The Better Way Or The Bitter Way

It depends on whether you talk to the user or the TTC media flacks......

The Bitter Way, TTC riders say
Drivers are ill-mannered, surly lot, passengers claim

By MIKE KOREEN, SUN MEDIA

If the TTC really wants to be the better way, its employees might want to enrol in customer service 101.

Never mind the much-discussed funding woes.

More often than not, riders point to poor organization and bad behaviour from employees when asked what they'd like to see change on the TTC.

"The people who take your money are surly and rarely look you in the eye," said Paul Chodirker, an articling student at Heenan Blaikie.

"I feel bad for people who are from out of town because they're going to be in for a rude awakening (when they take the TTC)," he said yesterday.

If that's not bad enough, Chodirker figures travellers might be even more turned off if they have the misfortune of having to visit one of the two token booths at Union Station during rush hour.

"You have to wait in line for 20 minutes before you can even get on the train," he said. "And at the start of the month (when people) are buying Metropasses, it's just ridiculous."

PURE UGLINESS

Speaking of ridiculous, Christina Kim couldn't believe her eyes or ears recently when a dispute broke out between a bus driver and passenger. The passenger pulled a stop cord by mistake and the driver stopped the bus. What followed was pure ugliness.

"(The driver) said, 'If you don't get off, I won't start again,' " said Kim, who works in telecommunications. "(The driver wasn't) even a human being. So many people were upset."

Alex Bartlett also has issues with the drivers.

"I would get them to be more pleasant," the restaurant manager said. "I think it's a great system, but (the drivers) tend to be grumpy and miserable. You can just be nice. It's a service. To improve it, (drivers have to) be more friendly."

Bartlett had his worst experience on the TTC a few years ago with an employee on the Scarborough RT system. He helped break up a fight and the security alarm was pressed. By the time the vehicle was stopped and the employee had arrived on the car, the fight had stopped. He said he had pressed the alarm, even though he did not, leading to a nasty exchange with the employee.

"(The employee) said (the alarm) is for an emergency and I said, 'I think getting the crap kicked out of you' is an emergency,' " Bartlett said. "He said, 'I should charge you for (pressing the alarm). It was pretty amazing."

STATIONS DIRTY

Another relatively simple request from riders involves keeping transit property clean. Accountant Alirio Rengifo, 65, said he is disgusted by the dirtiness of many subway stations.

"I don't have a problem with the service, but people are sleeping in the stations and food is on the floor everywhere," he said.

"We pay a lot of money for (the TTC). It should be cleaner."