TTC drivers in crisis

[Corey]

Nearly 200 TTC bus, streetcar and subway operators are suffering from severe stress usually associated with survivors of combat, natural disasters and rape.

Their rate of post-traumatic stress disorder is about four times that of police officers who patrol Toronto streets, and the city's transit drivers report these problems more than any other workers in Ontario, according to provincial data.

http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/295876

Any thoughts on this story?

I'm having a hard time believing their jobs are more stressful than police officers.

 

[Tangwhich]

I can believe it.. Imagine how boring it must be to do the same routes day after day for so many years. I would personally find that very frustrating and stressful. On top of that how many rude people do they have to deal with everyday? I watch people get on the bus and it makes me sick to see and the driver gets it all day long. From what my friend tells me, most of the time police work is fairly routine with not a lot of stress, just a lot of paperwork. If somebody is a rude ass to them, they at least have the satisfaction of giving them a ticket

A subway driver isn't too bad since you're locked in your own little room, but at some point it's quite possible you might see somebody splat on your window in a suicide attempt.

I don't think I could do any of them..

 

[S.C. Joe]

Agree, driving a Taxi would be more involved.

 

[Corey]

I'm not saying their jobs are easy but I'm having a REALLY hard time believing their stress levels are equivalent to survivors of combat, natural disasters and rape.

 

[jbar]

What are TTC drivers paid these days? Is it up to $40 an hour yet?

 

[Corey]

I believe for some it goes that high.

 

[jbar]

Perhaps they are stressed-out about making too much money.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Or perhaps they make that much money to compensate for the stress.

 

[trisket]

I believe their stress is higher than a cop's since they are more vulnerable and in less control of a situation. The service has gone downhill due to cutbacks and the public is angrier.
It wasn't a bad job in the past, too bad a few idiots in society have to ruin it for all of us.

 

[lickrolaine]

lots getting ready for retirement,therein lies the cause of stress!

 

[Corey]

I take the TTC everyday and from my experience passengers are very polite to drivers.

Over the past 30 years, I cannot recall one incident where a driver's stress level would be equivalent to getting raped, being in combat or surviving a natural disaster.

 

[eldoguy]

TTC Drivers in Crisis

Drivers have the power, to make you leave there bus, street car, subway! Customers have no recourse! Try talking back at them sometime.

 

[FOOTSNIFFER]

Monotony is stressful...and that job's got to be so boring. Plus, you're just mostly staring at a windshield all day long, without being able to interact with people (this is toronto, remember). Thank god I don't have to take that godawful service anymore...and I hope I never will again.

 

[dreamblade]

Driving a large vehicle in Toronto traffic for 8 hours a day can't be easy. I suppose some routes in suburban areas might be a bit easier. Then some days with bad weather adds to the mix, and include an unruly passenger once in a while, well it must not be easy some days. I guess most of us really can't comment unless we've been there - I know I wouldn't want to do it !!

No, it's not easy, nor is it stress-free. But equating driving a bus in a first-world city to being in combat and rape? Maybe driving it in Baghdad, but not Toronto.

Combat: Bullets flying past your head, shrapnel wearing away at the small slab of concrete you're hiding behind, walking slowly to avoid tripwire and landmine, either of which can mean breathing one second and being scattered all over your buddies the next.

Rape: The feeling of helplessness, of violation through an act that usually is associated with love, trust, and intimacy. You feel you could have done something, should have done something, but at the time you couldn't, you didn't!!! This feeling of helplessness stays, gnaws at you, making you doubt anyone new you encounter, your existing relationships, your entire life.


Now tell me either of these are in the same category to dealing with some rude passengers and obnoxious city drivers? pffffft!

Quit whining and get me to work on time, wussy.

 

[Corey]

I can understand TTC drivers saying their jobs are stressful but when a report says their stress levels are equivalent to rape and combat, the legitimacy of that report and the driver's claims go out the window.

 

[sailorsix]

We have two TTC drivers on our street in Bumfuck ON aka Pickering.

One is an old white guy who drives a huge Buick and rounds the corner at about 60k. Some day I am gonna throw a beach ball on the road just to see if he has any reactions left. In the summer he walks this little rat dog each night wearing an Italian tuxedo, shorts, black socks and black dress shoes. I would say he was the epitome of trailor trash except he also has a grown son living with him who drives this aqua Sunfire that is all souped up with a white scoop on the hood and one on the roof (???) and one of those Asian kid mufflers that makes it sound like a Harley.

The other TTC guy is a Native (ie Canuck Indian) with a hungarian wife who stays indoors 98% of the time. When she does make an appearance she dresses like a native, pigtails and all. This TTC guy has a sailboat in his yard that has not seen water in 3 years, a speedboat in his garage that has not been out in 10 years and a camper that does get used for fall hunting. They speak to nobody on the street.

TTC drivers should shut up IMO. When they applied for the job did they take anytime to actually think about what it entailed? The other TTC whiners that piss me off are the ticket takers...exactly what grade did you have to fail to qualify as a ticket taker?

 

[KBear]

Think the public has lost respect for the drivers, with all the strikes, and now comparing their job to combat. wtf. I'm sure that most drivers are nice, but to be stuck there dealing with people all day, every day who have no respect for you would wear away at you over time.

If I was making 8 – 14 dollars an hour, and needed my job to pay the rent, and needed my busses running to get to work, it would piss me off to no end that these asses were going on strike, again, for another few dollars on top of their very generous per hour pay plus benefits. And knowing the only reason they are paid as much is because they hold the city hostage.

Was not the TTC union being sued for the illegal strike they held a couple of years ago, wonder whatever happened to that.

 

[wumpscut]

as someone who takes the TTC daily, I've seen a different perspective than all these previous comments. I've talked to drivers who have been verbally abused (seen it happen often lately as fares increase and service is cut), just this Monday night on Dundas bus punk pays less than the fare and then berates driver when called to front to pay the remainder. Punks girlfriend begs him (punk) to stop causing a scene, he continues then sits with girlfriend and says some stuff in her ear and she starts to cry, he just moves to a different seat and acts like HE'S the one who has been treated unfairly! Other drivers have told me off being punched and later had same customer who attacked him board the bus as if nothing happened. One driver even told me of having a knife held to his throat cuz he asked customer to pay fare. I'm not saying stress is same as soldiers BUT I am saying they put up with shit that if a cop faced it, he would be billy-clubbing someones skull rather than let punk get away with it. I would like thier pay too.... but not if it meant having to "suck it up" when customers spit/punched/threatened me as a regular part of my job, no thanks!

 

[LancsLad]

dreamblade: would YOU take the job of a TTC driver if it was offered to you??

Thats not the crux of the issue iamme. I wouldn't want to be a surgeon but have no problem with them making a lot of money. The universal constant in job comparisons is skill set and substitution. Very few members of the public , myself included have the skills and training to step into a surgeons OR clogs but most anyone could become a TTC driver. They are simply crybabies flexing their union muscle in the face of a helpless public.


Pull a Ron R on them. Fire every freaken one and get people , and there will be plenty, who will do the job for compensation commensurate with the skill set.

 

[wumpscut]

so Lancs... being as I've seen you post about what a bad ass you are, what is the going rate for having passengers punch/spit/threaten you with knives? minimum wage perhaps? Take note your usual "I'd use my rifle/deadly hand to hand, bla,bla,bla skills" are not an option either. These drivers have to take this shit without pulling a gun or whatever to protect themselves when threatened. To be so dismissive of someone else's suffering seems rather callous... but then again I've read your comments in the political forum so I'm not surprized. To be so dismissive of thier driving skills says something too. I'm sure you drive an 18 wheeler at 100 km/h downhill during snowstorms... just for fun, eh Lancs?