Commendations Corner #8 2013
Arrow Road: Vince Brillinger, Christopher Browne, Hayley Buccella, Krystal Buckley, Theresa DeVries, Emadeldin Elkareem: “I have always held that the TTC provides very good service, but the decisions this driver made working on the frontline where it counts the most are what takes the service from good to great.” … Nicholas Fish, Gary Gabral, Michelle Golding, Mykal Griffiths, Peter Kalamaris, Moshood Kassim, Rob Leva, Debra Mariano, Eddy Marriotti, Orville Martin, Hakirat Marwaha, Lucy Merrlles, Vaughan Morant, David Mountain, Donna Mountain, Denham Mullings, Elton Pais, Romeo Rasetta, Franklin Robb, Hernan Saulle, Roy Simmonds, Calvin Soderberg, Walter Stitt, Tracy Telford, Michael Teodori, Debra Thompson, Ravi Tugnait, Paul Villani, Roy Vitelli, Richard Wafer, Robert Young
Birchmount: Paul Antoniadis, Musa Bana, Kyle Bragan, Steve Burley, Shane Cameron, Simone Carrington, Anthony Cornacchia, David Cowan, William Currie, Charles Dowson, Tony Fay, Derek Ferguson, Richard George, Jim Gountounas, Neil Hermes, Steve Hopper, David Jardine, Anna Lichton: “I had an angel of a driver last week. She stopped five feet from my stop, shouted to me to come back to the bus. I had dropped some valuables out of my pocket.” … Gary Lux, Tony Matos, Peter Merriam, Rob Naylor, Steve Niezen, Christos Nikoletopoulos, Christian Nottbeck, Brian Osborne, Rino Persi, Teron Phillip, Eva Potiriadis, Angelo Protomanni, Tamin Qayoumi, Jason Royer, Cameron Shepherd, Chris Siomos, Craig St. John, Brian Williams
Corporate Communications: Mike DeToma
Customer Service Centre: Roger Caramanico, Elizabeth Foeller, Eleanor Kwan, Tara Mercorillo, Nanica Peters
Danforth: Simone Carrington, Germain Henry, Paul Lochan, Mario Vasquez, John Wallace
Eglinton: Daniel Aisthorpe, Gopi Balasubramaniam, Delmas Brown, Sonia Costa, Robert Chamberlain, Keri-Ann Craddock, Peter Culham, Gillian Davidson, Lisa Deri, Shirley Engerer, Laslo Eter, Rosario Figliano, Barbara Georgiou, Alfred Grimbleby, Salim Hirji, Stephen Jeffery, Keneve Jemmison, Christine Kennington, Jody Kerr, Leslie Madacsi, Jose Marques, Christopher Mancini, Nadirshah Nagji, Lydia Porter, Jason Santos, Michael Scott: “He was extremely polite and helpful, and let me know exactly where to get off – telling me that I could transfer to another bus, or just walk up a hill and U of T was on the right.” … George Sventzouris, Lawrence Wein
Malvern: Denny Azevedo, Tarachand Bhola, Shaine Cameron, Derek Collins, Eyarico Damene, Merrel Emmanuel, Randy Fyles, Paul Garrett, Ian Greenidge, Robert Hudson, Jeanard Igwe, Gary John, David McCallum: “He was courteous, very helpful, friendly and obviously experienced driver. He is why I would continue to take the TTC as the better way.” … John McGreeghan, Tina Musciagna, Todd O’Neill, Dayne Patrick, Sarona Primo, Megan Proctor, Bradley Sharp, Mark Terry
Mount Dennis: Ian Andrade: “This driver provides us the best ride every morning, very smooth. He put a smile on everyone’s face. He is polite and helpful. What a way to start my day when I see him in the driver’s seat. I only hope he does not change his route. Thanks from a daily rider for the past 12 years.” … Ross Bendle, Claudia Blackwood, Kevin Borges, Roy Buchanan, Mark Charles, Emran Chowdhury, Greg Cowles, Roger Dow, Thomas Elengikal, David Elrick, Kevin Emoff, Brian Fell, Philip Fermo, Sarafim Ferreira, Etelvina Figueiredo, Harpreet Girgla, Tammy Hendry, Stewart Howarth, Daniel Ivany, Bill Keys, Samuel Logan, Chad McKenna, Michel Nunes, Frederic Peters, Catherine Prates, Rayyan Quraishi, Kimberly Ross, Lee Schwalb, Asim Shafique, Wingyin So, Wendy Spencer, Denroy Stewart, Patricia Theriault, Iris Thompson, Jonathan Vieira, Lloyd Williams, Dana Wing, William Wirtz, Mazlan Zakaria, David Zappi
Plant Maintenance: Dominic Ranieri
Queensway: Vida Baksa, Amandeep Brar, Gary Campoverde, Mike Carenza, Mike Clark, Americo Difolca, Frank Dillon, Dennis Eliopoulos, George Jones, Oluwole Kushimo: “Today on my trip I witnessed this driver go out of his way to be very kind to a physically/mentally disabled passenger. His kindness towards this individual, as well as many others, inspired me to write this message because I feel that he should be recognized for the way he makes the TTC a comfortable place for everyone.” … Steve Lachapelle, Tom Mantas, Michael McDermott, Utku Mete, Cleveland Phillips, Carlo Naccarato, Mohammad Rana, Vince Sage, Marco Tucci, Michael Williams
Roncesvalles: Malik Ataul, Chris Crowe, Roman Dzerowicz, John Donaghey, Kimberly Gottschalk, Ryan Gourley, Colin Heaslip, Robert Hickey, Darcy Horechka, Mohammad Kamkar, Paul Kennedy, Glen Kietly, Daniel Krohmalnik, Terry Mannella, Paul McNamee, John Miller, Eugene Moldovanyi, Janet Moniz, Steve Mouland, Ann Nisiewicz, David Peacock, David Reid, Peter Reinhardt, Donovan Ritch, Richard Rost, Mirko Safin, George Schpuniar, Michael Sdrolias, Mitchell Soares, Johnemil Surkos, Khalil Ahsan, Eric Tanner, Paulo Tersigni, John Thacker, Lou Tomei, George Trivanovic
Russell: Stephen Barreca, Maryna Butenko, Albert D’Cruz, Renwick Felix, Richard Fredericks, Haralambos Gilopoulos, Luigi Locante, Bon Lockery, John Nikas, Bruno Pappas, Marilyn Pearson, Charline Sarjue, Rudy Thomlinson, Mark Urrea, George Zavos
Stations: Candido Barreiro, Michael Harriott, Richard Krzywonos, Terry Lesyk, Danny Myles
Wheel-Trans: Margaret Abraham, Stan Bedward, Trevor Blunt, Alan Bouchie, Denise Bowes, Ken Brown, Valerie Brown, Matt Burns, Glen Chadwick, Cheryl Cunning, Gil Dicion, Patricia Dickinson, Kevin Dier, Elaine Doucette: “After explaining the crazy situation to her and begging that she change all the rides to the new location she quickly, efficiently and respectfully did her magic.” … John Dreyer, John Ferguson, Evelyn Gartner, Darcy Gaudier, Mario Georatsellos, Eric Gottlieb, Mike Grasso, Lana Gould, Steve Gwin, Jamie Hayward, Brian Howard, Peggy Howard, Mark Kahansky, Marcia Kerr, Karin Kimball, Gary Lawson, Theresa Legge, Vishnu Maharaj, Eric Mak, Muhammad Malik, Cristina Martinez, Michael McPorland, Andres Menendez, Robert Mills, Karim Mohamed, Tom Morrissey, Sam Natividad, Kathy Paparizos, Bill Petelka, Jeff Rock, Connie Rojas, Michael Schryer, Mehboob Shaikh, Nat Spartinelli, Abraham Stepanian, Mitras Stergios, Dwight Thomas, Bill Traynor, Trent Ward, George Zafeiropoulos, Roman Zevelev
Greg Dixon still a true hero 25 years later
Retired Gray Coach Driver Greg Dixon received hearty congratulations from CEO Andy Byford on a recent visit to Head Office. The meeting allowed Byford to commend Dixon personally for his heroic actions that foiled a bus hijacking attempt nearly 25 years ago. Back in 1989, a man with a gun attempted to hijack his Gray Coach bus near Orangeville. Dixon tackled the gunman, disarmed him and turned him over to police without any injury resulting to his passengers.
His heroics received extensive media coverage at the time and earned him numerous citations, including a medal of bravery from Canada’s Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn.
“It was my absolute honour to meet Greg and to be able to shake his hand on behalf of the Commission,” Byford said. “How he kept his cool under such circumstances is remarkable and every passenger on that coach owes him a huge debt of thanks.”
The attempted hijacking of a Gray Coach bus occurred less than 72 hours after a hijacking of a Greyhound bus on Parliament Hill.