Many years ago, sometime in the early nineties, a friend of mine went to Univerity of Toronto for his undergrad. Upon returning to Montreal for Christmas that first year, he regaled all of us with his stories of the bounty of Toronto. He told us about the clean streets, the friendly people, the prosperous downtown core and the pothole-free roads. The only problem with the place, he said, was the public transit system.

Of course, none of us would believe that Toronto had a crappier transit system than Montreal. For chrissake, everything in Toronto was better than Montreal. Who would believe that Canada's most illustrious and fantasmic city had a crappy transit system? I sure as hell didn't believe it. Even after my first visit to Toronto and where I realized that the streets were not paved with gold, I refused to believe that the TTC sucked. Then I took the TTC. I Rode the Rocket.

My first experience with the TTC was with an ill-fated trip from Union Station (where my train from Montreal had just disembarked) to Downsview Station (my new home, at the end of the west-side of the north-south line). Not only did I originally take the wrong subway (hey, both ways go north from Union Station!), but then I got stuck in a tunnel midway through my journey. I clearly remember that I asked a gentleman in a nice suit standing next to me if the subway often got stuck in tunnels. He abruptly said yes and then turned his back to me. Nice.

Since that time, I've been stuck in the tunnels a few times and have had my subway train "short tripped" or something like that a few times. If you're not familiar with a "short tripped" (or whatever the incomprhensible announcer calls it) subway, it means that instead of the subway you're on going all the way to the end of the line, it stops at an earlier station and everyone who needs to go further has to get off and wait for the next train. Let me tell you that there is nothing more annoying than being "short tripped" three stations away from your destination at midnight and realizing that you're going to miss your once-every-half-hour bus because of it.

But nothing I've endured so far had prepared me for my trip this past Thursday evening. This past Thursday, a subway ride that typically takes 15 minutes took 45 minutes. See, there was a "switching problem" on the other side of the line I was taking. I heard the muffled announcement as I got on the platform. I had to be downtown by 7pm and it was 6:15 and I figured that if there was a really long delay, I might be better off just taking a cab. So I asked the helpful TTC employee how long the delay would be. The helpful TTC guy said, "Don't worry! It's on the other side of the line. You're fine." When I reiterated that I needed to get downtown by 7pm and needed to know what the delay would be, he said again, "Don't worry! It's on the other side of the line. You'll be fine."

Because I'm a Big Giant Gullible Doofus, I believed him. So I waited for the subway. It took forever to come. But once I got into the subway I figured things would go smoothly, so I stopped worrying. That was until we got halfway downtown. Then the subway stopped in the tunnel for fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes! Of course no one made an announcement, so none of the passengers knew what was happening. At least I wasn't on the other side of the the line with the switching problem. A friend of mine was stuck on that side of the line and said that an announcement was made while they were stopped in the tunnel and couldn't get out. The announcement was that the riders would have been better off taking a bus.

Now, I understand that these types of delays are completely unpredictable and there isn't much you can do about them, but would it be too much to ask to inform your riders? These are your customers. They've paid for your service. They've decided to be nice and save the environment and not take a car to wherever they're going. The least you could do is to tell these nice people why they're stopped in a tunnel for fifteen minutes. You could at least tell them what kind of delay to expect so that they can make an informed decision about alternate means of transport. Or maybe your riders would like to know about delays so they can call their employers, family or friends to tell them they'll be late. Is it too much to ask for an announcement or an estimated time of normalcy? They give this information in Montreal (and I should know since I've been stuck in the tunnels in Montreal on many occasions), so it can't possibly be that difficult or costly to implement.

Then the TTC wonders why its ridership keeps going down. Well, duh, if you treat your customers like cattle and give them crappy service, they're not super-likely to use it often. On Thursday night I wondered whether it wouldn't have taken less time and aggravation to just take my car downtown. It's not that I thought I'd be more likely to find parking or that I'd pay less cash, but at least I would know what was going on and I'd feel like I had some sort of control over the situation. If anyone ever again criticizes me for taking my car, I'm going to tell them about this time. I'm not going to emphasize the delay, but the lack of respect for the ridership. I don't like giving my money to big oil companies, but I don't like giving my money to monopolies that know they have a captive audience either.