Yesterday we attended a TTC meeting in City Hall’s council chambers to witness the big unveiling of new shelter maps and stop poles, expecting a good deal of pomp and/or circumstance: a light show, an unlicensed parody of Ace Of Base’s I Saw The Sign performed a chorus line of TTC execs in sequined stop pole outfits, etc. Instead, we were treated to a meat-and-potatoes Powerpoint presentation, efficiently titled New Shelter Maps And Stop Routes. Where’s the surprise? The pageantry? There wasn’t even an actual pole to be found!
Instead, we were treated to a sober, reflective, two-tone Powerpoint presentation outlining problems with current TTC stop poles (“Inconsistent look and feel,” “Lack critical information/ have non critical [sic]”) and shelter maps (“Very cluttered,” “Research showed they were little used / understood”) and offering prescriptive principles for designing new ones, with a focus on stuff like critical information, wayfaring and “intuitive hierarchy of information.” All this is to say that, yes, transit-riders, the TTC will be instituting new stop poles and shelter maps.
The new maps and polls (see some photos, culled from TTC Powerpoint slides, below) will be instituted on a trial basis on the 94 Wellesley bus route. They’re currently being rolled out, with the TTC conducting on street interviews and online research in order to gauge the new signage’s unclutteredness and capacity for simply conveying critical information. So keep your eyes peeled. Basically it seems like the same hit-or-miss service you’ve come to expect from the TTC, but with clearer information about what busses won’t be running, what time they won’t be arriving, and what routes they’ll divert from with no apparent motivating logic.
