Several weeks
before Tuesday’s partial Yonge subway closure, Stephen Fine of
Richmond Hill wrote about another train stoppage. ”When I got to
Finch and went down to the subway platform, I managed to ask a TTC
employee holding a radio if everything was really back to normal.
‘Are we going to have to take a shuttle bus?’ His answer was ‘No,
everything is back up and running. It just may be a bit slow for a
little while.’ Based on his answer, I boarded the train.
“At York Mills
we sat there for several minutes and then an announcement said that
the train was out of service and that we had to take a shuttle bus
from York Mills to Davisville. When we got upstairs to the bus
platform, there was no TTC official pointing people in the direction
of the shuttle bus. In fact, there were no shuttle buses anywhere.
“Rarely during
these shuttle bus operations is there any presence of TTC staff
helping control the crowd. On this particular day, I did notice that
there were two or three TTC employees in the ticket booth at York
Mills not helping out at all with this situation.
“Is there not a
game plan set up for these situations?”
It takes time
to gather buses when part of the subway closes for an emergency. It
can take 20 to 30 buses to carry the same number of people as one
full train, and those vehicles have to travel several kilometers
from routes where they are also needed.
We riders can
appreciate the complicated logistics involved in setting up these
temporary “shuttle” services. Yet frustration often occurs from
mixed-up or missing information.
Patrons already
in the subway system may hear announcements from the TTC’s transit
control. Although the public address system is regularly checked, it
can be too quiet or garbled.
Upon entering a
station one often has no clue whether the trains are running. For
years, display monitors on subway platforms have had the capability
of showing transit delays, but this hasn’t been happening.
Subway
collectors have to rely on the public address system and phone calls
from TTC dispatchers, and despite improvements in security
protocols they are too much out of the loop. From inside a booth,
collectors can only inform one patron at a time -- that’s not enough
help for hundreds of people looking for a shuttle bus.
Communication
is also tough between bus dispatchers and drivers. Vehicle operators
can receive text or phone information, and supervisors can even
address riders inside individual buses -- but the system cannot pipe
announcements to many buses.
With a dozen
subway closures a month requiring bus shuttles, the TTC puts a lot
of work into the logistics of providing emergency service. The
failing grade comes from communicating with riders. GO Transit has
been forced to closely examine the way it reports delays, and is
providing more details -- such as on the internet and via email.
Even though budgets are tight at the TTC, its patrons alos deserve
to know what’s going on.
London England
has had to spend a lot of money on security and customer
information. For a glimpse of what tube riders experience, visit
‘Realtime travel news’ at
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/realtime/