The TTC Is Investigating After A Driver Called Out A "Foul-Smelling" Passenger (VIDEO)
The video is "concerning," says the transit agency.
A TTC operator was allegedly caught on film making an announcement asking passengers to complain about a "foul-smelling person" aboard the train. The TTC driver video was shared on social media on January 30. The incident apparently occurred at around 8:30 p.m. after stopping at Spadina Station and the transit agency is investigating.
According to Twitter user @ungermansears, this happened on a TTC car heading westbound at around 8:30 p.m on Thursday.
Dylan Ungerman Sears, who shared the video, told Narcity that two announcements were made by the operator, but it wasn't until the second speech that the camera started rolling.
"The train was stopped for a few minutes at Spadina and then it started to move," Ungerman Sears wrote to Narcity.
"The conductor made one announcement, which lasted about 40 seconds (ended just as I pulled out my camera to record). A few minutes later, he made the second announcement, which you can hear in the video."
The 40-second clip doesn't show any people in the frame.
However, the TTC operator can be heard talking over the vehicle's loudspeaker about how a passenger in his cabin was allegedly refusing to leave and making people uncomfortable due to his odour.
"This train and car, in particular, has an extremely foul-smelling person on it who is refusing to leave the system," the driver says.
"And, once again, I'm going to say if you do not like that smell, please call the TTC and complain because they, once again, seem to think they have the right to do this to the train."
The voice continues: "Unfortunately we can't do much about it as the operator so yes, once again, we need the public to get together and help take care of this issue because the TTC keeps allowing them on the system, even though they don't have the right to be there when they're doing that to the train and making everybody's lives very, very uncomfortable."
The announcement ended with the voice saying that this is also a health and safety issue.
"The video is concerning. It is being investigated," said TTC media relations spokesperson Stuart Green in a tweet.
"As a rule, we cannot and would not remove a customer from a train because of how they smell. If operators suspect a person is in distress or if there is a risk to the public, they are directed to contact transit control for instruction."
In the video, some laughter and other reactions can ostensibly be heard.
Ungerman Sears shares that the subway was very full since there had been minor delays previously.
"It was a very full subway as there had been some minor delays, and there was a lot of chatter afterwards with people reacting, a lot of laughter, sadly," she says.
Narcity has reached out to the TTC for further comment.