I never realised Doug Ford didn’t think women drove. No, seriously. I laboured under the delusion Doug and his brother Mayor Rob were mayors of all citizens of the sprawling mess we lovingly call the GTA, not just the men in their little enclave in the suburbs. It’s difficult to separate the muddled meanderings of the two, and it’s painfully obvious Doug is Mayor part two. I knew from the start neither of them didn’t believe the vast majority of Torontonians were worth a lick of salt, we being dangerous, lefty, elite pinkos and all, but never in my wildest ponderings did I think the Fords were so sexist as to think only men drove cars in this city.

Why else would Doug Ford suggest Hooter’s Tow Truck service? Yes, I know (or hope) he was attempting to be funny, but suggesting a Hooters sponsored tow truck to help with a flat tire, smacks of a juvenile wet dream. Let’s have a woman dressed in short shorts and tank tops pop around with the tow truck driver to serve up an order of wings – nothing like a stereo type to boost the male ego! Or is Mayor Doug expecting the Hooters woman to change the man’s flat tire too? Don’t hand me any crap about “It’ll just be the wings, not the girl” either. If he meant fast food, then why did he specify Hooters – the symbol of corporate objectification of women, rather than an order of wings and fries.

Better yet Doug, will we get Hooters Boys? Can we specify which type of sexism we would like to patronize? Bad enough he and his brother are acting as shills for the corporate world and attempting to gut any program they personally don’t use, now we have to endure inane musings like Hooters service for a flat tire. Nothing like city hall sanctioned sexism to enhance Toronto’s reputation.

Here’s a news flash Mayor Tweedledee, women drive. We also vote.

noun
Canadian political straw man used by politicians and police to justify abuse of power. Empty word to describe anyone they are afraid of. See: citizen
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Want to see one of the G20 “anarchists”? Still unconvinced about the abuse of power that took place here in Toronto last year? Listen to John Pruyn, 57, of Thorold speak at the G20 Redux protest at Queen’s Park one year after the largest mass arrests in Canadian history.

It’s time Canadian politicians, police and hockey commentators of dubious fashion sense are forbidden to use the word anarchist.

Please distribute this widely.

You may have heard that OCAP is having a TTC action (see below). We are looking for help with flyering.

Flyering Times:

1) Outside/Inside Broadview Subway Station:

Tuesday, December 8th: 4:30pm

2) Outside/Inside Dundas West Subway Station:
Wednesday, December 9th: 4:30pm

Also, if you would like to sign up to to do outreach, or organize a separate leafleting time, please email us at the OCAP office at: ocap@tao.ca

Lastly – if you have access to a photocopier let us know.

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Angry about the TTC Fare Hike?

It’s time to make transit affordable!

Public Action Against the Transit Fare Hikes
Saturday, December 12th
1pm
Toronto City Hall (Queen and Bay)

The Toronto Transit Commission is facing a $100-million deficit in its operating budget for next year. On November 17th the Commission ignored community outrage, and instead voted for a TTC fare hike of 25cents/fare and an increase of over 10% per monthly pass. In the new year, they expect us to pay $6 for ONE round trip on transit! Riders already cover more than 80% of TTC operating costs and it is by far the least-funded mass transit system in North America. This increase is outrageous and unacceptable – and we should refuse to pay!

Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot about shortfalls and deficits. We cannot forget where these deficits come from. When the economic
crisis hit, the federal and provincial government quickly found BILLIONS of dollars of public money to bailout banks and corporations.

Now these same governments want us to believe that they can’t find any money to support public transit? As usual, big business gets bailed out, and the people get sold out. Worst of all the bourgeoise socialists affiliated with the NDP on Toronto City Council behind such trying to end the special diet and trying to prevent those eligible for Ontario Works from receiving it.

For poor and working people in this city, especially for families, transit costs are already too high and often unaffordable. This fare hike will hurt the people who are already struggling to make ends meet. The TTC deficit should not be loaded onto the backs of people who need transit.

It should not be paid for by riders and it should not be paid for by the workers who run the buses, subways and streetcars.

Paying more for transit is only one attack on already inadequate public services. Lay-offs and deeper cuts to all essential services like Welfare, Disability, and the Ontario Drug Benefit are coming next if we don’t fight back. Our communities demand affordable transit, real income levels, affordable housing, childcare, and education.

Transit is a necessity and it is a basic right. Not only are we fighting this fare hike, but we are demanding that transit be federally funded and affordable for everyone. If we mobilize, and together refuse to accept this fare hike, we can take back transit.

Come out December 12th

Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP)
ocap@tao.ca / 416-925-6939

http://www.ocap.ca

Now… this doesn’t mean I’ve abandoned my favourite hobby horse – TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) incompetence, tomfoolery and idiocy. The web is thick with stories from very, very unhappy riders. I hope the TTC management and city politicians are taking note of what is being said. We aren’t just unhappy – we are furious about the mismanagement and/or surly service. As I pointed out in an earlier post, there are entire studies devoted to managing crowds in time of crisis – there was not excuse – let me repeat that – NO EXCUSE – for the fiasco that happened when the St. Clair station was shut down.

I applaud the TTC for taking quick action in ensuring the tunnel safety. And to those who have blogged they don’t believe it was an outside contractor – I live on the street where the nightmare on Jackes Ave has been going on for something like 3 years of half assed construction.  Yea.. the TTC was innocent this time.

The problem was not in the tunnel closure, but in how badly it was handled. Oh and to rub salt into the wounds of all of us who were left confused and bewildered while underground – TTC chair Giambrone had the unmitigated nerve to say gee didn’t we handle the crisis well. Hmmm.. well.. to be honest … no. It was a nightmare of miscommunication, misdirection and bad crowd control. I have a hard time believing there are no contingency plans on hand to handle something of this magnitude. Toronto should thank the gods in heaven no one was crushed or trampled. Yea… you handled the problem… but not well.

Paul W. Homer, who writes a blog called Irrational Focus has written on this topic. You think I’m angry? Read his entry on the TTC fare hike and conditions of the TTC and you’ll get an inkling of how angry many TTC’ers are. He has an excellent idea – demand an audit of the entire system to find out where all the money is, why the subways are not being cleaned anymore, bad service and more.

If you’re fed up like me and you want to do something about it, then we have a very simple, tangible and achievable goal. We need to demand an audit. It’s our right. Spread the news, tell your family, friends and co-workers.

Well said Mr. Homer. I agree with you. Let’s find out why there is such bad service, why our stations are becoming increasingly dirty, why TTC operators treat us like we are a massive inconvenience, why there was no coherent plan to handle a fare hike, why TTC operators were invisible during the breakdown, why so many of us were left in the dark, why did so many booth attendants let people enter stations where there was no service.. oh the list is long and getting longer. Let’s throw a very powerful light onto this essential service.

[We] apologize for all the delays. There’s really no way to deal with hundreds of thousands of people converging on one transportation corridor
TTC Chair Adam Giambrone November 19/09

hmmm… the TTC has never dealt with any halts on the system before yesterday? They never had to deal with massive crowds? Service has been perfect up until yesterday? I find this notion rather curious.

Mr. Giambrone might I suggest you give your head a hard shake! Your statement suggests the TTC has NO plans for crowd management. I find this as hard to believe as the one about the contractor who didn’t know there was a great fricken subway tunnel under the road he was cutting. This also suggests you are NOT doing your job in ensuring such plans are up-to-date, and staff know how to use the plans.

The TTC was surprised there were so many people at the Eglinton and Bloor stations during rush hour.  What kind of little ivory tower do you people live in. The platforms see thousands of people pass through them. It doesn’t take a degree in crowd management to spot a potential problem if one of the stations is closed. Hell it happens on a regular basis here in Toronto.

Mr Giambrone let me help you out with a few tips and facts:

The TTC moves approx. 466,700,000 bodies last year. That’s a lot of people using public transit. From your own TTC website, I found the following statistics on the number of people who move in and out of the main subway stations daily:

• Bloor (Yonge-University-Spadina) – 191,800
• Yonge (Bloor-Danforth) – 188,600
• St. George (Bloor-Danforth) – 122,000
• St. George (Yonge-University-Spadina) – 121,100
• Union – 95,300

That’s a whole lot of humanity. If, as you state, there is “no way to deal with hundreds of thousands of people converging on one transportation corridor” then might I suggest the entire TTC management structure resign forthwith because you are endangering our lives.

During the power outage a few years back when the ENTIRE city was blacked out, the TTC did an amazing job marshaling buses and getting us around the city. Sure it was miserable, but we still managed. Oh and there were NO trains or street cars running then.

Subway stations are closed because of accidents on occasion. Sometimes during rush hour. I have seen staff – in what seems to be the distant past – down at platform level ensuring people knew where to go and that there was a problem. This time staff were conspicuous in their absence. I hit 6 subway platforms yesterday (I do a lot of travel on the TTC – it’s my primary mode of transportation in getting to appointments around the city) and did not see a single TTC employee giving instructions on what to do. NOT ONE. No, on the contrary, all we heard were muffled or distorted announcements (only on the trains, not on the platforms and I hit 6 platforms yesterday). The announcements were (as it turned out) telling passengers to avoid the Bloor/Yonge station but nothing about avoiding Eglinton.

Mr Giambrone, this was an emergency situation. Why weren’t TTC employees on platform level telling people about the problem and advising people of alternate routes. Why is every situation dealt with as though it were some state secret? Knowledge is a powerful weapon. Why weren’t we told what the problem was and that it was unknown at that point how long it would take to repair. Leaving us in the dark ensures a couple of things: tempers flare and people become agitated with the growing crowds.

And please don’t hand me anything about that’s what the public address system is about. It is difficult to hear it on a crowded train, half the time it isn’t even used, or the person is so distorted we can’t understand them. Also, the address is for broad announcements. A few staff members at platform level directing us to alternate routes would have moved all of us along much quicker.

You and the TTC staff were shocked at the volume of people getting off at Eglinton? Stop playing silly buggers with the politicians and start travelling to the stations. It is always busy. At rush hour it is a nightmare. WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK WAS GOING TO HAPPEN? Eglinton is a major transfer hub. Of course there is going to be thousands of people there. Ask anyone who rides the TTC and they could have told you this would happen.

Believe it or not there are books out there on crowd management theory. Buy some…or if, as you would have us believe the TTC has no plans to deal with large crowds – hire a firm that deals with crowd flow management. Or better yet, look around your office and see if there is a binder collecting dust that deals with this issue. I’m sure if you looked real hard you will find it.

The primary problem was the TTC treated us like we were unimportant. Staff didn’t help, didn’t care. A few were out there doing there best, desperately trying to control the pushing, angry crowd of people trying to get on the shuttles. I applaud them. They were the inadequate few. The endangered few. The situation could have gotten completely out of control in a snap. It is amazing no one (including the few staff sent out into the nightmare) could have been trampled to death.  There should have been dozens of employees out there on street level directing people as well as on platform level.

I’m fed up with the TTC… I’m going to abdicate my responsibilities as an adult and go draw pictures of birds for the afternoon.

…repairs above a subway tunnel just south of the St. Clair station may have compromised the tunnel’s integrity, according to the Toronto Transit Commission.

A contractor not associated with the transit authority was “cutting about an 18-inch-wide [46-cm-wide] trench — the kind of trench you see for laying cables and whatnot — not realizing that below that roadway was a subway tunnel,” TTC spokesman Brad Ross told CBC News.

The TTC has “real concerns” the weakened portion could collapse into the tunnel, Ross said.

This oops is steps away from where I live. A collapsed tunnel could potentially weaken the apartment building I live in. I realise this is a remote possibility, but the threat is there. This is not a simple “oh dear”. This was a colossal blunder by the contractor who had no business doing a job if he was so ignorant of where he was working.

I refuse to believe he did not know there was a friggin big tunnel under where he was working. It was his job to be aware of what he was doing. How could anyone in this city not be aware of what that big rumbling thing is underground – even above the jackhammers you could still hear the subway rumble away beneath us. Did he think they were rather largish moles?

So how much is the TTC going to raise our fares to cover this little fiasco? How much are we on the hook for? I think we should demand the contractor pay for the entire repair job.