If it's so bad, why is it so well used?
Why? have you talked about the TTC with regular commuters? Almost everyone hates the TTC but still have to use it, not because it is efficient and convenient, but because they have no choice. Do you know how much more expensive it is in Toronto to own a car than in say Chicago, Montreal or Los Angeles? People will have to stick with it even if the cars are filled with crap.
Toronto have many nice things, but the TTC is definitely not one of them. It is definitely the WORST public transit I have seen in a major city for the following reasons:
1) the subway lines is only sufficient for a city less than half of its size. What's necessary? look at Chicago. (no, please don't use the "ours are cleaner and more accessible" argument, it is a pathetic defense)
2) its technology is sadly outdated. tokens? paper transfers? scratchable passes? Any city would have a automatic fare system nowadays but we are still talking about it, since 2006, as if it is some sort of cutting edge technology.
3) services are simply horrible. numerous scandals which exist nowhere else thanks to our great union. I don't see anywhere else where ticket collectors with no skills at all make $70K a year yet still have the audacity to strike, do you? They should feel lucky to find a street sweeping job offering 20K a year with no benefits at all (trust me, it would be easy to find people willing to do the job for 20k but sadly they don't get a chance to compete).
4) most expensive in North America, and indeed more expensive than Paris, London, Rome and Berlin. On the ground of what? Even Vancouver allows you to transfer in any direction within 2 hours, which means you have make a return trip with one fare, but TTC won't let you use it if you board on a station 400 meters away. And if you compare the discounts offered to seniors/students, the TTC looks extremely stingy and mean (10% vs 50% off in many other cities)
5) extremely slow planning. The city seems to have no vision about public transit at all. Nothing got build since the pathetic 4 station Sheppard east years ago. planners seem more interesting in bickering about ever changing plans than do anything real.
Yes, it is bad, as if they are stuck in the 1980s for the past 30 years. Systems in many developing countries are far better. I have heard so many visitors burst into laughs when they saw our little cherished subway map and the token vending machines, and I don't blame them, as when it comes to transit, many would imagine Toronto have an actual system, not a yellow-green cross sign. If you have take a subway in Shanghai recently, you would think Toronto is some sort of backward third world city whose citizens have no access to any technology created after 1990.
There is no slightest exaggeration when someone says "Toronto has the worst rapid transit in North America". Please don't compare with cities like LA and Houston, those cities are not exactly built for public transit, and more importantly, it doesn't cost an arm and leg just to own a car over there.
The fact is, as a Toronto resident, I don't know what the city wants us to do - to drive or to take transit. As it is extremely expensive to own and insure a car, but at the same time, the public transit is both bad and expensive. Come on, you either choose to be a NYC/Paris type, or a LA/Houston type, you can't give us neither. Right now, choosing either is bad and expensive.
