TTC - The Better Way?

Remember when people were enthusiastic about taking the TTC? Those were the days...



With the recent fare hike, the TTC has been especially hot topic lately. The issue became highlighted for me when I decided to study PR. I looked into different schools, but every knowledgable person I spoke to told me that Humber College has the best program. But I realized my return to school had one major drawback... I was going to have to take the bus to school.

I had avoided the bus at all costs since I moved to Toronto 8 years ago. I've paid exhorbtant rents to live downtown on the subway line, I quit a job in the east end, and spent far too much money on taxi's. It's not that I'm a snob, I just think it's an enormous waste of my time to add an extra half hour to my commute for what is normally a 5 minute bus ride because the TTC can be unreliable.

I know there are many other people who have the same feelings about public transit in Toronto. I take the TTC to school because I have no other option, and I believe that most people take it for the same reason. You can feel the tension when the subway stops for 10 minutes with no explaination, and the recent fare hike has only made people angrier.

and then, on January 9th, the following photo taken by Jason Wieler with his iPhone went viral...



It was taken at 9:30 pm at McCowan station. Wieler said he watched the ticket operator for five minutes and he didn't move. He posted the picture on TwitPic, Twitter's photo sharing application.

How could the TTC union possibly turn this into anything but a total embarrassment? They have launched an investigation into the case, and the worker could face discipline. Despite the inquiry, the president of the TTC worker's union Bob Kinnear defended the sleeping ticket collector. He said it was "disturbing" that Wieler took the photo rather than checking to see if the collector was ok.

I don't mean to hate-on the TTC entirely though. I generally love the speed that I can get around the city via the subway, and I recognize that working with the public every day is a difficult job. And who could really stay awake if they were faced with this as a daily routine:



The sleeping worker George Robitaille blames health issues and "holds his head high" after 30 years of service. I don't believe that the real issue here is that he was sleeping on the job - how many of us has ever gotten a free ride because the booth was unattended or the driver waived us through? Many including myself have, and they were not sources of complaint. The real issue is the lack of service within the TTC, from train delays and overcrowding, to customer service. The TTC is now forming a blue-ribbon panel to seek advice from the private sector to win the hearts of its customers back. With rider complaints at a record high, it will take some serious relationship management to show the TTC in a favourable light. Damage to a companies image can be done so quickly through social media that PR professionals need to be just as quick and connected to protect it. For further insights
on this Toronto Star's Joe Fiorito has written an article aptly titled "It's easy, isn't it, to point, click and cry 'gotcha'" that is worth a read.

After all, we have all had moments when an inopportune picture or video could have compromised our image. For now we can untag or remove those embarrassing pictures that people post of us on Facebook, but hopefully in the near future all the hard work us Humber PR students are doing will result in some more than decent jobs. We will want to keep those pictures out of sight from our employers, and ideally we won't be doing anything scandellous in the first place. But if a picture of us goes viral, there is little we can do to stop it which raises huge privacy concerns. I'm going to emphasize a young, fun, and professional attitude in my personal brand, and hopefully I never have to hear anyone yell "gotcha".

Updates...

TTC is extending the use of old tickets...is this a PR move or is this just a "token" gesture? I mean who really stockpiled temporary tickets? Check out the article here.

You can also take a look at the TTC's customer service memo.

Lastly, you can look at George Robitaille's apology here...

Now that TTC chair Adam Giambrone is running for Mayor rival Smotherman calls on him to resign.

*NEW* TTC work-to-rule pitch fizzles