What is Toronto Transit Camp?
Toronto Transit Camp is a one-day unconference where people of all types who depend on and care about the TTC — designers, transit geeks, bloggers, visual artists, tech geeks and cultural creators — will gather to discuss, collaborate and brainstorm ideas about the transit system we know and, in spite of all its warts, love. Over the day, there’ll be a number of sessions in which you can participate and put forth your ideas for improving both the TTC website and the general TTC experience. All the ideas generated at Toronto Transit Camp will be delivered to the commission for their consideration.
“Unconference”? What’s that?
Didn’t you click on the “unconference” link in the paragraph above? Very well, then: consider what normally happens at a session at most conferences — you have a speaker who makes a presentation for anywhere from a half-hour to two hours, after which there may be a few minutes devoted to questions and possibly some time put aside to “break out into discussion groups”. The unconference concept turns this around by making sessions mostly about asking questions and discussion rather than a lecture. In such a setup, the “speaker” is more of a discussion facilitator or moderator. We feel that while the conference structure has value when you want to impart knowledge, we feel that the unconference structure works better for what we want to do: generate ideas, stiumlate discussion and build community.
Okay, I like the idea, but what makes you think that the TTC are going to listen to the ideas generated at this conference?
I don’t blame you for being cynical. The TTC commission has, for the past couple of decades, been old hide-bound Soviet politburo: a bunch of old guys, apparently out of touch with real world needs, making do with increasingly outdated equipment and desperate to maintain the status quo. However, with the installment of the new chair, Ward 18 councillor Adam Giambrone. He’s the youngest-ever ever chair of the TTC — a mere slip of a lad at the age of 29 — and quite receptive to new ideas. So much, in fact, that he put the question to the local blogosphere asking for input into how to improve the TTC’s rather dismal website. Think of it as a TTC experiencing their own version of glasnost, and think of Giambrone as a better-looking Gorby without the pigeon doo-doo or whatever that thing was on his head.
Furthermore, we organizers of this event are pretty persuasive people. We’ve gotten our foot in the door at city events, companies both small and large have offered to sponsor events we hold, and we’re already getting our press coverage for Toronto Transit Camp set up. We understand just what a well-organized, active, open and smart community is capable of, and we have the drive to kick-start it.
So when and where will Toronto Transit Camp take place?
Toronto Transit Camp will take place at the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen Street West, at Dufferin) on Sunday, February 4th, from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
What?! Isn’t that Super Sunday?
Yes, but the game doesn’t start until 6:30 that evening. Perhaps you can live without seeing the pre-game stuff this year.
How much will it cost to attend?
It’s free. You’ll probably have to buy your own lunch, but there’s no admission charge for Toronto Transit Camp.
Who’s paying for it then? Is this coming out of my taxes, you socialist creeps?
Not at all, my free market friend. The Gladstone Hotel is giving us the space at a big discount, and a number of civic minded companies such as Radiant Core and my employer, Tucows, are sponsoring the event.
The only catch is that we can handle a maximum of 100 attendees. We ask that anyone who attends can be there for the full day and is ready, willing and able to contribute to the discussion.
I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Where can I find out more?
The Toronto Transit Camp site has all sorts of information about the event and will be updated regularly both before and after the event. Check it out!
16 replies on “Toronto Transit Camp: Sunday, February 4th, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.”
Ouch, 9:30 AM on a Sunday!
Ah, also, the subway doesn’t open until 9:00 AM on Sundays, so if someone is coming from farther away they may not make it on time.
It was either start early or run the danger of losing people to the Superbowl.
Arriving a little late is okay — remember, unconferences are ad-hoc participatory events rather than strict conferences, so arriving a little bit late for one isn’t so bad.
Actually, that’s a good topic for discussion at the Camp. What kind of subway system doesn’t run until 9am just because it’s Sunday?
Absolutely, Rohan – I couldn’t believe it when I heard it! Even the MBTA in Boston (aka Puritanville, USA) doesn’t do that – they begin at about six. Of course it does shut down a bit earlier than the TTC. But 9am is just stupid.
I think it is one of those artifacts from the past when the federal Lord’s Day Act and provincial Retail Business Establishments statute prevented working/shopping on Sundays. Apparently the TTC did not move with the times.
Hah, do you guys think that the union and its allmighty leader Bob Kinnear are going to agree that their members work earlier on Sundays! Good luck. No, really.
Union issues are part of the reason I think that the upside is limited for TTC improvement. I hope the participants at Toronto Transit Camp don’t waste too much time on things that require union flexibility. Creating good plans that go nowhere for that reason will not only be a waste of time but, worse, will discourage further efforts.
More generally, I think it’s too bad that Toronto Transit Camp = Toronto TTC Camp. Monopolies are generally bad things.
We will devote some time to what I like to call “problem triage”, splitting what’s broken in the TTC into:
…and then spend our time accordingly.
The TTC’s “last train” times are also an artifact from those dark ages, back when last call for alcohol was 1 a.m..
Well, there is no harm in making the suggestions that require some union flexibility to the Commission. There will be tradeoffs in terms of what they can actually accomplish, but deciding to live with union-imposed restrictions (derived from laws no longer in force!) is being a bit too pessimistic.
If the Commission doesn’t know (or care) that the public wants these things, they will never push the union to adapt and evolve. We’ve had the status quo long enough, it’s time for some change.
I guess this is how you can tell you’re getting old, ’cause I have not closed a bar in ages. I thought “last call” was still around 0130…. What time is it really?
Just to clarify, when I said above that I thought it was too bad that Toronto Transit Camp = Toronto TTC Camp, that was not a criticism of the camp, but rather a lament about the reality that around here “Transit” = “TTC”.
2 a.m., unless you you used to go to The Matador, which meant that the boozin’ could last considerably longer. Sadly, it’s become a law-abiding establishment and in the process, a lame shadow of its former self.
The name “Toronto Transit Camp” is in fact a play on “Toronto Transit Commission”, so it’s appropriate in this case.
As for limiting the scope of this Camp to the TTC — remember that we’re taking advantage of the current situation, which is a current of interest in the TTC with Adam Giambrone’s installation as the new chair and considerable blog interest in our transit system. Besides, the TTC is already a big enough topic for a one day idea-fest without other subjects added.
It’s not that we’re ruling out all other transit systems that serve this city, but we’ve got a big enough one to deal with at this event, and we’ve got to set some boundaries on the discussion topics.
Now there’s plenty of room for discussion of Toronto transit as a whole in the upcoming OpenCities conference…
The unconference is a great idea. Apparently others have been blogging about the TTC brand issues lately as well: http://www.torontoist.com/archives/2006/10/our_ttc_swag_su.php
Note the many excellent Tshirt ideas. My fave is the vomit comet.