Louise and The Men of Transit

Regurgitation

"I have a few minutes. Pull up your chair," Jim said to Louise as he leaned back in his. Louise hastened to grab hold of the back of her chair and wheel its reluctant legs over to sit beside Jim's desk, facing him. He steepled his hands and began, his brown hair flopping down his forehead to touch the corner of his right eye.

He said, "You asked me about customer convenience. I understand your concern. The TTC Customer Convenience Team Vision, CCTV, is to put customers at the forefront of our business model. It may seem like this department is understaffed and underfunded, but we spearheaded the other departments in bringing convenience to The TTC Way. We were able to do that because Harold and I are not only employees, we're also customers. That gives us an edge," Jim simpered, his flop of hair creeping forward. "I began using the TTC when I was eight years old, and Harold doesn't remember when he began. Still, Andy believed we needed more diversity, and I admit, I disagreed. But," Jim paused, gazing at Louise, "I can see the benefits of your diversity hire and the elements you bring to the conversation. You represent the kind of stakeholder who holds us accountable in keeping The TTC Way."

Jim smiled over his steepled hands, "Both Andy and I liked your approach to mind our space. He submitted the report as representative of our thinking to Barg." His flop of hair fell into his eye. Jim reached a hand up casually to push it back. He re-steepled his hands and leaned further back to give himself a good view of the ceiling. He contemplated it for a bit.

Louise kept her serious brown eyes on Jim's face. She devoted all her mental resources to hearing him. Was she holding them accountable? When did Andy read her report? Why did he present it as from himself and didn't tell Barg she'd written it? She felt uncomfortable thinking these thoughts. Her subconscious popped up another one: was the TTC convenient for customers? For all customers or only some? She wanted to fend off these rebellious thoughts, but after yesterday . . .

Jim spoke: "The TTC Way is the cornerstone of our new direction. We've always put customers first, and we want customers to know that. We want them to see in black and white that we are here to create a safe, efficient, and reliable system that moves Toronto and creates a community that all are welcome to participate in. We're creating a TTC we can be proud of."

Jim dropped his eyes and straightened his brows. He pointed a forefinger at Louise. "But customers have responsibilities, too. They can make the system run seamlessly the way we have designed it or they can hold it up." Jim paused to let his words sink in as he retracted his forefinger back into his steeple of fingers. He continued, his eyes directly looking into Louise's. "Lou," he said. Louise's stomach contracted to hear that name. He didn't see and continued speaking: "We take minding our space seriously. And we want customers to join us in doing so as well. We are working hard to create an inclusive, efficient, and reliable system that moves customers to where they want to go safely and quickly. We're excited about that. We want customers to be excited about that, too. But we also want them to know that we can't achieve our mission when they hold up the doors, or put their feet up on seats, or see something and don't say something, or hit the yellow emergency strip because they don't like the coffee their neighbour is drinking on the Toronto Rocket Cars or assault our operators because they ask a customer to pay their fare —"

Louise concurred. She abhorred the thought of the drivers who so ably ferry customers from one end of their routes to the other to be spat upon or hit. Louise began to feel a little bit better about The TTC Way being there for all stakeholders.

Jim's stray hair slipped towards his right eye again as he spoke: "— have rebranded the system to make travel seamless. We've thought hard about the design of our maps and signage, the function of the Presto faregates and fare machines so that they serve the needs of our customers quickly and efficiently. We promise the customer efficient and reliable service, and we are delivering on that promise," Jim crowed. His brown lock hit the corner of his right eye. He blinked and continued without pause: "We are at the forefront of inclusivity with our forward-thinking elevator program. We are building one in each station to be completed in only a few years. Now that's convenience! And it's inclusive. Our elevator initiative tells our community that we welcome our customers on wheels. We understand accessibility is about meeting their needs. They want to use the regular system and to get off of Wheel-Trans, and we've heard them. There are other kinds of accessibility needs, too." Jim un-steepled his fingers briefly to wave his right hand towards the window wall. His wayward hair fell into his eye. He brushed it back before re-steepling his fingers. "We've taken the extraordinary step of hiring an orientation mobility trainer to teach customers who've never been on the regular system how to use it. We understand they fear the unknown, but we're here to include them. We've hired one trainer on a pilot basis for a few months to help them transition to the TTC. We're proud of including every kind of customer in our TTC Way." Jim cleared his throat and drew his brows together. His brown eyes became sombre as he said, "Women, too, face unique challenges. We acknowledge that. That's why Andy hired you. A diversity hire can tell us how to do better, and I looked forward to seeing that. I'm pleased that so far you haven't had to," Jim grinned.