TTC might actually avoid a PR debacle: senior couple gets reprieve

Tokens, mess and headaches: things the TTC has more than enough of. At the very least, the transit agency may have extricated itself from a marketing disaster—kicking an elderly couple out of their home (one of them a retired TTC drive) in order to accommodate new subway exits.

The Globe and Mail reports:

The transit agency’s proposed solution at Greenwood station seemed to satisfy the approximately 300 residents who attended a heated public meeting Monday night—it was met with enthusiastic applause. But a spokeswoman for homeowners near Donlands station roundly rejected the TTC’s compromise there, even though it would save two homes.

“It’s exactly the same thing, 10 metres to the west,” Lisa Dymond, who lives at 7 Strathmore, told the crowd.

We did say “may” have extricated.

Mayoral candidates who are flogging plans to massively expand Toronto’s subway system (at last count, that was most of them) might want to pay attention: punching enormous holes in Toronto’s streets is expensive and controversial. Good on the TTC for dodging this land mine, but imagine the wailing that the city would hear if they were trying the same thing in along Queen Street?

• TTC unveils its exits strategy [Globe and Mail]
• TTC rethinks Danforth subway exits [Toronto Star]
• Residents upset about planned subway exits [Toronto Sun]