Toronto transit system was ranked the best in Canada and third in North America, beaten out by just New York City and San Francisco, in a recent list by Walk Score.
Walk Score, an American company that promotes walkable and transit-friendly neighbourhoods, calculated the score by considering the distance to the nearest stop on the route, the frequency of the route per week, and type of route.
Toronto’s transit system was found to have an “excellent transit” score of 78. Montreal and Vancouver received scores of 77 and 74 respectively.
Excalibur asked students on campus what their opinion was of transit in Toronto.
Lisa Niskasari, second-year public administration major, rates the TTC system a six out of 10, and adds the transit system here is Toronto is better than her home city of Vancouver.
“I’m from Vancouver originally, and I think the transit system here is way better there,” says Niskasari.
When asked about what the TTC could do to improve, Niskasari says she feels the TTC doesn’t have enough funding and is doing the best they can with what they have.
“The subway itself was built in the 40s, and the signalling systems have never been replaced because they don’t really have the money. That’s why you always hear [about] signal problems.” says Niskasari.
“I think they need more support from municipal, provincial, and federal government.”
Variables such as reliability and actual performance do not appear to be a factor in the report’s evaluation process, but are seen to be major weaknesses of the TTC by some York students.
“This morning, I was trying to get to Eglinton station, and there was a service interruption for about 10 minutes. No transit moving north or south,” says Jennifer Nowack, a design major. “It’s reliable when it wants to be.”
When asked about weaknesses, Nowack says, “Just space. It’s always crowded at the same times every day.”
Samantha Ramsarup, fourth-year psychology major, gives the TTC an 8.5 out of 10, finding the frequency of the buses to be its only major drawback.
“During rush hour, it’s good. You get it really quickly, but sometimes late at night, it takes really long,” says Ramsarup.
Ramsarup was not surprised at the TTC’s glowing evaluation in the Walk Score analysis
“It’s the TTC. It’s always fast, it’s always available. Sometimes you have minor problems but I think it’s the best in Canada,” says Ramsarup.
Photo source WikiCommons.
Abbiramy Sharvendiran
Contributor
