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I'm a driver for TTC and they tell us that all vehicles will be fully equipped with working screens and automatic stop announcements by the end of January 08. 80% are to be completed by the end of this year. It will definately be better for everyone once it's complete, but I agree with earlier comments...that lady's voice is REALLY annoying!
 
eastEnder said:
I'm a driver for TTC and they tell us that all vehicles will be fully equipped with working screens and automatic stop announcements by the end of January 08. 80% are to be completed by the end of this year. It will definately be better for everyone once it's complete, but I agree with earlier comments...that lady's voice is REALLY annoying!
Click to expand...

Hi eastEnder,

What do you drive, busses/subway/streetcars and what routes?

Thanks.
 
taal said:
Hi eastEnder,

What do you drive, busses/subway/streetcars and what routes?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hey taal,

I drive buses out of Malvern. Most of my routes are in Scarborough, east of Yonge and north of Lawrence. Occasionally I will do some west end routes including Corso Italia.

Never a dull moment...
 
eastEnder said:
Hey taal,

I drive buses out of Malvern. Most of my routes are in Scarborough, east of Yonge and north of Lawrence. Occasionally I will do some west end routes including Corso Italia.

Never a dull moment...
Click to expand...

Never a dull moment indeed :),

I have question for you, one you probably get a lot.

How come busses bunch together, I take the 36 (Finch West) but I’ve seen examples of this on all routes, some worse then others. For example, I commonly see two / three busses one after another (in the worst case 4/5), they even leave the station that way, with the last one being completely empty at times. Another example I recall was on Warden North – there were 4 busses between Steeles and Cummer and none between Cummer and Lawerence with huge crowds at most stops. I personally think the TTC offers great service but it would be so much better if busses stuck to their schedules and were relatively spaced apart. I realise some of this is unavoidable, especially with routes that have such a large number of busses on them. But it really bothers me when I see it happening on Sunday when the streets are almost empty, yet instead of waiting 5min we need to wait 10/15 because of bus clustering.

In no way did I mean that in an offensive way. I think TTC bus drivers are great, and I’ve seen some of them have to put up with unbelievably arrogant/stupid passengers. I was just wondering what your take on the situation is.
 
taal said:
Never a dull moment indeed :),

I have question for you, one you probably get a lot.

How come busses bunch together, I take the 36 (Finch West) but I’ve seen examples of this on all routes, some worse then others. For example, I commonly see two / three busses one after another (in the worst case 4/5), they even leave the station that way, with the last one being completely empty at times. Another example I recall was on Warden North – there were 4 busses between Steeles and Cummer and none between Cummer and Lawerence with huge crowds at most stops. I personally think the TTC offers great service but it would be so much better if busses stuck to their schedules and were relatively spaced apart. I realise some of this is unavoidable, especially with routes that have such a large number of busses on them. But it really bothers me when I see it happening on Sunday when the streets are almost empty, yet instead of waiting 5min we need to wait 10/15 because of bus clustering.

In no way did I mean that in an offensive way. I think TTC bus drivers are great, and I’ve seen some of them have to put up with unbelievably arrogant/stupid passengers. I was just wondering what your take on the situation is.
Click to expand...

No offense taken by your question. I agree it's very frustrating. Most times that this happens though, it is in fact unavoidable.

On the Finch routes for example, during peak times, buses are scheduled to arrive every 90 seconds. When you take into account that most traffic signals are timed to change approximately every 60 seconds it really doesn't take much for a backlog to occur. Add to that the passenger loads and the traffic, and before you know it the accumulation of buses has begun. As for leaving the stations all together, getting out on the road is really the only way there's a chance to get back on time. If a bus is leaving empty it usually means the driver is actually supposed to be infront of the pack. Without having to leave with a full passenger load, it allows that bus to pass the others on the road making up time by not having to stop as much during that trip.

As for Sunday service? I don't really have any thoughts on that...you're right, there is no reason for the kind of delays you mentioned.

Hope that sheds a little light.
 
Are the buses bunching all on the same branch of the route? Although the combined frequency of multiple routes should be X minutes, each branch has its own frequency, and as much as they try to plan them to be equally spaced apart, sometimes it is unavoidable that two branches may overlap at some point in the route due to different running times, traffic conditions on other parts of the branches, etc., even on a Sunday.
 
The announcements are working on my route as of today. Unlike the subway announcements, I've got no complaints, I think they are quite useful and nicely simple. I do find the numbered address stops for mid-block stops a bit silly though.
 
No, in that case, it calls out the street that's on the left side of the road, at least the two I know of on my route between my place and the subway. Thank goodness for that.
 
They've had them on the 504's for several weeks.

One streetcar driver kept pre-empting the recorded announcement with his own. I got the distinct impression that he was pissed off that a woman - and a recorded one at that - was subverting his masculine authority.
 
Urban Shocker said:
They've had them on the 504's for several weeks.

One streetcar driver kept pre-empting the recorded announcement with his own. I got the distinct impression that he was pissed off that a woman - and a recorded one at that - was subverting his masculine authority.
Click to expand...

LOL!

If the voice is computerized as they say it is (though it does sound similar to the non-computerized subway announcements voice), then it's worse - a fembot.

The drivers are permitted to turn the audio off if they prefer - I like most streetcar drivers' announcements, except for that one male driver who's often on the Dundas line (I think some people here know which one I talk about) with that real annoying, drawn out, rough voice - "Spaddddiiiinnnnnnaaa, neeeext staaaap Spaddddiiiinnnnnnaaa").\

Hopefully, with some announcements now on the 505, that driver's singing career is over.
 
i usually take the viva from richmond hill to finch, but the other day i missed it and the wait for another one was too long. so i caught the 99 yonge and suprisingly, i noticed that they installed an LED stop annoucement bar on the bus. it was not functional however and just had "not in sevice" written on it. it looked around the same size, including the lettering, as the ones on the viva buses.
 
I took the Islington bus today for the first time in months and much to my surprise the same fembot that we hear on the Yonge subway was calling out EVERY STOP. And seeing how close bus stops are to each other (I swear some can't be more than 50 metres apart) that got real annoying, real fast.
 
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