How Clean is Your TTC Station? | Toronto Cleaning Service
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How Clean is Your TTC Station?

How Clean is Your TTC Station? | Toronto Cleaning Service
November 21, 2017

How Clean is Your TTC Station? | Toronto Cleaning Service 

 

Many Torontonians depend on the subway over their cars to get around the city- but how clean is your TTC station? You might be surprised to hear that despite continuous efforts, initiatives and plans set into place by TTC maintenance staff, 30 stations did not meet the benchmark of cleanliness in the second quarter of 2017. However, there are only 63 stations within the subway system…meaning that less than half qualified as clean. Was your station clean? What makes a station clean in the first place? Inspired by this article

 

How Clean Is Your TTC Station? High Park
How Clean Is Your TTC Station? High Park

 

What a Clean TTC Station Means…

 

In ye old days, garbage used to be picked up from the TTC trains at the end of the day. Yep, the train cars only got cleaned after all the passengers had gotten off and the trains were safe and sound in the service yard. Can you imagine the pile up by the end of the day? Thank goodness the system changed! Now, you can see maintenance employees at terminal stations like Kennedy and Finch ‘spot cleaning’ trains before they start their route again.

 

How Clean Is Your TTC Station? Train
How Clean Is Your TTC Station? Train

 

However, it’s not the garbage on the train, in the stations or even in the public restrooms that’s the biggest problem. Actually, what TTC employees are most concerned with is the litter that winds up on the tracks. In fact, if you’ve ever been scared by the phrase “smoke at track level” as the reason for a delay, it’s the fault of litter. Yep, all that paper and garbage in the tracks is the perfect recipe to start a fire.

 

What Makes a Station Clean?

 

When you think of cleaning, you might automatically think of dusting and washing. However, that’s not what happens at the stations. Because of size, a station will undergo a deep clean, on different cycles, performed by different crews, at different times of the year. For instance, major cleaning projects like floor polishing, and cleaning of escalators and elevators don’t happen that often. Plus, because of the cyclical nature of the cleaning, no one station will ever be in mint condition at any given time.

 

How Clean Is Your TTC Station? Track Garbage
How Clean Is Your TTC Station? Track Garbage

 

In addition, there are other factors that can affect a station’s clean score, like whether they are above-ground. For example, above-ground and open air stations like Warden and Keele have more chance of experiencing issues like garbage flying onto the platform and into the tracks. You don’t need to be too worried about track fires though. Unlike the big cleaning projects that happen annually, track cleaning happens every few weeks.

 

How Clean is Your Station?

 

So, how does your station rank? If you haven’t put down your cell-phone long enough to notice the cleanliness of your commute, we’ll help you out. Firstly, you should know that the Bloor-Danforth Line is dirtier than the Yonge-University Line. In fact, St. George Station was the only one on Line 2 to meet the TTC’s cleanliness threshold. Though at the end of the day, the latest data gathered in 2017 reveals Woodbine to be the dirtiest station, and Rosedale to be the cleanest. However, you should note that even if an extra large Coke got spilled on the subway platform just before a cleaning audit, it would effect the station’s score.

 

How Clean Is Your TTC Station? St. George
How Clean Is Your TTC Station? St. George

 

Is your station one of the top 10 dirtiest or cleanest in the city? If you can’t find your station, check out this article for a complete list of cleanliness.

 

Dirtiest – Cleanest: Woodbine, Dundas West, Chester, Scaborough Town Centre, Donlands, Old Mill, Coxwell, Main, Dufferin, Pape.

 

Cleanest – Dirtiest: Rosedale, Davisville, King, Downsview, Wellesley, Museum, Queen, Ellesmere, North York Centre, Dundas.

 

TTC: One of the Cleaner Systems

 

However dirty or clean your station is, you can feel good knowing Toronto still has one of the cleanest subway systems in the world. In fact, despite it’s limited lines, the TTC won Transit System of the Year in North America! As TTC spokesperson Stuart Green said, “If you look around the world at cities that are moving millions of people, the TTC has one of the cleanest (transit systems)”. However, problems may arise when the new stations in Vaughan open in the future.

 

How Clean Is Your TTC Station? TTC Win
How Clean Is Your TTC Station? TTC Win

 

Despite being wildly convenient to commuters, and architectural masterpieces in their own right, these new Vaughan stations will be significantly larger than traditional ones. This means, they will require far more resources to be maintained. At the end of the day, only time will tell how the TTC will deal with those issues. Until then, riding the subway is still much more cost-effective than taking an Uber. Plus, check out our other article to find out even weirder facts about cleaning!

 

Hungry for more?

 

This post was brought to you by Maid4Condos, a top-rated residential cleaning service dedicated to the people of Toronto. Maid4Condos has been a committed partner to the Toronto cleaning and construction scene for years, and continues to provide exceptional cleaning services to clients. Get a FREE quote & book your cleaning today or follow this link to learn more of what we’re all about!

 

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