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RUSH HOUR IS OVERRRRR... It's only been 20 minutes since I got on the train from St. Clair West station. The flow of passengers getting on and off stops to get to their destination was crazy fast! I call this the "urban flow" of TTC passengers.

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All aboard the Red Rocket!

Yonge – University - Spadina subway 

The TTC operates as one of North America’s heavily used metropolitan transit systems, all of which millions of people use as their main source of transportation on a daily basis!

I caught the train from St. Clair West subway station to Union station, and back up again. My observations took place during morning and evening rush hour on a Monday. My morning observations began at around 7:30am and my evening observations began at around 5:00pm.

My observations include:

*M = morning rush hour

*N = evening rush hour

-Some passengers were reading while drinking coffee, sleeping, studying notes, leaning forward with head down, standing looking up at ads *M/N

-Environment a lot quieter, everyone looks like they’re still asleep *M

-Some knew what would be the next station so they automatically face the door they know that will open *M/N

-Passengers knew to move out of the way when others exit off the train *M/N

-So many more people entering at interconnected stations (St. George station) *M/N

-Sharing same pole to hold onto, very little room to move – must squeeze through when leaving some say “excuse me” while some push right through not saying a word *M/N

-Made awkward eye contact with women, she didn’t know where to look she looked down to the ground *N

-Got off at Union and went northbound, follow flow of passengers exiting train, I felt out of place as I forgot how to get to the other side, I began to slow down to look for signs yet everyone else was walking fast maneuvering around me *M

-20 minutes later, rush hour is over *M

-Train has more passengers going southbound *M

-People running down escalator to catch the train *M/N

Throughout my fieldwork, various ways of being mobile are performed differently depending on the situation. It seems that depending on the time of day, the flow of passengers perform and interact differently even when using the same mode of transportation. Kidder (2011) uses the term “flow” as a way to describe the ways in which courier cyclists are aware of the routes and environment they are travelling in, they understand the patterns and predictability of everyone around them while maneuvering through traffic. In the case of riding the TTC, it’s become clear that the flow of passengers vary depending on the time of day. For instance, when observing riding the train during morning and evening rush hour, the flow of the passengers are fast-paced and rushed, getting to their destination as quickly as possible. Most passengers know the route they are taking which makes it easier and quicker for them to maneuver through a sea of other passengers. They get up way in advanced before the train even arrives at the next station, they rush single-file out of the bus carrying on with their day. Whereas when observing the TTC in the middle of the day, the flow of passengers are slow-paced and much more relaxed. While observing the streetcar, I felt a lot more at ease, people waited patiently to get on and off the bus. For instance, when the group of St. Michael students got off the bus, which I am assuming they were on their lunch break, they waited until the streetcar came to a complete stop versus the passengers during morning rush hour.  

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The Zoomer Philosopher by (Jt) on Flickr.

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the toronto subway gets really quiet around 1AM on weeknights #ttc

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#ThrowBack

http://toast2dagodz.tumblr.com/

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Riding the 512 Keele Streetcar!

I decided to observe one of Toronto’s classic modes of transportation, the streetcar. I caught the streetcar at the St. Clair West and Bathurst St. intersection and rode it twice on separate days. Both observations began around noon, on a Wednesday and a Thursday.

  Here I observed:

-St. Michael students waiting in multiple groups, they all followed each other towards the back of the streetcar where they carried on their conversations or played on their phones

-all single seats taken, majority of passengers on single seats looking out the window, listening to music, or reading the newspaper

-one guy was standing the whole time near the rear doors until he got off

-two women sitting next to each other – both playing on phones, no one has initiated a conversation, one women on the inside started putting her things away indicating that she was getting off

 There is very little to no social interaction with passengers on the streetcar. Many of the passengers (especially those sitting alone) maintained an expressionless face, looking around at other passengers but avoiding eye contact. Other ways passengers would avoid social interaction with others were those who buried their face into a book, a newspaper, or by playing with their phones, indicating that they do not want to be disturbed. Levine et al., (1973) discuss the notion of civil inattention among subway passengers, where passengers acknowledge each others’ presence, but also withdrawing from one’s attention from the other so as to express that they are not subjected to be the target of socialization. Such expressions previously mentioned (such as reading a book, or listening to music) can be seen as tools to help avoid and let others know “do not disturb!"

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good morning

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The new double carriage buses on the Dufferin line. Super swanky.

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90 Vaughn Road

I rode the bus at around 9:15am, on a Wednesday. I decided to sit at the back of the bus so I can get a clear view to make accurate observations. 

At first, NO ONE WAS ON THE BUS WHEN I GOT ON… You’d think that there would at least be one other passenger besides the bus driver riding the TTC! I’m assuming at this point its because morning rush hour is over, everyone has gotten to where they need to be, either at school or work. One also must take into consideration that the 90 Vaughn bus is a neighborhood bus, in which it doesn’t get as many passengers, let’s say if you were to ride a bus where its route was on a main street (i.e., Yonge Street). After a few bus stops, a handful of passengers got onto the bus.

Here I observed:

-I sat at the back of bus, listening to music and placing my backpack down occupying the seat next to me

-two passengers got on, one elderly women with her grocery trolley and a young man, the man let the elderly women on the bus first and slowly followed behind her

-elderly women sits at the designated “elderly” seating at the front of the bus where she places her trolley in front of her, while the young man sat in a single seat located  in the middle of the bus listening to music

-women gets on bus having to slightly squeeze past the trolley and sit closer to the back of the bus where she only looks up at the ads on the bus sitting with her legs crossed and hands on her lap, at one point she takes out her iPhone and begins to text away

-the elderly women gets off the bus from the front, while everyone else exits the back

-no one was in a rush to leave the bus, passengers rose from seats when bus came to a complete stop and slowly each passenger left one by one

 I found Jensen’s (2010) metaphor of a river highly useful towards the understandings of daily social mobility.  He discusses permanent and temporary “sediments” of the “river” which changes the flow of pedestrian of traffic. This can be applied to passengers’ movement patterns and interactions while riding the TTC. For instance, lets say that the seats are permanent sediments that are part of the bus, when passengers get on they use the bus’ aisle as a guiding force to their seats. The bus’ aisle can be seen as what Jensen terms the ‘riverbed’. The riverbed is what shapes the flow of water; just as the aisle of the bus shapes the flow of passengers moving within a bus. The elderly women with her grocery trolley can be considered a temporary sediment of the bus, in which her trolley was placed within the aisle making passengers getting onto the bus maneuver around the trolley. The elderly lady is an obstacle ("sediment") within the bus up until she gets off the bus. 

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Transit porn for Torontonians.

I’ll be dead before this happens…(I’d LOL, but it’s not funny)

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ttc

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TTC - Toronto

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The Blue Night Network

There’s an overnight service called the Blue Night Network. Buses and streetcars run on most major routes, in which transit stops are marked with a reflective blue band. This service runs every morning from about 1:30 am to 5:00 am. The buses and streetcars seem to run every 30 minutes if not longer! (well depending where you are getting on and the time of course)

I hopped on the 300 Bloor-Danforth blue night bus from the Bloor and Bathurst St. intersection. My observations began at around 2:30 am on a Friday night. I specifically chose this route knowing that it is one of Toronto's busiest streets, and since it was a Friday night, there would be a good population of people to observe. 

To my surprise as I got on the bus, there wasn't many people riding the bus.

-There was an elderly man sitting at the front of the bus, sitting in the middle seat of a three-seater reading the ads on the bus

-There were two middle aged foreign women sitting side by side in the middle section of the bus, having what seemed to look like a pretty serious convo

-There were three young women at the back of the bus and all dolled up talking amongst themselves, while texting and playing on their phones

-I decided to sit in one of the single seats closest to the back of the bus

Every time the announcement for the next stop would come on, I was the only person that would look up to see where we were. A few stops have passed; the announcement for “Brunswick Street” went on, and as we arrived at the stop there was a ginormous crowd at the bus stop. The crowd consisted of drunken college and university students and perhaps some underage high school kids. The stop was located around what is known to be a “student” area, next to a bunch of college pubs. Many of the newest passengers stumbled their way into the bus. This was probably the longest stop I’ve ever endured riding the TTC, especially since I was the only sober student!

 -Groups of students filing one-by-one paying their fair or showing their bus passes

-One girl leading her friends to sit at the back of the bus

-Some ran to the closest seat they saw, one cried out “FINALLY, MY FEET HURT!” as she began to take off her heels

-There was a group of guys (super cute too!) carrying a large box of pizza, and sat at the double-seaters near the rear doors munching away

-All seats occupied on bus, some girls were sitting on their friends’ laps

-Those standing up were holding onto the poles, while others were holding onto others they perhaps knew 

-People getting off bus had to squeeze through passengers, some used hand gestures by tapping people on shoulders, some said “excuse me”, and some pushed right through the crowd

Jenson’s (2010) idea of ‘mobile negotiation techniques’ can be described as mobile individuals assess their current situation amongst other mobile people as a way for them to see a pathway between or around them as a pre-condition to continue on their way. Jensen introduces six mobile negotiations that were observed that can be applied to bus passengers. “Type C” which is known as the classic dance was performed by most passengers. They would meet face to face where both try to give way to the other, but only to have them both doing the same movements and receiving unclear signals blocking each other to move past, what Jensen also calls pedestrian confusion. “Type D” in which he calls Both giving in was performed by passengers, where both passengers give in a little and pass each other by moving a little to the side, this was observed when new passengers were getting onto the bus and others trying to get off the bus, some passengers tried to move a little to the side by squeezing more closely together. “Type E” which is the zigzag turner only occurred when passengers would suddenly realize they were at their stop. For instance, a group sitting at the back of the bus quickly realized that they were at their stop, where they jumped out of their seats and quickly rushed out squeezing through the crowd to get off. These instances illustrates how there are various ways in which passengers interact and negotiate within a mobile space.