TTC hears subway rider frustrations
Inaudible service announcements are on the way out with new $16.6-million digital radio system
“Attention cus-----s on Line ---, we are cu--ently experien---- a del-- eastbo--- at B---- ---tion. S---vice has been s-----ded, and ---ttle b---s are on their way.”
On the list of TTC riders’ most common gripes, incoherent service announcements rank near the top, somewhere behind unexpected subway shutdowns and the dreaded short-turned streetcar.
Anyone who rides regularly has had the irritating experience: A voice comes over the subway car speakers issuing potentially vital information, but the message is maddeningly quiet, full of static and hopelessly unintelligible.
The poor quality of subway announcements is so notorious that in 2016 it was immortalized on T-shirts sold at a spoof TTC swag shop.
But according to the TTC, the common frustration will soon be a thing of the past.
As part of a $16.6-million upgrade to radio systems across the transit network, the agency is replacing its 20-year-old analogue subway radio system with a state-of-the art digital one.
“Customers will hear the difference in the quality,” predicted TTC deputy chief operating officer Jim Ross, who is responsible for subway operations. He acknowledged that garbled subway announcements are “consistently one of the things that gets mentioned in our customer satisfaction surveys.”
The current system is more complex than most riders likely realize. The voice that passengers hear inside the subway car usually isn’t the driver, but a TTC employee at the agency’s transit control centre.
“Because it’s analogue, that’s where you’ll get a lot of the distortion,” said Ross. “There’s lots of limitations that come with it.”
In addition to poor sound quality, the analogue system has only four channels over which transit control must commu- nicate to passengers, subway crews and any workers who might be in the tunnel. In the moments after a delay incident, the channels can get tied up quickly as TTC employees scramble to address the problem. Ross said that’s why workers making subway announcements can often speak too quickly to be understood.
“A lot of the time the reason for that is they’re trying to clear that one channel so we can use it for other things,” he said.
The new radio system, which is called Tetra (short for terrestrial trunked radio), will allow the TTC to operate seven channels underground.
The TTC has already started to upgrade its surface radio system, and will start work on the subway radio network later this year. The subway upgrade should take one year to complete. Adam Cohoon, a member of the accessibility committee for advocacy group TTCriders, said that any change to the current glitchy system would likely be an improvement, “but it’s only half of the job.” He argued that the announcements should also be displayed visually on screens in subway cars.
“There are a lot of riders that are hard of hearing or deaf . . . Any mes- sages that are conveyed via audio should be put in a textual message as well,” he said.
Better radio communication is part of the TTC’s wider goal, outlined in its new five-year corporate plan, to keep customers informed with “realtime information, everywhere.”
To that end, the TTC plans to install digital signage in more locations and test out “self-serve touchscreens” near station entrances that will include trip planning tools and community information.
The agency also intends to launch a new information system that will “streamline and standardize” how delays and other disruptions are communicated through audio announcements, text alerts, third-party apps and platform screens.
The outdated communication system that relays service information to drivers is also being replaced.
The TTC board will debate its corporate plan, which sets out the agency’s strategic vision until 2022, at a special meeting Thursday.