On a day when transit advocates like myself should be cheering (see money influx from Ontario budget announced today), I want to highlight a transit lowlight.
The month of April will mark the launch of TTC’s Pizzazz campaign. And I have to say, if anyone can take the zazz out of Pizzazz, its the TTC. I don’t know what it is about the TTC — they are spending nearly $20,000 on mind readers, Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra impersonators, Easter Bunnies on the Resurrection Weekend, stilt walkers playing the violin, native drum circles…. This sounds more like Canada’s Wonderland or the CNE. I find this kind of programming to be extremely unimaginative and bereft of any kind of knowledge of how to properly reach out to your customers.
I think Howard Moscoe’s heart was in the right place when he proposed this idea, but it doesn’t translate very well into action. The TTC’s problem is focusing on “pizzazz.” What the Commission needs to set its sights on is becoming a “sophisticated” transit system. Look at the London Underground — they have art gallery shows, a transit museum with a merchandise shop, and a mythology that they nurture and cultivate. They have made a conscious decision to market their transit system as a major tourist attraction — if you don’t ride the Tube or a double-decker bus while in London, you are missing out on an integral experience of that city. Two years ago, the TTC celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Yonge subway with a one day event, a giveaway contest, and a few posters. It was such a sad, sad day.
You can download the schedule of events of Pizzazz here and decide for yourself how lame this event has become. I wonder if its a coincidence that the new fare hike hits us on April 1 (April Fool’s Day) at the same time the Pizzazz campaign will start (can we call it a smoke screen?). I don’t think riders will appreciate Silver Elvis wandering the TTC when they are paying an extra quarter for every ride they take.
3 comments
they should just leave it up to us! (although personally i do like mysterion)
Sure, I appreciate the intentions, but what does any of this have to do with fostering a transit culture?
For that matter, I can’t remember the last time I went looking for any of the entertainment being provided.
Leave this sort of thing up to the true transit lovers, the ones who do it from the heart with no vested interests. Better yet, work with them!
Wow…I can’t think of a better way to piss existing riders off than by forcing them to pay more money at the gate, and then immediately throwing it back in their faces in the form of celebrity impersonators. I don’t know a single person whose complaint about the TTC was that it didn’t provide entertainment, so I’m not sure why this stunt is supposed to attract riders to the TTC. This sounds more like a major Pissoff than Pizzazz to me.
I also don’t think that turning the subway into a tourist attraction is a good idea. The government has already dramatically shifted its spending priorities to attracting tourists instead of addressing the needs of its current residents, in case you haven’t noticed. (How many local artists and local people are really going to benefit from the expansions of the ROM and AGO, and all of those other Cultural Structures Spending projects?) The needs of tourists are radically different than the needs of TTC-dependent residents. If the TTC started thinking that their future depended on the tourist dollar, I think we would end up seeing some incredibly disturbing changes that would have far-reaching implications.
I really wish people would wake up and realize that the one thing the city is not lacking is “Pizzazz.” We have plenty of Pizzazz. What we don’t have could fill books, but the list includes things like affordable housing, healthy communities, and economic equity among its residents. While the TTC may have a bizarre understanding of “Pizzazz,” I do think that Easter Bunnies and art gallery shows have one important thing in common: neither will significantly increase TTC ridership. I sincerely believe that the only thing that will do that is improving service so that people can get where they need to go in a reasonable amount of time, in a reasonably comfortable way, for a reasonable price. I think that’s all people want from the TTC, and that people respect the difficulty the TTC faces in delivering on that. If the TTC is determined to follow the City’s lead in thinking that success lies in improving its image, I think that projecting an image of a TTC that is doing its damnedest to improve its service will earn it a helluva lot more respect and loyalty from existing riders suffering from one TTC inconvience or another than pouring-salt-in-an-open-wound promotions like Easter Bunnies, or ads that tout its heroic employees or its Fabulous service.
And that’s my rant.
—-melissa