Author: Stephanie Gomez

Police have released surveillance camera footage of a suspect who allegedly threw a cup of coffee at the driver of a TTC bus last month.

Police say the suspect boarded the Dufferin North 105 bus at Dufferin Street and Dufferin Hill Drive in Vaughan on the morning of June 8.

As the suspect was boarding the bus, police say the driver recognized him as someone who had been verbally abusive toward him and stolen a transfer slip one month prior.

The driver then told the suspect to leave, however police say he instead walked to the back of the bus.

At that point, the driver refused to leave until the man vacated the bus.

Police allege that the man then walked to the front of the bus and assaulted the driver by emptying a silver thermal travel mug filled with coffee onto the driver. The driver was not injured in the incident, police say.

“It is just completely inexplicable why anyone would do something like that. It is a very, very serious assault on our operator over what amounts to a couple of dollars,” TTC Spokesperson Brad Ross told CP24 on Wednesday. “If they are prepared to do that once than they are prepared to do that twice, so we want to get them off the street.”

The suspect is described as white, about five-foot-ten with a medium build and short dark-coloured hair. He was last seen wearing a black jacket, a blue shirt, dark-coloured pants, white running shoes and sunglasses. He was also seen carrying a black and white patterned bag.

Police say they have “exhausted all leads” and are releasing the surveillance footage in the hopes that someone will recognize the suspect.

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TTC staff have been feeling the heat — literally and figuratively.

As Toronto continues to experience the sweltering days of summer, transit maintenance staff are working feverishly to deal with “hot cars” on Line 2, the Bloor-Danforth subway line.

To get an understanding of what is involved with fixing the air conditioning units and maintaining the 370 older T-1 subway cars used on Line 2 and Line 4 (Sheppard), the Sun toured the TTC’s Greenwood subway yard with acting chief operating officer Mike Palmer and his staff.

Riders have unloaded their frustrations to the TTC on social media about the steaming ride in the up to 25% of Line 2 cars where the A/C isn’t working and staff are sensitive to the concerns.

“We really regret the situation we’re in and we are sorry. A lot of us use B-D everyday and we know what it’s like,” Palmer said. “We are taking the long-term view on this, fixing it and getting it right.”

With 42 six-car trains in service at the peak on Line 2 alone, taking trains out of service isn’t an option for the TTC.

So the TTC’s long-term solution? An accelerated maintenance plan that involves stripping and updating aging vehicle parts and systems.

Palmer said the plan seems to be working as 95% of the cars are now operating without issues.

The components that make up the air conditioning on the fleet (which is roughly 15 to 20 years old) of subway cars are intricate, and the work is intensive.

Underneath every subway car sits a 12-tonne air conditioning unit that blows cold air to the evaporators and fans in the roof of the car.

Crews at Greenwood and Davisville yards do a top-to-bottom check of each car every 33 days, on top of a daily safety check, and if issues are found staff will do an in-depth assessment.

Engineers will diagnose some components electronically, check parts with gauges, drain and perform an acid test on oil, recover Freon, flush the HVAC systems with a special solution and/or replace parts as needed. The whole process can take up to four days for one car.

“I think the guys here do miracles and a lot of them are giving up their weekends to help improve it,” Palmer said.

As trains rush down the tunnels, the vibration, debris and dirt can cause the air conditioning unit condensers to clog and the fins to bend, which can result in reduced efficiency or a shutdown.

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Teenagers and a poorly-introduced Presto plan are to blame for wide spread fare evasion on the TTC, says transit workers’ union president Bob Kinnear.

Since the TTC stopped requiring children 12 and under to pay to ride the transit system in March 2015, there has been a “free-for-all” as drivers lack the ability to require children to produce identification, said Kinnear, head of Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 113.

“Children 12 and under have suddenly tripled in our ridership,” he added. “You’ve got 15-year-old kids that have moustaches and beards saying, ‘I’m 12 years old,’ knowing full well … there’s nothing you can do.”

TTC’s own website even states: “If you are between 13 and 15 years old, you do not need identification to travel.”

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) offers select students with longer travel distances 10 free TTC tickets each week but some don’t even use them.

One 13-year-old, who didn’t want to be named, said his friends never pay to ride the TTC.

“I’ve had a couple of friends who are taller and they’ve stopped them and just said, ‘You’ve got to pay next time.’”

Kinnear, meanwhile, said he believes the Presto card transformation has been “extremely detrimental” to TTC ridership numbers, essentially offering up freebies.

He added that “90% of our system isn’t set up for Presto although we’re recognizing it on 100 per cent of the system.

“I’ve been told for the last couple of months that (TTC operators) are being advised that if anybody has a Presto card, you’re to let them go through if the station or vehicle is not equipped.”

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Every day, I spend nearly four hours on the TTC. I’m from the east end and I work in west end, and travel is about two hours one way. Being underground for such a long time complicates a lot of my everyday functioning. I can’t eat, drink, or nap on the subway without a high level of anxiety. It’s grim and gloomy down there. Sometimes, I feel like I’m being buried alive in a mobile cemetery because I’m exhausted from the confinement.

Public transit has always been a hot topic for debate among politicians, media pundits, advocates, and commuters like me. But left out of most conversations has been the impact the TTC has on the mental health of Torontonians—especially those from low-income neighbourhoods with long commutes.

Long commutes are unfortunately a commonality that many people who live in the suburbs have learned to accept and endure. A poll conducted by Forum Research in 2013 found residents of Scarborough have an average commute length of 49 minutes. By comparison, those who live in the City have an average commute of 39 minutes. Six out of 10 surveyed in this poll of more than 1,500 residents said their quality of life—that is, time spent with family, going to the gym, and relaxing—was reduced as a result of their commute.

Wendy Le, a first-year university student who lives in the western part of North York, has a commute of up to two hours as she often travels downtown and to Scarborough for school. As a result of her commute and school schedule, Wendy doesn’t participate in extracurricular activities.

“The exhaustion I feel after some morning commutes affects me because there are a lot of things to tackle during the day, and that requires energy and concentration…[with my] commute, the quality of [my school work] gets compromised,” she explains.

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Streetcars on St. Clair are being replaced by buses, and a major downtown intersection shuts down to traffic on Monday for TTC work.

Just six years after it opened, the TTC shutdown the 6.6-kilotmetre dedicated stretch of streetcar lanes starting Sunday so that changes can be made to accommodate the TTC’s new streetcars.

The new streetcars are set to roll on St. Clair in 2018, and the retrofit is required for customer safety.

During the closure, streetcars on the 512 route will be replaced by buses until Sept. 4.

The TTC released a video explaining the work being done. Watch it below or click here to view it.

The St. Clair and St Clair West stations also have to be modified.

At St. Clair station, crews will install a new roof and replace the streetcar loading platform, while at St. Clair West station the work includes construction of new elevators and replacing streetcar tracks.

Some of the work won’t be completed until the end of the year, but streetcar tracks between St. Clair West and Gunns Loop should be back in service by Labour Day.

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