City
Morning Brew: TTC Prints Temporary Tickets, PMO Asks Students to Stop Calling?, Duo go on Wild Crime Spree, Tragedy at Pearson Airport, Blansdowne Garden Park Debate
Photo: "Night Rider" by ~EvidencE~, member of the blogTO Flickr pool.
What's happening in the GTA (and sometimes beyond):
TTC tokens are no longer being sold, instead being replaced by temporary adult tickets. The move comes as response to token hoarding in advance of the fare hike in January, and solves the annoying problem of lineups at collector booths and lost 2010 revenues for the transit commission. It's a great idea, that probably should have been implemented much sooner.
Students at Woodland School in Mississauga arranged a protest that urged fellow schoolmates (who are concerned about our government's environmental and climate change policies) to call the Prime Minister's Office. Before long, staff at the school claim that they received a call from the PMO asking that the phone calls stop. The PMO claims that they need more info from the school to verify that this indeed did happen. If the call did come from the PMO, it would represent an unprecedented error on their part, since muzzling citizens is not acceptable.
Two women went on a Thelma and Louise-esque crime spree west of the city this weekend. They stole prescription drugs, assaulted a person, carjacked a vehicle, and led police on a high-speed chase before being apprehended.
A sad story is coming out of Pearson Airport. A toddler is dead after falling from the second level down to the first. Barriers are in place, but it may be that the child was being held by the mother and was jarred into the fall when a second child ran to and grasped the mother.
And a part of the Bloor and Lansdowne area known for attracting crack smokers, hookers, and large rats is creating quite the fuss. The City has hopes to turn the dead end park area into a community garden, but residents are upset over the apparent lack of community consultation. I'm still left scratching my head though... what exactly is the issue here? Should the park be left as is? Would a garden make the situation worse?
And here's what blogTO was up to this weekend:
- Hamish Grant got a great look at 3,000 years of history at the King Tut exhibit at the AGO.
- Derek filled us in on Circuit Gallery, a web-based project that opens the door for contemporary art at wonderfully low prices.
- Tim chatted with Drake Hotel's Jeff Stober, about all things Toronto.
- Ivy got lip-smackers drooling over the Best Pies in Toronto.
- Matthew reviewed the Rural Alberta Advantage show at Lee's Palace.
Discussion
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This morning at Union Station, THREE guys were watching the south entrance fare box. And by watching I mean talking to each other and paying no attention whatsoever to fare box.
I can't decide if that's better or worse than last week's 300 pound sea lion/beluga who was asleep (and by asleep I mean ZZzzzz asleep) leaning against his chair at the very same location.
How could anyone be upset with paying more and more when we receive such unparalleled value for our dollar?
It's my small way of f'ing them over.
No, wait, that's New York. My mistake.
Whoops -- wrong city.
I'm driving.
The ambulance and rescue trucks came in record time. Within five minutes.
The whole thing was awful. I wish I hadn't been there. The entire event is seared in my mind. RIP little one.
Oh, and it doesn't help whe people like JE (above) don't pay, as a way to "stick it to them." JE, people like you aren't sticking it to the TTC, you're sticking it to the rest of us who have to pick up the slack.
TJ says "suck it up."
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/728401--anger-flares-in-house-over-tory-attack-flyer
"""
OTTAWA–The federal Conservatives are making no apologies for painting the Liberals as anti-Jewish in the newest wave of attacks on their political rivals.
In fact, they carried on the campaign in the Commons on Thursday, even as former justice minister Irwin Cotler, a Montreal MP and human-rights expert, was formally lodging a protest over the Conservatives' bid to portray Liberals as unfriendly to Israel and Jewish voters in Canada.
"""
They mention it's tax-payer funded but nothing more than that.
They accuse the Liberals of attending an anti-Semitic conference however fail to mention the Liberals were there defending Israel (the attended MP was thanked by Israel).
Basic economics also shows that the lower your cost is, the more people will come. I'd be willing to bet that if they DROPPED their fare prices, they'd actually be making MORE than they already are.
Under basic economics and a corporate setting, the TTC might /actually/ be profitable. Shocking, I know.
Let's not talk about basic economics when the subject of the conversation is operating under a union & a complete abusive monopoly. That is NOT basic economics.
As for JE, bravo. No, the rest of you don't need to pick up the slack cuz no one knows he was on there anyways.
What is Harper's phone number? It isn't listed on <a href="http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/contact.asp?featureId=10";>his contact page</a>.
Re: Presto card or other smart card. If only there was a card that could be used to get onto the TTC. Of course there would always have to be an option for cash fare or tokens for the occasional user. Well what do you know, the metropass consists of <a href="http://www3.ttc.ca/News/2009/June/New_look_TTC_passes_designed_to_thwart_counterfeiters.jsp";>40% of fare revenue.</a> So it looks like we already have a card to use the TTC. What does the presto or other card get that a metro pass doesn't?
Light users get to keep a running balance. Meh. Every bus, every street car, every station would have to be networked, online 100% of the time so the smart cards could be debited correctly. I guess the people in charge have analyzed this many many times and found the cost of implementing exceeds its worth.
Lucky you! Here's the link:
http://www3.ttc.ca/Jobs/transit_operator_drivers_recruitment.jsp
If you make it through the training (and about 50% fail) you will start at $21.90 or $45,552 per year (rate after training) then after 2 years you'll make $28.57 or $59,425 per year.
No more complaining about those easy, overpaid transit jobs that you would take in a heartbeat - you can apply and better your life! Just click the link!
Among those:
-Chatting on their cellphone while DRIVING. I see this <b>weekly</b>
-Stopping at inappropriate times for coffee or food
-Rudeness towards riders
-Unsafe and/or agressive driving
-Going out of service at inopportune times (this is a big problem on the route I'm on*)
-<b>Sleeping</b> on the job
-Leaving post to go chat with other employees
Address those issues, and THEN I won't complain about fare increases.
*The route I use has a ttc bus depot adjacent to it. The route itself runs north south from Steeles to the subway station (about a total length of 30 minutes). The depot is only a single kilometre away from the subway station, but time and time again the drivers who are nearing the end of their shift will put the bus out of service at either the adjacent stop, or the closest major road (Eglinton) instead of taking the passengers to the subway station first. If its raining, snowing or if the next bus is 20 minutes behind or there are people on board with mobility problems, they'll still do it.
The other day they put a FULL bus out of service (40-50 people) and assured us that a bus was right behind him. 5 minutes later the next bus comes and is only able to take about half due to the bus already being full. The rest of us had to wait another 20 minutes for the next one. If I would have known, I could have <b>walked</b> to the subway station by that time.
I'm going to start logging it every time this happens (on average about once a week) and file a formal complaint.
"I'm sorry elderly woman with the walker, you'll have to get out and stand in the cold rain because I don't want to take the extra 3 minutes to turn around and come back to the depot"
i'm guessing you've never been to another major city in the world have u?
Actually under the rules of basic economics, demand for the TTC is likely inelastic as a large number of users do not have any viable subistitutes to taking transit. So for the relatively small number of people that will stop taking the TTC as a result of the fare hike, they are bound to make that up from those that continue to pay. Until the cost exceeds buying a car most of the current riders will continue to use the TTC.
They've even recently brought staff in to direct passengers in order to increase potential capacity. Dropping prices and increasing ridership significantly would mean the TTC would have to find ways to increase capacity. That costs money and I'm betting it costs more money per added person than the fare that they pay.
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As much as I'd love to have faith in the ttcridersunion, I am strained to believe this will actually make any difference. How can we productively galvanize?
Here's where you go to file a complaint: http://www3.ttc.ca/Contact_Us/Complaints_Compliments_Suggestions/index.jsp
Even with all the costs associated with having a car, it doesn't stress me out cuz I know it gets me to work/school/malls/etc. in 1/3 the time the TTC would and can carry loads and loads of stuff like groceries/furniture/clothing/electronics/etc. that you can't get away with on the TTC. Oh and the privacy, peace, and solitude I get in my car.