyone that knows me, knows how passionate I am about The Rank and File (on this site alone I could easily prove this). So, clearly YOU have no fucking clue what YOU’RE talking about, you fucking piece of shit troll.

            Now, kindly go fuck yourself. You’ve offended me beyond apology or respecting you in any civilized manner.

            “you have no idea what you’re talking about”

            Did I claim to? I shared my experience hoping to find answers. You provided one, but it only showed you have a complete lack of comprehension skills and are trolling like a half-wit.

          • Anonymous

            Well it’s union this and union that, yet you’ve failed to show exactly what the unions’ role (if any) is here. And no, crazy wild guesses and innuendo don’t count.

            What are you talking about?

          • Anonymous

            Sorry bro. It’s only “this” Rank & File, and not “that”.
            Asking a question is hardly innuendo, unless you’re mentally debilitated.

            Democracy, how does it work?

    • Anonymous

      The “elongated breaks” may be part of the union contract and/or transportation safety rules, that a driver is entitled to/must take x-amount of break time during a shift, at x-intervals.

      To a bunch of people waiting for an already-late bus, 15-minutes probably feels like an eternity.

      But me, I’d rather have a driver who is not exhausted and overworked, and arrive at my destination 15-minutes late(r), alive, or not have to get off a bus involved in some fender-bender and wait for another bus, making me another half-hour or more late(r).

      Bunching-up of buses can generally be attributed to traffic variables, not “elongated breaks”. TTC dispatchers could do a far better job of managing the fleet, if they had better tools to work with.

      I guess that would cost money.

      • Anonymous

        I’ve always thought it was a union break thing, but wondered why they don’t swap out drivers. You pull into the station, go take your break while another driver takes your bus, then you take over the next bus to come along when your break is over.

        • Anonymous

          Well clearly they’re understaffed, given all the overtime some are raking in. Tell it to Rob Ford, like he cares.

        • Anonymous

          I did (at first) think that this was the case too. However after almost 3 years on this bus, it occurs at all times of day, no matter when I or anyone else that takes this particular route. So…

          I can’t speak for ALL bus routes (obvs) but some seem to be managed logistically worse than others?

      • Anonymous

        Here’s the thing though. The bunching occurs LEAVING the station. Which (as far as I can see) there is ABSOLUTELY no excuse for. Especially when the first one rolled in 10 minutes prior and was supposed to be there 15 min prior.

        • Anonymous

          How does it work? Buses are already late, so presumably more and more people are waiting at stops all along the route. A bus leaves, and almost immediately it’s filled to capacity. And you want the folks already waiting should wait even longer, so you won’t have to endure the painful spectacle of bunching?

          Good luck with that.

          • Anonymous

            Learn to read, troll.

          • Anonymous

            “how does it work?”

            You’re doing it wrong.

  • CaseyB

    People who live in the hinterlands of TTC service – in my case Scarborough – have long since given up any hope of a bus actually coming on time. Or at all.

    Signed, bitter Lawrence 54 (Orton Park) rider.

    • Anonymous

      Bus service in Scarborough is pretty shabby, and it’s become markedly worse under Rob Ford and the drooling, brain-dead morons bewitched by Mammo’s thumb.

  • Joe

    Get a next vehicle arrival app on your cell or use the stop numbers to find out when the next bus is coming for the stop you want and plan yourself accordingly!

    • Testu

      Yes, that works for everyone that can afford a smartphone and a data plan. A significant number of bus stops don’t have the stop numbers posted, and for those that do you still have to have a cell phone and pay for text messages.

      This is the TTC, a significant number of the people it serves do not have access to these resources. That’s why it’s still important to have posted schedules that occasionally represent when the bus will be there.

      • Anonymous

        Plus, its just the scheduled time the bus will be there (see article)

  • Pete Largo

    There is no need to broadcast your loss to the world by distracting vehicles going 100+ km/hr. Get rid of all roadside shrines.

    • Anonymous

      Makeshift shrines are the least distracting thing one is likely to see at the side of the road.

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