Soon you'll be able to charge your phone on the TTC

Few things are more frustrating in 2018 than running out of phone juice while riding public transit (or ever at all, let's be real.)

When your cellphone dies, so does your ability to stream music. To send and receive text messages. To scroll through Instagram or eff with whatever mobile game you play to zone out of the waking hell that is commuting at rush hour.

Fortunately, the people who buy, build and design transit vehicles are well aware of this issue – and they're helping to fix it, bus by bus.

The TTC has confirmed that Toronto will be getting 200 new, clean diesel buses "featuring USB ports for charging smart devices" this year, with deliveries starting in May.

The TTC is promising to do all of these things by September. Fingers crossed. I want it all right now. https://t.co/YVFL6yIE47 pic.twitter.com/DyWNUZ78HL

— Lauren O'Neil (@laurenonizzle) March 12, 2018

These millennial-friendly buses will be equipped with 12 USB chargers each, according to TTC spokesperson Stuart Green.

"It's something that is done in other parts of the world," he said, "and is part of our commitment to modernization."

Currently, passengers can't even plug their bricks into electric outlets on regular transit vehicles (the UP Express is another story. Thanks for the plugs, Metrolinx.)

This would have been the case pretty much everywhere in the world 10 years ago, but buses with features like Wi-Fi and USB ports are becoming more and more common as demand for constant connectivity grows.

I am wondering what it takes to @ttcnotices to get some to #Toronto. New #NYC buses are getting Wi-Fi and USB ports https://t.co/gUdL6jxHAq

— Saulo Avelar (@sauloavelar) March 10, 2016

TTC officials expect to have all of the redesigned, charge capable buses in place between July and September of this year, as indicated in the transit agency's recently-released Customer Charter.

Other exciting promises from the 2018 TTC charter (which features the the new "TTC Way" set of values) include two-hour time-based transfers, solar powered passenger information displays and high-capacity bicycle parking racks at up to 49 stations.

You can find the full charter right here, broken down by what the TTC plans to do for improved customer service each quarter.

"The Customer Charter is the TTC's commitment to you, our customer," reads the intro to the document. "It is designed to track promises and improvements that benefit customers. It also holds TTC's management accountable if promises are not met."