Today on the TTC citizens on their way to work were halted in a jammed subway, not knowing what had caused the subway to stop. Apparently the announcer on the subway system could not deliver the message because the audio system was not correctly established. The subway has always had poor speaker systems. There had been a broken rail discovered in King Station during rush hour. This caused cancellation between Bloor and Union Station for an hour and a half. TTC spokesperson Jessica Martin said "When a delay happens, we’re focused on safety, making sure trains get turned around. So communicating is kind of secondary.” She said that the broadcasts come from transit control, so they pick up noise. There are e-mails and Twitter alerts that will be sent to say what has happened; impossible in underground Subway. Martin says there should be screens in front of ticket booths to say if there are alerts about the station, but it is too costly. Another costly system is to have Wi-Fi or cellular connections in the subway. There is two big problems and one can be solved with a median level of difficulty and the other one is too expensive. The really expensive one is Wi-Fi connection for all subway systems the median one would be communication through the trains. Martin said communication is secondary and turning the train around is primary, but communication is the really big issue here and both should be a primary situation. If you want the people to be safe sure turn the train around, but tell them exactly what is going on through a sophisticated speaker. I think the TTC could possibly raise the prices for the tickets a little bit higher and just use that money to make up for a proper announcement; people will understand why they got to pay a little bit more and they will appreciate the service. There can be announcements stationed in a more subtle place instead of a transit control. Communication is what allows humans to interact with each other and if something goes really wrong other than knowing to turn the train around its best in the people to know. I think that the people in the TTC deserved to know what happened and I am glad that the TTC admits to it. They should get an appropriate speaker system. Communication is key, and it is something used in all aspects of life.
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