[Admiral Beez]

There can be a throttle. When refugee claimants from Mexico got extremely high, they introduced a visa requirement for some so that people getting on a plane from Mexico to Canada are checked out by the Canadian embassy before they're allowed to do that.

We already do this. Airlines across the globe cannot fly anyone to Canada without proper permission to enter - and they are charged fines by Ottawa for boarding anyone without correct documents. In the 1990s I was an customs agent at Pearson and often experienced refugee claimants who seemingly boarded with proper papers but destroyed them before they got to me. As you suggest, the Visa-exempt list, as shown here can and is adjusted from time to time. We do this now.

As there is no other throttle to reduce migration, we are lucky to have oceans on three sides and a belligerent, anti-migrant America to our south. Otherwise we'd be overrun like when the wight army marched into Westeros. Though we'd best be prepared for a northbound horde of illegals residing in the USA fleeing ICE.

 

[jmi22]

That would explain why I've never seen anything, I most frequently ride the 504, 509, and 510, which are all pretty civilized routes, as far as it goes. The worst thing I've ever seen on one was the rear section of one car smelled like piss.

Ya the issue has always seemed to be worse on the lower ridership, long headway crosstown lines. The 505, 501 and 506 are the worse in my opinion, with the 505 after midnight often being genuinely dangerous if not very uncomfortable. I have to imagine the generally busier, more urbane and higher fare enforced super downtown lines are just naturally less appealing for someone sleeping rough/in a mental health crisis.

 

[evandyk]

Ya the issue has always seemed to be worse on the lower ridership, long headway crosstown lines. The 505, 501 and 506 are the worse in my opinion, with the 505 after midnight often being genuinely dangerous if not very uncomfortable. I have to imagine the generally busier, more urbane and higher fare enforced super downtown lines are just naturally less appealing for someone sleeping rough/in a mental health crisis.

We were about to board a 505 this morning at Broadview, but we were stopped because it was going out of service because it was "unsanitary".

 

[hawc]

My wife just took our 6 year old home on transit. This is what she wrote...

"Subway was fine. Steeetcar is a shit show. Almost naked man being belligerent. Homeless person sleeping across the seats at the back. Many dogs. Guy smoking pot. Not doing this again."

It's nuts that she feels the need to grab an Uber to get to places served by transit. But it's because of stuff like this. And I don't blame her.

 

[Admiral Beez]

My wife just took our 6 year old home on transit. This is what she wrote...

"Subway was fine. Steeetcar is a shit show. Almost naked man being belligerent. Homeless person sleeping across the seats at the back. Many dogs. Guy smoking pot. Not doing this again."

It's nuts that she feels the need to grab an Uber to get to places served by transit. But it's because of stuff like this. And I don't blame her.

It’s the unenforced fare evasion on the streetcars that lead to much of the public nuisance.

 

[T3G]

It’s the unenforced fare evasion on the streetcars that lead to much of the public nuisance.

It's not. If fare evaders were kicked off the streetcars you'd still have an almost naked man being belligerent in the public sphere, which is hardly a superior result.

I saw what looked like human excrement walking down Bay Street in the Financial District a few weeks ago. This problem is so much larger than the TTC.

 

[evandyk]

"Subway was fine. Streetcar is a shit show. Almost naked man being belligerent. Homeless person sleeping across the seats at the back. Many dogs. Guy smoking pot. Not doing this again."

I take my kid on the subway and streetcar every day, sometimes both ways. You see visible signs of poverty and homelessness almost every day, but rarely in any way that's unsafe. And as noted, you have to step over people sleeping on grates at Bay and King, the most "there's big money here" corner in the country.

The 505 does seem to collect quite a collection of people as it passes through Cabbagetown on its way past the Public Guardian and Trustee's office at Yonge.

 

[Admiral Beez]

It's not. If fare evaders were kicked off the streetcars you'd still have an almost naked man being belligerent in the public sphere, which is hardly a superior result.

I saw what looked like human excrement walking down Bay Street in the Financial District a few weeks ago. This problem is so much larger than the TTC.

To clarify, it’s fare evasion that’s causing the great public nuisance on the TTC streetcars. If the city is shite that’s another story.

 

[dob467]

Glad to see so much criticism of knee-jerk, simplistic and mean responses to dealing with the homelessness crisis

Conservative plan to tackle tent cities looks like ‘political theatre,’ experts say

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Wednesday he would give police more power to dismantle tent cities, but critics said his plan signals the Conservatives want to take a punitive approach to homelessness.

www.ctvnews.ca

 

[nightstreak]

My wife just took our 6 year old home on transit. This is what she wrote...

"Subway was fine. Steeetcar is a shit show. Almost naked man being belligerent. Homeless person sleeping across the seats at the back. Many dogs. Guy smoking pot. Not doing this again."

It's nuts that she feels the need to grab an Uber to get to places served by transit. But it's because of stuff like this. And I don't blame her.

A guy came onto the 504, started shouting inches away from people's faces, looking for a reaction/fight. The driver just let it go on. I don't expect them to physically intervene but some drivers would stop and announce on the PA that they're not moving until they got off. Next, someone came on smelling so bad you just couldn't get away from it. Mercifully only rode 2 stops.

What people call a "homeless issue" is a symptom of a much larger issue, mental health, which is itself a symptom of an even larger issue: social inequality and lack of resources to handle it.

But yeah, despite understanding what it is, it doesn't change what people have to endure and like your wife, I'd rather walk next time.

 

[TwinHuey]

My wife just took our 6 year old home on transit. This is what she wrote...

"Subway was fine. Steeetcar is a shit show. Almost naked man being belligerent. Homeless person sleeping across the seats at the back. Many dogs. Guy smoking pot. Not doing this again."

It's nuts that she feels the need to grab an Uber to get to places served by transit. But it's because of stuff like this. And I don't blame her.

We just returned from spending 2 months in Nice, France. We purchased monthly passes and rode the public transit daily. It was a pleasure to ride and we felt safe.

We experienced transit security officers checking passes surprisingly often (at least 4 times in 8 weeks). You get your pass ready to scan as soon as you see the security team board. They work in teams of 4 to 6, boarding the buses and trams by blocking all the exits. Every pass is checked. No exceptions. The process is normally quite fast. The vehicle does not move until this process is complete.

The fine for no pass or failure to tap your pass is €60 payable on the spot. If you do not pay on the spot the fine increases to €100 and you are escorted off the vehicle.

It seems to work well. We never felt intimidated riding transit there.

Tried to take a shot of one of the security team checking passes on our bus without being noticed.

 

[T3G]

The process is normally quite fast.

If only they all could be.

My experiences with them in Bratislava have been fairly negative. There was the odd courteous one, but a lot of them seem to relish the minor bit of authority they've been given to cause inconvenience. On one bus, I had gotten up and made my way to the doors, and then out of the blue a fare inspector materialized. I thought it was going to be a quick process as I handed him my fare card, as all he had to do was swipe it through his machine, but this piece of work waited until everyone else within arm's length of him had ALSO handed over their fare cards, and then he ran them through his machine one by one. He handed it back to me with about 10 seconds left to go. If I had missed my stop and had to double back (Bratislava does not have stops close together like Toronto does), I would have no recourse for the time that I had been forced to waste.

Another time, a tram had pulled into a stop and had idled there for about 15 seconds, when this older looking dude with a backpack started slowly ambling towards the front doors. I thought this was some hapless tourist who got lost - nope! It was another fare inspector! What was stopping him from getting on the tram when the doors opened?! Heaven forbid we want to save some time on our journey. Fare inspectors/conductors on the railway seem to be fairly courteous and respectful, but local transit minions remind me mostly of those cashiers who sought to massage their ego by checking customer receipts, despite explicitly being forbidden to do so by management. The nicest thing that can be said about the experience is that you don't run into them very often.

By all means let's have fare inspectors, but unless they are trained to be courteous to the public, I'm not interested.

 

[gabe]

Has anyone ever seen one of these "outreach workers"? I haven't, and neither has anyone else I've asked.
I once saw what I assume was some kind of TTC security person briefly enter a subway car to tell a guy sleeping across seats to get up or he would "call EMS", though the guy then went right back to sleep.

Yesterday on the subway i saw some outreach workers. This unhoused guy was using the last subway car as his personal condo. He had stuff everywhere, while drinking a bottle of whiskey. The outreach workers were talking to him, he wanted nothing to do with them. He cussed them out and the outreach workers ended up leaving the train with him sill camped out there.

 

[Admiral Beez]

By all means let's have fare inspectors, but unless they are trained to be courteous to the public, I'm not interested.

I don't need courtesy. Ask me in any abrupt manner you'd like if I've paid my fare. If I do not promptly present my Presto Card or other proof of payment you can assume I'm a transit thief and fine, expel or detain me. Transit scofflaws deserve no quarter.

 

[Towered]

So yesterday in the lobby of the office building where I work, some guy casually lit up a crack pipe as I walked past him...