“Press the alarm strip if you require emergency medical, fire or police services” is what it now says on every new subway – a strip on the yellow button and then a poster – threatening a $500 fine if ‘misused’. As someone who takes the subway on a regular basis, this slight change in policy is very alarming to me. What the sign used to say was “Use for Fire, Harassment, Illness, Accidents, Passenger Safety and Vandalism”. And I, for one, am in favor of the old policy, despite the minute change.
I think it needs to be established that there are creepy people on the subway. Very creepy people. I’ve viewed screaming matches, accusations, shoving and creepy old men. More than once, I’ve seen people run up and down the subway, screaming. My friends have been pressed up against men many times, unwillingly, I’ve been kicked by old ladies and let’s be real. Downtown is a sketchy place.What the old button (and policy) provided, was a deterrence for creepy people and a safety net for the passengers.
Old Alarm and Policy
Let’s talk about the removal of ‘harassment’. This has simply been replaced with “police services”. Harassment is something that runs a very fine line on what requires police assistance. It’s a blurry and frankly subjective line. Most of the harassment and assault on the subway frankly doesn’t require police assistance. It requires a safety mechanism that would alert others on the train and perhaps the conductor, to be aware and step in. The old system had a conductor assessing each situation when the button was pressed as well as an alarm – which doesn’t necessarily mean a call to 911, but it does mean intervention. The new system? A call to 911. I’m sure that some investigation would be conducted, but unless it results in a needed call, there would be a fine of $500 and the problem wouldn’t be solved. I think this is problematic. Instead of getting help – often not police required assistance, but that would be decided after an intervention, it means that either the police will have to be involved or the fine.
new poster
What does that mean. Now it’s a deterrence. It was a deterrence before, but now it’s a deterrence to the victims not the harasser. In fear that your situation may be overlooked as something desperately needing police assistance, people would simply stop pressing the button, taking longer to think and no longer be as safe as there is no one to be able to help them. The old system was deterrence to the harasser. Once I was kicked on the subway. An old lady, with 2 sharp kicks to my ankles. And then another 2. I asked her to stop, but she didn’t. I knew how it would sound it I tried reporting that an old lady was using me as a kicking bag. But my friend, she loudly proclaimed that if she didn’t stop – the yellow button would be pressed. Immediately she stopped, apologized quickly and got off. This proves something. The yellow button is deterrence. It stops harassers for the fear of getting into trouble with the TTC. Furthermore, that $500 fine is scary. It’s intimidating. Which is great when you want to scare people into paying the correct fare, or even when you have a sign saying ‘Bus Only’. But when it comes to peoples safety, precautions should be taken.
Now, I agree that these yellow buttons are pressed often. It was pressed 1 459 times in 2012[1], but just behind the passenger emergency alarm issue – causing delays, was something called Rolling Stock. It was the cause for 1 323 delays. Rolling Stock is the technical name for the trains needing emergency repairs. Almost the same amount of delays caused by passenger assistance alarms were caused my malfunctioning trains. I believe that instead of possibly compromising the passengers safety, they can reduce the delay number by updating and fixing their own trains. The issue I have with it is that I think that this hurts the people and is detrimental. Although this seems like a small shift, it’s definitely a shift I feel and have noticed immediately.
– Ange
stay golden ☼
Eyes Wide Shut 