thanking the driver

(image Kippage.com)

Toronto gets a lot of flack for its commuter infrastructure. The "Ride the Rocket' mantra sounds much better than it is in reality. For those who don't know TO, there are two subway lines, one running East-West along Bloor, and one North-South along Yonge that loops back up at Union station and runs along University. For those who do know Toronto, there are a load of places that people need and want to go that are not on those three streets.

In place of the subway, there are streetcars that run East-West along major roads - King, Queen, Dundas, College, St Clair, etc. The streetcars are quite reliable and give Toronto a certain old-fashioned uniqueness. The connections between subway and streetcar are quite good, and in all the transit runs fairly well.

Dundas Streetcar (image roadstories.ca)

The problem is when you get outside of downtown Toronto and you can simply get nowhere. The Go trains run infrequently and only along the lake (on the West side at least). If you're commuting from the burbs you pretty much need to leave your car in the Go parking lot. It is quite unlike London where most people living in suburbs get home from work by getting on a central train that drops them a ten or fifteen minute walk from home.

Complaints about public transport in Toronto are endless and justified (including the antiquated token system, and the fact that public transport downtown doesn't connect to the airport), but yesterday I saw something great. A guy realized he was going to miss his bus that was hurtling along Christie, and started sprinting to reach the bus stop in time. The bus driver saw the guy chasing him, stopped the bus (didn't even pull over and there was traffic behind him) before the designated stop and let the guy jump on. That might not seem like such a big deal, but that would NEVER happen in London. In London you might be rapping on the door of the bus while it's standing at the stop and the driver won't let you on.

And so, I learned that people thank the driver when they get off the bus not necessarily out of common courtesy, but because they are genuinely thankful.

But yes, nice drivers don't mean everything and Rob Ford continues to kill any plans of improving Toronto's transit system, read about it in Toronto Life's Street Car named Disaster. So, another reason to get Rob Ford out of office, though it's doubtful anyone needed another.