Toronto Transit Commission

Ahh, the wonderful Toronto Transit Commission. I spent many hours sitting on the subway, every day, going to and from school. And then later, as a Uof W co-op student, taking the subway to and from work.

I've always been intrigued by the subways. They've always represented, for me, a peaceful place to sit and think about the day. Or chat, if travelling with someone. Or read.

On Transfers

Once, I wrote a Text Based Game about collecting transfers on the subway. Never finished though. It was Inform-style, and very cool. You'd travel around the city, and have a menu of possible options to do at every room. This project quickly degraded into a maze of IFs and GOTOs, as well as rapidly growing state variables to keep track of all prior decisions. It failed after about fifteen rooms or so, but this project did peak the interest for what later became the Ar Sud? project.

On Full Subway Cars

I don't mind full subway cars most of the time. Especially not on cold wintery days. Since I'm normally at an end subway station, the cars are empty -- and thus cold -- for atleast the first few stations. Although sitting on a seat warmed by a previous occupant is dizzyingly uncomfortable to the average person, it's remarkably desirable on the coldest of cold days.

Naturally, a large number of people are required to create the requisite atmosphere of sorts to trap the heat. Otherwise it's a losing battle, with the subway doors flying open every few minutes and hard-earned heat being replaced by a rather cold wind.

But there's one thing that ticks me off about full subway cars.