My blog post is featured today on the Toronto Star’s Your City, My City.
TTC: Make it better, Mayor X
Kimberly Silk. I’ve been a TTC customer since I moved to Toronto in the early ’90s. For the most part, I am satisfied with my daily commute, enjoy weekend streetcar trips with my family to different neighbourhoods, and find it to be the “better way” in comparison to car travel. My 4-yr-old son likes riding the buses, streetcars and especially the subway when we can get the front seat. I can’t blame him – it is thrilling to be at the head of a train as we enter or exit a tunnel.
I’m also a fan and willing participant in social media, and, along with hundreds of my fellow TTC riders, follow Twitter to get updates on TTC status. Social media has made transit easier to use, in many ways, since I find out ahead of time if trains are delayed or buses are re-routed.
For instance, just last week College station was temporarily closed do to a “security investigation” (not unusual, given the proximity of the provincial courts); this news was broadcast on Twitter, and as a result I walked to Queen’s Park station to avoid being late to pick up my son from daycare.
However, while social media has been good for the TTC, it’s a double-edged sword that also exposes the system’s weaknesses. Due to the prolific tweets provided by TTC riders like myself (@ttcupdates) and TTC’s communications director (@bradttc) most delays and service interruptions are reported within seconds of happening.
Read the entire post at http://thestar.blogs.com/yourcitymycity/2010/03/ttc-make-it-better-mayor-x.html