Heated clash breaks out on TTC streetcar between passengers and driver

"I don't like your attitude and you are not getting into my car"

Errh, no -- the driver doesn't own the car. The TTC (meaning us) does.

There's a bad attitude here but some might think it wasn't the passenger's attitude that was a problem:

http://bit.ly/p11E4P

Liam Casey
Staff Reporter

A melee broke out on a crowded streetcar over a simple question.

Around 5 p.m. Monday, a middle-aged woman, who didn't want to be named on advice from her lawyer, was awaiting a streetcar at Bathurst station. One finally arrived 40 minutes later.

The operator unloaded his passengers then left the streetcar for a short break.

"Why are you late?" she recalls asking. "We've been waiting for almost 40 minutes now."

"I don't like your attitude and you are not getting into my car," she remembers the operator saying.

After he left, the woman hopped on and sat near the front. When he returned five minutes later, he spotted her.

"Then he yelled at me to get out of his car," she said. "But I said no, I have a subway pass and paid for my fare."

Incidents like this are nothing new. Tension between riders and TTC employees has been building for the past 18 months when photos of sleeping workers surfaced online.

Employees feel they are under siege, knowing they're being watched and recorded by the public. Passengers' frustrations mount with every delay, crowded subway car and awkward interactions with employees.

The woman says her question wasn't malicious. Abie Derdak, another passenger on the streetcar, overheard the back-and-forth, but couldn't make out the words. But the tone wasn't abrasive, she said.

The driver wanted the woman off the streetcar and on the next one.

"I wasn't backing down," the woman said. And she didn't. Neither did the other passengers nor the TTC.

"The driver was so angry and out of his mind," said Julio Erhart, who sat at the front.

Everyone has a right to free speech, other riders yelled. The operator then called his supervisor, following TTC protocol, because he felt threatened.

Drivers have the right to refuse service, according to TTC spokesman Brad Ross and Bob Kinnear, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union.

Then it got ugly. One woman, known only as Shari, filmed part of the fracas, which Citytv obtained.

"We can all sit here forever, or you can come out, let the streetcar go and then I'll get you on another streetcar," the supervisor told the woman. She refused.

Nearby passengers argued back. Then the supervisor noticed Shari's camera, marched up the stairs and placed his hand over it. It isn't illegal to take pictures or record video on TTC property as long as it is not for commercial purposes, said Ross.

But the TTC does ask that passengers not do so.

It isn't clear what happened next. Ross said the supervisor didn't take the camera, but pushed it down "in an attempt to defuse the situation."

Then, Ross said, an elderly passenger grabbed the supervisor from behind in a bearhug.

"I didn't see a bearhug," the woman said. "The driver grabbed the camera and then another man grabbed his arm and took it away."

That's when the standoff began. Many of the passengers refused to disembark, but TTC officials weren't moving the streetcar, which created a convoy of streetcars behind it. About 50 passengers waited another 30 minutes while TTC officials stood on the platform awaiting police. They arrived and the situation was resolved without any charges being laid.