The Unwritten Rules of the TTC

Let people off first

If there is one rule everyone agrees on, this is it. When the subway doors open, the people inside need to get out before you get in, which means not planting yourself directly in front of the doors and not treating the doorway as a nice place to stand once you are on board. Streetcars have their own version: if a crowd steps off the rear doors to let someone exit, let those people back on before you push in, and if the only spot left is the step that keeps the door propped open, wait for the next car, because a driver legally cannot pull away with someone past the white line. Move into the middle of the vehicle. There is room there, always, even when it looks like there isn't.

Have your fare ready. Keep it moving.

One of the most common problems is the person who arrives at the front of the bus and only then begins excavating their bag for fare. Sort that out before you board, and if you already have exact change, you can slip past the lineup at the collector's booth and drop it in, provided you manage it without body-checking anyone into the glass. On escalators, walk on the left and stand on the right, the way the old signs used to remind everyone before they quietly vanished one year. And do not come to a full stop at the top or bottom to check your phone, because the people behind you will pile straight into your back.

One person, one seat

Take your backpack off in a crowd and set it between your feet, heavy or not. Your bag does not get its own seat either. On a mostly empty train, nobody cares, but the moment people start standing, it goes in your lap.

Things that make people change cars

A few habits reliably send riders fleeing to the far end of the vehicle. Music played out loud through a phone speaker tops the list, and the verdict is unanimous: it sounds terrible and impresses no one. Food with a smell is close behind, the three-hour-old fish sandwich and the hard-boiled egg peeled on the subway being the usual offenders. And then there is public grooming, which is where transit stories tip from annoying into unforgettable, whether it is someone clipping their nails onto the floor, a woman peeling off fake nails and leaving them on the seat, or the occasional character doing something you will spend the rest of the day trying to un-see.

Just ask for the seat

If someone is sitting on the aisle and you want the window, a simple "Sorry, can I grab that seat?" works far better than sighing and hovering. Tall riders often take the aisle on purpose for the legroom, so that is usually why it is occupied, rather than any attempt to keep you out. And if you are parked in a priority seat with your face in a game, keep half an eye out, because the person with the cane should not have to tap you awake to get it.

The line-jumpers

The purest fury on any transit is reserved for the line-jumper, and the busy streetcar queues have plenty of them. You watch someone walk up to a hundred-person line, glance left, glance right, shrug, and wedge themselves in near the front as though the rest of the crowd were scenery. The most reliable remedy is not a shoving match but a loud and very polite offer to help them find the back of the line, delivered as if queuing were a genuinely confusing task. It rarely wins the spot back, but it does make the point in front of an audience.

A few kindnesses and clever tricks

Not all of it is scolding. If someone manages to squeeze onto a jammed car, root for them and shuffle over an inch, because they have as much right to the ride as you do. In winter, the warmest seat on the train is the one between two people in big coats, so take it when you can. Always grab a transfer even when you are sure you won't need it, because that is precisely when you will, and say thank you to the driver on your way out the front doors, since there are plenty of tired drivers and the good ones notice.

The rule under all the rules

Every one of these smaller courtesies is really the same idea wearing different clothes: be aware that there are other people around you, whose day matters as much as yours, and that you are not more important than any of them. Get that part right, and the rest sorts itself out.

Crowdsourced in Toronto 🇨🇦