2013-02-25 Mon

The TTC

The TTC has its faults, and most of them are passengers. Stupid ideas about seating is, perhaps, my pet grievance.

In the photo above, take my word for it, the lady, seated, hidden, whose bag is occupying the seat directly across from mine, is putting on make-up.

Peak-hour on the Bloor-Danforth line,

The two young ladies partially blocking the view are too timid enough to speak up and sit down. Instead they will stand and be buffeted by the train motion and passengers moving past, until it is their stop.

I hope you'll forgive me suggesting that you look between the legs of the lady to my left; you can see no feet-of-a-seated-passenger there, can you?

A few stops later, "all change", and a different lady sis; a lady with a large shoulder-bag, which drapes to her right, our left, onto, or at least, above the seat to her right.

The neatly-dressed gentleman standing in front of me won't ask her to swing the bag around to her chest/lap so that he cane sit down. He probably thinks he is being polite, but I think he is being rude to other passengers, by blocking the aisle when there is no need to do so.

The TTC

So I toddled off to Wal-Mart by College streetcar and bought myself a $10 pedometer. (Pedometer: An odometer for the childishly obsessive), strapped it on, and walked back to the College streetcar stop at Dufferin.

Over a dozen people waiting for the eastbound streetcar. Not a good sign, more so because several were stepping out into the street and staring upstream to see where the next streetcar was, or if it was.

Not a soul sitting on the seats provided in the shelter, of course, so I sat myself down, plugged in the podcast, and stared upwards.

There in the shelter is an electric sign that said the "next streetcar is due in 8 and 19 minutes". I think they mean the "next streetcars are due in 8 and 19 minutes", but I quibble.

Dawned on me that the next streetcar stop upstream is a mere 5 minutes walk away, and I'd like to log up a few steps on my new pedometer, so I up and strolled to stand with two (! Other folks for the next streetcar, which came as predicted, and I got a good seat on the south side of the car where I could smile in serene contentment at what would have been my crowd of fellow-boarders all fighting for the right to board the rapidly-filling streetcar.

Sitting on a moving streetcar is better than sitting on a stationary bench.

Sing praises for electric signs and eyes to see with them with, and legs to deal with.