‘No laughing matter': TTC's fiery response to online posts poking fun at acronym for Provincial Offences Officers
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CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Frustrated resident finally traces non-stop honking to weird TTC bus feature
A Toronto resident captured video of TTC buses blaring their horns outside his apartment, near Kipling Station for several minutes. A west-end resident who found himself frequently disturbed by honking vehicles says he identified an unlikely culprit when he finally investigated the source of the noise. Lucas Laporta has lived in an apartment near Kipling Station in Etobicoke for nearly four years. A busy area with freight trains, subway trains and heavy machinery, he says he's learned to treat most of the noise in the area as background sound. But that's been tougher to do for one type of sound – the blaring of a honking vehicle horn that can sometimes continue unabated for as long as five minutes. 'When you live across from a transit hub, you expect there to be some honking, just the same as you would if you lived on the corner a busy intersection. Sometimes you hear a car honk and that's fine, it's not a big deal, it's part of the package,' Laporta says. 'What you don't expect is for the buses across the street from you to honk for up to five minutes straight, completely uninterrupted and completely unprompted.' At first, he thought it might be one inconsiderate motorist responsible for what sounded like a driver leaning hard on their horn without stopping. 'But one day, the honking happened as I was walking by the station on my way home from work,' Laporta recalls. 'Imagine my surprise when I see the culprit in question is parked, idling in its berth, with no driver in sight. The horn was going off completely on its own.' Bus horn noise A parked bus with a blaring car horn is pictured idling at Kipling Station. (Lucas Laporta /Submitted) After several calls to TTC customer service, he was informed that the honking was in fact the result of a strange feature in the buses: If a stop is requested while the vehicle is idling, the horn will continue to honk until it is deactivated by the driver. And if the horn goes off while the driver isn't near the vehicle, it could take several minutes for someone to notice and turn it off. While it might sound like a simple nuisance, Laporta says the noise is loud enough that it can be heard over anything else that is happening in his seventh-floor apartment, especially if it happens in the early hours or late at night. He's never sure when or how frequently the sound will go off. 'It varies, really, like it's hard to say,' he says. 'There are times like yesterday – it happened three times in one day. It's just a roll of the dice.' Laporta, who mainly works form home, says he started tracking the honking buses in November 2023 and has recorded at least 67 occurrences since then. One of the videos he shared with CP24 shows a parked bus at the station honking loudly for nearly three minutes straight. TTC customer service has told him there's nothing they can do because it's a built-in feature of the buses, he said. While he appreciates that it might not be their fault, he says the situation is nonetheless 'Kafkaesque' and the prolonged honking at all hours continues to be disruptive. 'It doesn't make any sense. You know, it's surprising because of how irrational it is. 'Oh, yeah, you pulled the thing while the bus is stopped and it sounds an alarm, it makes the horn honk.' Why? Why does it do that? You're supposed to honk the horn to alert other people on the road. It doesn't make any sense.' Noisy bus horns Laporta says bus horns can be heard blaring from the station at all hours. In a statement, the TTC told CP24 it's aware of the issue and is trying to get drivers to disable the function whenever possible. 'We apologize to the neighbours for this inconvenience,' the TTC said. 'This is a feature of the buses that is intended for safety. We are aware that sometimes they go off and we've been reminding operators about disarming the feature whenever possible to do so. 'We will continue to remind them to disable the alarms out of respect to the community.' Dozens of readers have written in to CP24 and CTV News Toronto recently to describe how noise in the city affects them, from loss of sleep to lack of concentration. Many have complained that noise is not treated as a serious problem in the city, but rather something to be expected and ignored. For its part, the City of Toronto has said it is trying to utilize technologies, such as sound level monitoring, to do a better job of identifying and mitigating problematic noise.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Opinion: Hockey Canada sexual assault trial latest story spotlighting dark side of sport
Opinion Countless times throughout the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial, the question has come up: is this a story for the sports section at the Free Press? The resounding answer is: yes. Yes, this is a sports story. I am not writing to offer my opinion on the decisions made today. I am here to remind readers that the world of sports is not always a fun, fantasy world. Sports are a fantastic way for fans, including me, to escape hard times — but a shadow hides behind the blinding, refracted light of historic goals and legendary names. This trial shone a spotlight on the ugliness of that shadow. The fact that people are high-fiving over the five men involved in this case being acquitted is absolutely disgusting. Whether or not you believe the five men are guilty, a woman was traumatized. So much so that, as the Toronto Star reported, E.M. thought she would be able to testify in person in the courtroom, but when she was taking a tour of the courthouse and sat in the witness stand, she started crying. She was so traumatized by what happened to her that night in a London, Ont., hotel room that she had to testify via video from another room in the courthouse, and the defendants were blurred on her end. What those cheering the acquittals seem to quickly forget is that trauma and abuse in sports isn't just a woman's story — it's a part of sports culture that has thrived in the shadows for far too long. This case just so happened to involve a woman. This is also a man's story. Whether Winnipeg Jets fans want to admit it or not, general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was previously involved with a franchise that saw Kyle Beach identify himself as a player at the centre of sexual abuse allegations. A second former player also sued the Chicago Blackhawks. Hometown favourite Jonathan Toews was also part of that franchise at the time these abuses took place. I am by no means saying either Cheveldayoff or Toews were involved or knew of the abuse. The point of including this is as a reminder that abuse is happening to athletes themselves in top leagues. This is not just a minor league issue. This is not just a women's issue. This is a high-profile issue that continues to get swept under the rug whenever the defendants are deemed not guilty, whether in the court of law or the court of public opinion. If one of these players is signed by an NHL team, we will have to cover them in the Free Press sports section in a way where it appears as though this story never existed. Just as we have had to cover Alex Ovechkin, regardless of his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. You can add as many disclaimers and explainers as you want; these are still stories emphasizing the 'greatness' of these athletes. Abuse is rampant in professional sports, and I'm tired of it being so often left out of the larger story of sports. We can celebrate the accomplishments of athleticism while at the same time acknowledging it's a system built on abuse that tries to shelter perpetrators instead of helping victims of abuse. The story of 'ruining his career' is so often presented in cases like the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial. But what about the responsibility of the five hockey players to not ruin their respective careers by participating that night? It's just a question. Moreover, the case was so toxic to Hockey Canada before it went to court, the organization had already settled out of court, wanting the story to go away — to be swept under the rug and into the ugly shadows. If I may offer one opinion, it is that I fear these acquittals will dissuade future victims of sexual assault from reporting abuse. We're at a point in society where women have to be believed more than ever while navigating a justice system built to cast doubt on testimony. Whether you believe E.M. or not, I ask that you consider how you would feel if you weren't believed. I hope there's a day when the story of sports doesn't include abuse of any kind. Thursday, however, punctuated and perpetuated the 'boys will be boys' culture ingrained in sports at the expense of another person's trauma. Maybe this trial will help forward ongoing conversations about consent and, if anything, remind sports fans of the dark, toxic side of these stories of heroes and history books. Grace Anne Paizen is the Free Press Sports editor Grace Anne PaizenSports Editor Grace oversees the team that produces sports journalism for the Free Press. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
CBC
3 days ago
- CBC
WATCH — TTC blames 12-year-old boys for jokes about its new POO crew
⭐️HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW⭐️ The Toronto Transit Commission has revealed a new name for its fare inspectors. They are now called Provincial Offences Officers. People on social media were quick to point out that the acronym for the new name is POO. In response, a TTC spokesperson compared the commenters to 'snickering' 12-year-old boys. CBC Kids News asked kids what they think of the comparison. Hear more from both sides and have your say in the poll below. ⬇️⬇️⬇️ Transit fare inspectors in Toronto, Ontario, just got a new name, and some people are left wondering what they were thinking. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) renamed fare inspectors on July 20. They are now called Provincial Offences Officers. The name comes from a document from the 1990s, known as the Provincial Offences Act. While that might not seem like a big deal, some on social media pointed out that the new name has a hilariously unfortunate acronym: POO. A TTC spokesperson clapped back on X, comparing the critics to 'snickering, puerile 12-year-old boys.' According to the Oxford English Dictionary, puerile means childish and silly. CBC Kids News talked to some boys about having to take the blame. 'It's kinda their problem,' said 11-year-old Arian Alimohamadi in Vaughan, Ontario. The TTC told us they didn't mean to point the finger at boys, specifically. How did 12-year-old boys get pulled into this? On July 21, Global News reporter Matthew Bingley posted on X that he saw POOs on the street, uploading a photo of the new officers working. He questioned how the name was chosen. An unnamed TTC spokesperson replied to the post, comparing the criticism to 'snickering, puerile 12-year-old boys.' Press play to hear what kids had to say about the TTC's jab on X. ⬇️⬇️⬇️ The TTC's comment prompted a reaction on X. One user posted: 'Yikes who thought this post was a good idea.' Another chimed in, underlining the 12-year-old comment saying, 'Damn all the 12-year-old boys are ratioing you.' In fact, X, and several other social media platforms don't allow kids under 13 to join or post on their site. TTC says immaturity was the actual target CBC Kids News reached out to the TTC for an interview. Their media office responded in an email that the comment was being misrepresented. It said the goal of the X comment was to call out immaturity. 'Our comment was in response to adults who think this is a laughing matter in a manner that a child might snicker at hearing a rude word,' the written statement said. The TTC shared this image on X. Some people on social media were quick to make jokes about the name, with one replying 'POO?' to the post. (Image credit: TTCHelps/X) According to the email, fare evasion is a 'serious issue' that the officers help put a stop to, and that not paying fares costs the TTC $140 million a year. Kids 12 and under don't contribute to the fare evasion problem, since they ride for free. Have more questions? Want to tell us how we're doing? Use the 'send us feedback' link below. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
