Thoughts on Public Transit

The Toronto Transit went on strike for a little over a day - midnight to early evening Sunday, only after the mayor and province legislated a back-to-work action. As I sit here and read the same comments over and over, I don't understand why these people continue to write away on the CBC's website - how many people read these comments, who are you reaching? Will this really make a difference? Probably not, the same crap occurred a few years back and although the same forum was not widely used, but nevertheless the same feelings were being expressed on local television broadcasts. Its a waste of time complaining - if you are not apart of the solution, you are part of the problem. That's it. No matter where you go, every city has its fair share of problems - in Berlin, the stop I take most often does not have a ticket collector, you validate your ticket and hop on the train. In Paris, you validate your ticket on the way 'out' of the station. Berlin has its transit cops that walk through trains checking for tickets and if you are caught without you are fined. My feeling is, they most likely have the backing of government funding, more so than Toronto's - but they have a very efficient system, you rarely have to deal with staff at all - so this would take care of the rudeness of transit workers here - put automated systems in all the stations, and get rid of ticket collectors all together. Put a barrier for the bus/streetcar drivers, so we don't have to look at their ugly mugs, pay your fair, swipe your pass - to get through the turnstile or to be let off the vehicle.