So apparently last week an MPP tried to create a private bill to make TTC service an essential one. It was squashed by the government (no surprise there).
I imagine this comes down to money…TTC employees have the right to strike, but the government doesn’t allow us to…isn’t that kind of saying “your too essential to strike…the city needs your services” What is your opinion? Would you like to see TTC service become essential and not have to worry about the possibility of a strike?
If you bring an open container of alcohol on the bus…expect to be kicked off.
If you try and roll a joint in the back of the bus…you’re getting the boot.
If you threaten that you’re gonna shoot me…you better run because if I catch you, I’ll rip your tongue out and stick it where the sun don’t shine so when you start talking out your ass again…you’ll be speaking the truth.
~ my short and brief of the events from last nights shift
In light of setting up this blog today, I thought I’d share one of my trips from one end to the other.
It starts off relatively well, picking up a couple of friendly patrons, then the first issue. A young gentleman puts on a show looking for change to pay his fare. He gets on the bus,digs in his pocket,curses as he is looking and dumps about $1.20 in the farebox. I looked at him and he starts chuckling. I asked him if he knew what the proper fare was. He says “Yeah, its $2.50” lol. So I told him it’s $3.00, and he’s still laughing. I asked if he knew how much money he placed in the farebox, he didn’t know. Then I asked him if he would still be laughing if I told him to leave the bus because he couldn’t pay a full fare…again he said no. Long story short, I asked him not to attempt to cheat the system because he is only going to “shoot” himself in the foot, but instead just pay the proper fare and if he can’t do that…ask the driver if its okay if he’s a missing some of the fare. He said I was right and that he was sorry. I smiled and told him he’s extremely lucky that I’m letting this slide…usually people lose their money AND their ride.
About 5 minutes later and several stops, an elderly man boards the bus. I look at this transfer and its invalid. I asked him why he’s using this transfer. He said that he just got on the last bus, came here and got on this one. ROFL! I mentioned that there was no way it took 2 1/2 hours to get here from where he started….25 minutes at the most! He said no way and then ask me what he should do. I chuckled and threw the question right back at him…what do you think you should do? FINE, I’ll pay again (I wanted to tell him that he should’ve paid in the first place, but I didn’t). So being in the good mood that I was, I told him not to worry about it this time and I reminded him of the transfer policies. He said thank you and sat down.
The next stop I had stopped at, 2 young people boarded the bus, one with a metropass and the other was looking in her purse for change. “I know I have a loonie in here somewhere” she said. It was pretty dark where she was looking, so I told her she could sit down and look for it. Well needless to say, she came up to me and said that she was sorry and she wasn’t able to find her loonie and all she had was $2.00. “That’s fine I told her, please put some extra in the next time you get on the bus. She was extremely thankful.
After those 3 “issues” I had 2 more people with bad transfers and let them slide with an explanation. That was all in just one trip.
So the question is…is this typical? Thank god the answer is no. BUT, the 1.5 or 2 % that TTC claims are “fare evaders” is a crock. Unfortunately, us frontliners are as much to blame for those skewed numbers as the people committing the evasion themselves. If we were all uniform and followed ALL of the policies to the letter…the TTC would be a different place all together. On one hand, what I did for that single trip was nice and good customer service, blah,blah,blah 🙂 But on the other hand, I supported fare evasion..which ultimately leads to fare increases…which would you prefer?
Good night Toronto
I plan to bring you all that is TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) from the view point…of a bus driver 🙂
I would encourage everyone to be active and if you have any questions or comments, well, that’s why I’m here!
TTC... My Way :) 