How the Toronto Transit Commission Handles the Busiest Station on the Yonge/Bloor Subway Line
Capital of Nasty, an Electronic Magazine - ISSN 1482-0471
Friday, March 30, 2012 at 11:00 (6612/49)
"We're out of station," says TTC employee Ian Cainer, as he stands controlling a torrent of riders squeezing up the stairs from Bloor trains to southbound Yonge trains. "We've got too many people and not enough platform. So we're trying to do the best we can."
The Yonge/Bloor subway station handles close to 711,000 riders per weekday. It's the busiest station on any line and one that keeps Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) workers managing a constant flow of commuter coming and going without incident.
I particularly loved this part from Peter Kuitenbrouwer's article in The National Post:
At 7:45 a.m. Mr. Casini calls transit control. "Hey Kelly, how are you doing?" he asks. "How many saviours today?""Saviours," are extra trains the TTC stashes at Finch, York Mills and Eglinton stations. When Bloor/Yonge overcrowds, the TTC dispatches a "saviour:" a train that runs empty to Bloor station, to clear the platform.
"People love when the empty trains come in," says Mr. Casini, "Those are like gold. If we get one of those, it really relieves the pressure."
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