I ain’t been on the TTC since dinosaurs ran for mayor, fam. Back in high school days, man was hopping the 52 Lawrence from Kipling, bussing it to Lawrence West, dipping southbound to St. Clair West, then catching the rattly streetcar to Avenue like it was nothing. Commute home? Summerhill to Kipling, Yonge-Bloor shuffle, then the 45 Kipling North straight to the ends. Man had the Globe and Mail, a dusty Star Wars paperback, a Walkman louder than common sense, and eyes peeled for spank bank deposits.

And real talk? The biggest ops on the TTC back then were BO and delays. Outliers aside, that was it. No chaos, no madness, no headline-worthy foolishness on the daily. Just the odd cranky person and someone blasting Eurodance too early in the morning.

Now I’m back from my long stretch of expatitude, and bruv… how does a world-class city not have toilets in every station? That’s criminal. Embarrassing behaviour.

But to be fair, Toronto wasn’t like this back then. I don’t remember the housing market violating people like it does now. I don’t remember half the city working three jobs just to afford a mattress beside a boiler. I don’t remember entire tent cities lining the ravines. I don’t remember folks waiting eight months for a family doctor like they’re trying to get concert tickets. Maybe I was young and clueless — but I read the newspaper every day like the geek I proudly remain. I’d remember a crisis this loud.

From where I’m sitting now, the TTC itself has leveled up — cleaner trains, better screens, stations that don’t look like Cold War bunkers. But the people riding it? We’re the ones on decline. Everyone’s stressed, burnt out, underpaid, underslept, and barely holding it together. Coping mechanisms? Gone. Support systems? Ghosted. When riders are hurting, the system is gonna reflect that pain — full stop.

So every time some pundit or Councillor starts yammering about “TTC safety plans” like it’s a custodial issue… miss me with that. You can’t deep-clean despair. You can’t deploy security to fix a decade of government neglect.

Until Torontonians stop voting for country-club cosplay politicians who treat public service like a networking brunch, nothing changes. Period.

Affordable Housing. Accessible Hospitals and family doctors. Schools that aren’t held together with duct tape and hope. That’s the bare-minimum trilogy ANY government should be grinding on. Yet nobody — left, right, centre, diagonal — is delivering anything close to timely, measurable improvement. It’s embarrassing. Worse than embarrassing — it’s negligent.

So if the everyday Toronto man and woman keep getting squeezed, ignored, priced out, and gaslit?Don’t expect the TTC to suddenly become a zen retreat. The system is only as safe as the people inside it are supported.

And right now?

Mandem are tired. Fam are struggling. Riders are hurting. Fix that first. Everything else is noise.