subway etiquette

within my first couple of days in toronto i've learned several things in which i realized were essential to my stay in toronto. The most important i have encountered is the idea of subway etiquette.

Upon my arrival at work, i began to commute from work with my coworker. On our first trip back , he commented on the poor performance of my ttc-ing skills: otherwise known as my lack of subway etiquette.

Why is this important?
Subway etiquette is important to help in the efficiency in transporting you from one place to another. The knowledge of subway etiquette will help you travel from one point to another in the quickest way possible, and help avoid conflict or other forms of potential trouble.

My first mistake as a rookie ttc-er, was in my anxiousness to board the subway, i stood in a place which slightly obstructed the door in which the numerous amounts of impatient commuters were waiting to come out. As the door opened, the packed subway emptied onto the platform, and do to my partial obstruction, there was a narrower exit for the many people to come pouring out. This forced many of the people exiting to push and shove one another to squeeze out of the even smaller opening. My obstruction even caused a few angry ttc-ers to run into me and give me a look of disgust. In subway etiquette it is important to remember to let passengers exit before barging onto the subway. This will allow for a fully unobstructed door, and will deter dirty looks being thrown your way.

Second, i stood on the left side of the escalator. It is a well known fact (especially if you are from the big city) that this is very inappropriate. Much like a road, the left 'lane' acts as a 'passing' lane. Such as with the road, drivers will honk at you if you drive too slowly in the passing lane, and if you don't pick up speed, will try and manoeuvre around you. This increases the chance of a potential accident (with all the weaving). Likewise with the escalator. If you choose to stand on the lefthand side, commuters may choose to try and manoeuvre around you weaving from left to right and then back. This is a potential hazard as it increases the chance for someone to trip and knock into someone, or even fall down the escalator. Therefore, according to subway etiquette, if you choose to ride the escalator up (or down), please remember to stand on the right side of the escalator

The third, was not a mistake of etiquette i made on my own, but rather was one i observed this morning with my coworker. This mistake made an ordinarily composed young businessman to lose his composure temporarily and caused me to step back onto my coworkers toes. When departing from a bus from the back doors, take note to listen for a 'click' before trying to push the door open. failure to wait for the click (or at least see a green light turn on) to push will cause the door to lock and make a loud buzzing noise. I am told this is a safety mechanism. Nonetheless, blocks the one door and causes chaos as exit is only possible from one door instead of two. In order for the door to unlock, the buzzing needs to stop and the bus driver to reset it. But, if you are like the gentleman this morning and keeps pushing on the door, the busdriver is unable to reset because the buzzing will persist. This chain of events caused the man to back up in anger and impatience onto my foot, which caused me to step on my coworkers. Therefore, when exiting a bus from the back doors, subway (or ttc) etiquette says to wait for the click.

as my travels continue on the ttc i will hopefully to make more notes of subway etiquette, but as for now, i hope that i have enlightened you to become just a little bit more courteous when you choose to "ride the rocket"