News

Dozing ticket collectors, disrespectful passengers and, now, sex scandals appear to be derailing public transit in Toronto. But much of the recent turmoil involving the Toronto Transit Commission is a distraction, and it holds a lesson for city dwellers across the country. It's time to bring some civility back to our shared spaces, and for a new emphasis on the "public" part of transit.

Transit users are right to feel underwhelmed. The headline-making behaviour of some TTC employees is not only troublesome, but indicative of wider problems. The agency and its main union have for years failed to recognize the central role of responsive, friendly customer service.

But no group is blameless. Throughout Canada, many riders know how some of their number tarnish public transit; they see these rotten few throw change or jump turnstiles; hear them hurl unprovoked obscenities at drivers; and smell the garbage they have left strewn in their wake.

Toronto being Toronto, this has led to a veritable arms race of offence-taking, fuelled by technology that makes it easy for each side to mock and shame the other.

This is not civility. Potshots traded by users and staff may spur political action, but at the expense of public transit's social contract. Until riders realize that staff deserve to treated as human beings, and until staff awaken to their professional responsibilities, civility will be elusive. And without it, public transit is miserable, quite apart from the very real problems with underfunding, bungled fare hikes and route delays.

Former mayoral candidate Adam Giambrone's controversial personal life could sink his tenure as TTC chair. In any case, those who care about public transit must persist in trying to remake it. Some recent moves, including a review of the TTC's training, dress code and customer service as a whole, were long overdue and can be successful. A new TTC chair, if there is one, will need to send a strong message that better customer service is non-negotiable, but that riders must be part of the solution. The public, in turn, must begin turn some of their legitimate frustrations on elected officials at many levels of government, rather than just taking them out on the nearest maroon-coated employee.

If the aggrieved constituencies offer that kind of commitment, Toronto could become a unlikely national symbol for a new era of civility in public transit.