THE SIGN SAYS "BUSSES ONLY"

Thank you, but I'd rather stand.

Riding on busses nearly everyday gets a bit tedious. The hard, uncomfortable seats seem to mock me as if to say "you can stand...or you can sit on the hardest substance known to mankind that resembles a seat". Or something like that. While making a comfortable seat is beyond the mental capacity of transit designers (these fat cats never ride on the TTC so they don't know), this minor discomfort can be forgiven, since the option to stand is sadly more often the better choice. And standing sucks. Yet still, on a "full" bus, there are more people standing than sitting. Hence the "move back" signs placed at eye level. The older style subways have comfy bench seats which can easily be used on busses instead of the seats currently used. Not only will more people sit and be comfortable, but there will be more standing room too.

Paradoxes confuse me.

If we want to move faster on city streets, we need more congestion. TTC busses always have to stop for cars. This slows down routes often making busses 5 or even 10 minutes late. The old solution was "meh". My solution is to make the far right lane of all streets a "busses only" lane. This will force all the cars into 1 or 2 lanes creating conjestion. This allows a bus to just whizz by, getting people where they need to go faster. The drivers, seeing this shocking display of efficiency, will think about maybe taking transit next time. It's like sitting in a traffic jam on the highway and seeing a car go by in the HOV (or car pool) lane. Now don't get me wrong, this will never happen. There would be the need for more busses to make this lane worthwhile, which at last check cost half a million each. Plus there is already a war with cars and bikers, we don't need one with cars and busses. But it would be nice to cruise past a line of cars and be the first in line to get the newest Apple gadget.

Sorry, the nearest washroom is..

It didn't occur to me at first, but on one long ride on the TTC, I felt the need to look at the subway map. It was an eye opener. Only 18 of the 70 or so stops are accessible to people needing wheelchairs, and that of these 70 stops, only 6 have public washrooms. So if you're on the bloor line and the need of nature hits, you're out of luck. You should have used the washroom before you had to go... Getting back to the accessibility issues with the TTC, there isn't any excuse why there shouldn't be a least one elevator at every subway stop. While the newest sheppard line does have this for the most part, the older lines lack this basic necessity. Putting in these elevators will actually increase TTC ridership, reducing the need for WheelTrans. This will also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. You might say "the WheelTrans operators will lose their jobs". Well I say, train them on a bus. We need them.