Description

This complaint was sent to the TTC through their online form, but I thought posting it here might get better results. The complaint is regarding a surface delay and service issue that escalated to a customer service failure and inappropriate behaviour on the part of a TTC supervisor.

I live in the Roncesvalles area, and quite often drive north on Lansdowne passing Dundas and College. Very often, a northbound streetcar is stopped, blocking the left lane of Lansdowne at College, while the driver is not in the vehicle. There is a Tim Horton's at that corner. This is frustrating as a resident since this is not an appropriate place to park a vehicle and it happens so often.

Today, I saw a driver, in uniform, returning to his unmanned vehicle carrying coffee and a brown Tim Horton's bag. Next to him was another TTC employee wearing a supervisor hat. I had time to process this because there was a backlog of cars trying to circumvent the traffic this streetcar was creating and I was stuck at the back of this line.

As we neared the pair who had started talking, I opened my window and said that parking a street car in the middle of Lansdowne was not appropriate. I said it bluntly. He replied sarcastically that I'm lucky that I have a steering wheel to get around the vehicle. His sarcasm and dismissive tone was inflammatory and enraging. I parked my car, walked over to where he and the other (now two) TTC employees were standing and I took a picture of him and the offending car behind him. I asked for his badge number, to which he responded and said that I had threatened him, asking his two co-workers to corroborate his claim. He then said that he was going to note my license plate because of my threat against him. I called 311 at 5:35pm and was transferred to customer service. I started to lodge a complaint, but the operator dropped the call, so it wasn't processed. Upon asking for his badge number again he refused stating that he had already given it to me.

The use of Tim Hortons as a rest stop is inappropriate. The parking of TTC vehicles in a spot that is not designated as such disrupts traffic and is unsafe. The handling of this event by a supervisor, escalating it from a service issue to a personal confrontation, is inappropriate and unacceptable.