Calling all creative transit fans: come to TTCamp!

Crossposted to Transit Toronto.

A self-described “ad-hoc gathering of designers, transit geeks, bloggers, visual artists, tech geeks and cultural creators” will be meeting next week in order to brainstorm further ideas on how to improve public transit in Toronto. It is hoped that this demonstration of creativity could act as a “solutions playground” that the TTC would be hard-pressed to ignore. From their website

We will not be changing bus schedules, talking about stop locations, complaining about creaky infrastructure or otherwise telling the TTC how to do its core business. The organizers respect that there are many hard-working, dedicated and experienced professionals in the TTC who have been able to accomplish remarkable things for this city’s transit infrastructure over the years under very difficult resource constraints.

The group will be meeting at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West, one block east of Dufferin Street — the 501 Queen streetcar and the 29 Dufferin bus stops nearby), on Sunday, February 4 from 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. It is free to attend for all participants, but the room in the Gladstone can only hold 100 individuals, so registration will be required and can be done here at the Toronto Transit Camp website.

The transit camp continues the rush of work transit enthusiasts have been doing to try and improve the transit agency they are so very much fans of, and to the TTC’s credit, the Commission has made favourable noises toward these efforts. While it remains to be seen how many of these ideas can be implemented given the TTC’s continuing shortage of revenues, it shows that the TTC still commands profound respect from Torontonians who want to see it restored to its former glory.

It’s public opinion and public pressure, most of all, that gets things done in any city, so I encourage the advocates to keep up the good work. It may take a while for the situation to turn around, but rest assured that, in the end, your efforts will be worth it.