When an Entire Transit Network Disappears
Be it a world map or a tiny local map, I've always been a map guy. I love finding places I've been before, or plotting routes to places I've always wanted to visit or places I've never even heard of. In my short trip to Algonquin last summer with friends, I remember selfishly holding on to the map for the entire three day journey. I just love maps.
And so as I've noticed the faded TTC maps in bus shelters scattered throughout my part of the city (along Roncesvalles and Dundas West), I get a wee bit sad. As much as the promises of of technological improvements like GPS-based vehicle tracking and an online route planner sound great and are much needed, I just hope they aren't at the expense of something as simple as a printed route map that remains legible.
The sun in a powerful thing, and eats away at color pigment printed on paper (in this case the red and yellows, which mark all surface routes and the subway). Presumably the degradation to these route maps happens faster than the busy transit union's maintenance schedule and budget allow for replacement. Of course there may be other more important things for the TTC to worry about and I kind of felt silly mentioning it to them in the customer feedback part of their fancy newish and improved web page.
I guess I just think that if you are providing a map at all, it might as well have all the original information and not remain neglected. If only so I can have something to look at while waiting for the next streetcar.
Photos by Joseph Michael.
Comments (11)
Thanks for the info on TTC web site, even though I've been on the site many times I had no idea it had a customer feedback section.
I seriously doubt that they act on any feedback but at least I can
actually go and vent about the terrible experiences I've had on the
TTC. As to the maps all the TTC would have to do is put UV protective
glass over those maps and they won't fade.
The cynic in me says that timely map replacements and updates are at the expense of brochures to teach you how to use TTC escalators.
The entire infrastructure is a crumbling mess. If you ride the subway north of Yonge and check out the platforms along the outdoor Rosedale->Davisville strip, there are countless eroded portions of the platform being supported by untreated wooden sticks. With TransitCity at the forefront of their plans - and budget, it's unlikely you'll see freshly printed maps anytime soon. The one above is actually much brighter than most I've seen.
@bstewart23: Those brochures are silly but probably nothing more than a disclaimer at this point. Ever notice if you're running down escalator steps and your foot hits the front edge of the step that it seems to buckle it and lift it up slightly? It feels like if I put enough force on it, the step could spin on its axis opening a nice moving deathtrap underneath.
There is a wall mural for a Weston jewelery store that was covered over for many, many years. It was exposed when the building was demolished to make room for a parking lot. Now that we can see it, and while it is facing north, it is starting to fade because it is now exposed to the weather. So in time, it will face the same condition you mention with the TTC map. Too bad.
My father works for an institution which also, coincidentally, has board members called commissioners. One of the things they do is onsite inspections of their facilities, many of which are in pretty remote locations. Maybe the TTC should institute Commissioner Inspections where the Commissioners -all of them- tour the stations at intervals and demand that the Station Maintenance division bring them up to scratch.
Stuff like the pivoting door at Coxwell Station 70 Platform which has been busted for three or four weeks now, which has a handwritten sign directing front passengers to the same door the rear passengers are trying to get through, while directing them away from a perfectly functional door in the middle section between the 70 and 22 platforms.
Maybe it's a prophetic image of what the TTC will look like after another year or two of economic downturn and Harper ;)
I've also seen these sun-chewed, water-wrinkled maps in our new bus/streetcar shelters. Did they not think of making these display boxes water and sun proof???
"...the next time I encounter an operational escalator, I'll test your theory."
Oh they work! They're just being maintained. Forever.
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