Transportation is vital for students’, helping them to arrive in time for school, get home, attend extracurriculars and more. R.H. King Academy is home to over a 1000 students who adhere to the imputed instructional time for academic growth. Each student arrives at school in various ways, a very popular mode of transportation being the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission) buses that stop at King.
The Toronto Transit Commission provides various public transit services for “daily commuters in Toronto through their network of subways, light-rail vehicles, streetcars and buses. The TTC’s Wheel-Trans service provides specialized door-to-door transit services for individuals with accessible transportation needs.”
When it comes to TTC buses in the early morning, various commuters pack into compact vehicles. It can often be difficult to hitch a ride onto these cramped buses and carriages, which in turn, can be a roadblock preventing students from arriving on time.
Sadiha Khan, a grade nine student, says, “I like how easily accessible the bus is, which can actually be both a good and bad thing.”
Elaborating further on her remark, she states the buses are easy to access because there are so many bus stops. “They’re pretty much everywhere.” According to Moovit, a popular public transit app, the TTC has 398 bus routes in Toronto with 8562 bus stops.
There are two sides to every coin, and while easy accessibility means easy usage of the TTC, it also means encountering the “wrong” people at times.
“One day, I was coming home from school and about three stops before I had to get off, two men started fighting and cursing at each other. It got chaotic really fast and I ended up getting off the bus before I actually needed to,” shares Khan.
Depending on the TTC can also be a con. For instance, buses often do not come right on time and are vulnerable to change. Recently, from Saturday, November 2nd, 2024 to Sunday, November 3rd, 2024, subway service on Line 2 – Victoria Park to Kennedy Station had been shut down. Those depending on subway service on Line 2 had to find other ways to commute to their destination—such as street buses—which typically take much longer.
There are many other modes of transportation that students find themselves using, such as bikes, cars, taxis, etc. “My dad usually drives me to school, but last week I mostly had to take the bus, since our car was being repaired,” shares Sophia Zhao, a grade nine student at King. She adds on to her reflection upon having experienced this, “It made me realize how lucky I am to have a ‘personal chauffeur’ who drives me to school everyday.”
“I believe it is important because many students spend a lot of money on transportation, yet they’re still kids. Most of them don’t have a source of income and not all parents are able to give kids transportation money. In that case, they’d have to walk all the way to school,” comments Zhao
While there is undoubtedly a long road of improvement ahead, the TTC appears to be a crucial aspect of almost every individual’s daily life. “I wish teenagers didn’t have to pay for the bus, but I get why it’s not free,” says Khan. “To be honest, the TTC is quite useful and I think they’re doing good work for the community.”
