Suicide barriers a waste of TTC money

Transportation has been identified as one of the major obstacles keeping the poor isolated and unemployed.  Its true- as some of the posts have rightly asserted-  that compared to small towns and northern communities, our system is amazing.  But that shouldn't stop us from making it better and more accessible. I quite like the fare-by-distance traveled notion, there is a fairness about it.  

And add to that what some small cities are trying, such as extending the time a transfer is valid to allow for shopping and appointments, or having free subway rides in the downtown core from 10-3. I enjoyed reading most of the posts, although a few left me scratching my head, such as the one that lumped the mentally ill and conservatives together. And speaking of the mentally ill,  the cash-strapped TTC has recently decided to spend $10 million per station building suicide barriers. Three stations are targeted, and they will be in place by 2015. 

Last evening I was with a group of psychiatric survivors, people who've been diagnosed with serious mental illnesses who have a passing acquaintance with suicidal thoughts and acts, and I asked them about these proposed barriers. 

A good use of limited funds?  A resounding "No!"

If there are millions just sitting around waiting for a bad idea to devolve, then we really can afford to lower the price of a single ticket. And we would have enough dollars left over to hire a few survivors to patrol the platforms looking for signs of people in distress.  And the TTC could sponsor stigma-busting ads, splash them all over the walls and the stairs the way they do for major corporations, so that people in trouble wouldn't feel so hesitant about seeking the help they need.

We cannot prevent every possible tragedy out there.  We can however ensure that those who are poor and vulnerable and in need can access public transit when required -- for appointments, for job searches, to get to cooling centers on those days when the city experiences extreme heat alerts. A small step to make life worth living in the big city.

To those who blame the drivers and the ticket collectors: they are not the enemy, and don't deserve the kind of collective bashing that is going on these days.  Funny how we never look up to see where the problems start, we're too busy beating up on those whose circumstances most closely mirror our own.

About Pat Capponi

Comments

[Al]

What about the non psychiatrics, i like the idea of a barrier, so that i wont be thrown into the tracks by one who is have dilutional thoughts.

[Jose]

This is a total waste of money and not a priority. That money towards the suicide barriers could easily go towards expanding the TORONTO (not 905 or Vaughan) transit system. Toronto really needs the Eglinton subway line west to east, as well as the original 1985 downtown relief line. Toronto should have more subway lines and stops scattered throughout the downtown and the Toronto suburbs by now. If you keep developing and letting in more people here, then you have to do with what comes with it - advancing transit and city infrastructure. Otherwise, put a cap on population growth for a long time. Don't talk the talk if you can't walk the walk.

http://transit.toronto.on.ca/images/subway-5113-02.gif
http://www.toviaduct.com/inside/image017.jpg
http://transit.toronto.on.ca/images/spare-0213-01.gif
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Relief_Line

[Theresa Schrader]

This issue of transportation is a HOT one Pat. When I think about the System that the poor have to use....ie....welfare, ODSP, etc. The funds for transportation are not there. Even if one volunteers the cost of a metropass is $21 more than what funds can be issued.
Suicide Barriers - what is that all about? I thought the TTC was broke? I think that this is the most hidious idea I have ever heard. There are people that unfortunately committ suicide. The reality is that this has been going on for decades.

my suggestion......a subsidy program for transit, and by all means, we could hire people for far less than 10 million dollars a station. This is crazy

[Longbranch Mike]

I totally agree with the waste of spending money on platform doors. There are many other more effective ways of dealing with this issue - like funding mental health services. At $10M per station & 69 stations, that's $690 M, a lot of funding to help people in all areas of their lives.

[Michael Creek]

Wow suicide barriers @ 10 million a pop give me a break……..let’s get real here! Next we will need barriers on every street corner….barriers along the waters edge the list would be endless. What we need is a T.T.C. that provides dependable, reliable and inexpensive service to their rider ship. Then we can look at how under funded mental health services are in this city and how there is a direct link to people who struggle to survive on OW or ODSP.

[David Reville]

I have never been concerned about being thrown on the tracks by a person with dilutional thoughts.

I am worried that I will knock down riders who stand in the doorway, however.

And I wonder why streetcar riders don't take off their backpacks. How can they be so unaware of the amount of space they take up?

I am a bit of hard of hearing. Is that why riders shout into their cellphones on the streetcar?

are they non-psychiatrics, do you think?

[Transity Cyclist]

Platform screen doors have more functions than preventing suicides. Some of the delays the TTC experiences on the subway are caused by unwanted objects falling on the track and catching fire, or personal injuries at track level, and platform screen doors prevent these delays (and delays cost money). Also, the station climate and air system could be better regulated and contained if isolated from the tunnel, leading to energy savings.

So platform screen doors is an investment to save money.

[SaskatoonMark]

There's another aspect that has not been considered: A train has to stop in a manner that its doors are perfectly aligned with the platform doors. As a result, the train must come to a slower, more gradual stop to ensure the alignment occurs. Hence, a given stretch of track can handle fewer trains per hour, and capacity is reduced.

This has been the experience of the London system, which has platform doors on some lines (namely the eastern portion of the Jubilee Line) but not others

[david reville]

People kill themselves in subways. The busiest subway system is in Tokyo with 8 million riders a day; last year there were 68 suicides. That subway has some barriers and there's a plan to install blue lighting (!)Seoul, the third busiest, had 95 in 2003. Fourth busiest is New York; it averages 26 suicides a year. Moscow is the 2nd busiest but the problem there seems to be suicide bombers; barriers won't help that. Recently I was on the Mexico subway; no barriers and no data on number of suicides but the fare is less than 50 cents.
Toronto's subway carries about 1 million passengers a year; the average number of suicides a year seems to be about 15.
Suicides cost transit systems a lot of money; maybe barriers are a good investment after all.
What does Steve Munro think?

[Greg Smith]

Pat, I respect all of the hard work you have done for consumer-survivors as well as others dealing with poverty but I think you lack perspective on the relative size of the amounts of money in question here. In particular, to suggest that the alternative to platform screen doors would be a fare reduction is a false dichotomy -- divide the cost of the three pilot project stations across all of the fares paid between now and 2015, and the difference would be minuscule. There are several other false dichotomies in your argument. The TTC could easily go ahead with awareness-raising advertising initiatives at virtually no cost -- it's not a matter of doing one thing rather than another. We can and should do most of the things you suggest (but not the free subway rides from 10-3, IMHO -- instead, transit should be free for all on ODSP and subsidizes for Ontario Works, etc., as well).

Platform screen doors are not only meant to prevent suicides, although that is one of the primary benefits (and, for the most part, the only one that the newspapers have chosen to pay any attention to). They also prevent accidental falls to track level, intentional unauthorized access to the subway tracks (this causes far more total delays than suicide attempts or accidental falls combined) and also reduces the amount of trash that blows to track level, catching fire, causing additional delays. Finally, the screen doors allow riders to line up properly in advance of the train's arrival.

At the same time, you say you like the "fairness" of fare-by-distance... a scheme that, if not implemented very carefully, would marginalize the lower-income residents of Toronto who live in the far reaches of the city. Perhaps the people for whom you advocate all live in central parts of the city? Reading your books, I get the sense that your communities are clustered along a certain stretch of Queen St., but I do not intend to stereotype or stigmatize by saying so. But you should realize that just as the areas of public policy with which you are very familliar have very detailed ins and outs, so too with public transit.

I have read many views against platform screen doors to the effect that, since we cannot prevent all suicides, therefore there is no point trying to prevent them on the subway. To that I would say: have you seen someone attempt suicide on the subway? Do you know how many people have had to "take part" -- drivers, riders, emergency services -- in suicide-by-subway in this city? We have a key piece of civic infrastructure that is a a convenient, lethal way to end one's life and we have a known, straightforward, industry standard way to prevent it that is in use around the world and yet the people of Toronto collectively shrug their shoulders and say "meh, I can handle the delay, let them jump.... don't waste my money, those crazies would kill themselves somehow anyway." I can't even bring myself to try persuading such people with the argument that it would at least be better for all concerned if those supposedly "inevitable" suicides were attempted by less-lethal means and in venues less public and so less likely to traumatize so many bystanders in the process.

Sorry for rambling, but I think this issue has been treated far too casually by far too many commentators and seeing someone like Pat dismiss it in this way was the last straw. This is an affluent city in an affluent country. Saying no to platform screen doors because they sound expensive is short-sighted. We build them *and* do many of the other things you mention, Pat.

[Babyshrink]

Keep up with the thought-provoking blogs Pat.
If people weren't living in poverty they wouldn't be heading to the subway to end their life. But indeed there are some really unfortunate deaths happening every year, and although suicides can be impulsive, people go to where it can be done. And I think a barrier in one location might mean they just go somewhere else; however, this would indeed reduce the options. At the end of the day, this intervention doesn't really affect the number of people out there who are suffering and contemplating suicide.

[Dawnmarie]

Slow the trains down as the come to the station

[Cheryl Smith]

compelling nonetheless once again
We need to start looking at economic and social models outside of our own country and or box and put all the cards on the table for once and for all.
I think the time for thought has long passed. Time to act.
Either we kill them or we nourish them, but we don`t leave them to starve and clean up after us.

[Cheryl Smith]

Pat hits the nail on the head when she suggests that we be used and hired (in general) to support each other with our vast experience and knowledge, building our own community from the ground up instead of from the top down.
This idea needs to be promoted to protect our culture and wisdom and empower us, even employ us- because of our specific talents and abilities despite and without official accreditation (though that is a somewhat controversial idea at the moment even within our own ranks).
We need to act as if. We need to make demands. Power and freedom are not given. They are taken. We need to believe in ourselves and our own ability to heal and support each other. We need to believe we are capable of doing this.
We are the teachers.

[Michelle Nelson]

Rather then putting up rails to stop those who want to throw themselves or others under a train. Spend that 10 million on mental health care and find out what would make some one try to kill themselves or others in such a horrific fashion. We cant "child proof" an entire city nor should we even try. Start making smart choices on how, where and with whom money should be invested. The first smart thing to do would be to Listen to Pat Capponi!!!! The second act on the recommendations!!!