Feet on seat. Something to eat. Conversate loudly. Not being discrete.
Welcome to the Toronto Transit Commission subway. I have “only” ridden subways in a handful of cities. But of those, Toronto remains unique based on the above actions observed.
In addition to Toronto, I have ridden subways in Seoul, Incheon, Gwangju, Busan, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka, and Nagoya.
Out of all those cities, only in Toronto have I seen riders place their feet on the seats, eat food, or talk loudly with their companions or on their cellular telephones.
To my understanding, eating on the subways is prohibited in South Korea and Japan. But how about the rude habit of placing your feet on the seat? Then again, the seats in South Korea and Japan are laid out like metro systems in most countries… Along the sides of the car. There are no forward-facing seats like in Toronto. Loud talking… Now that’s a different story. I simply cannot understand why people are so loud in Toronto.
South Korean and Japanese subway systems have full cellular service throughout. Toronto has very limited service. Yet people in those countries are quiet while in Toronto, people scream into their phones while riding through the few open-air spots where service is available.
In the Greater Toronto Area, we have a regional commuter rail service called GO Transit, short for Government of Ontario Transit. As these are surface rail, cellular service is available throughout.
Rides on GO Transit tend to be quiet except for those who insist on screaming into their cellular phones.
I cannot end this rant without mentioning what inspired me to write this post today. Eating food. Yes. People eat on the subway.
They don’t just eat light snacks, but some actually eat whole meals. Regardless of how busy the subway is, you can find someone sitting down eating an entire KFC combo.
People carry coffee on the train. What if the train makes a sudden stop? That coffee could fly out of their hands and spill onto other riders, possibly burning them.
I think we need a culture change with regards to riding the subway in Toronto.