Commendations Corner - March

Arrow Road: Andy Blossom, David Blundon, Philip Carreiro, Shahin Derakhshandeh, Mykal Griffiths, Michael Hansen

Birchmount: Nizam Abass, Richard Barkey, Valentine Bartlette, Daniel Bellehumeur, Douglas Bray, Joe Buiza, Teri Cadogan, Anthony Captain, Troy Cardozo, Ralph Charles, Ranan De Silva, Totlin English, Kurleigh Gibson, Nicola Givans, Solomon Gyabeng, Azwad Haider, Zabihullah Habibi, Neil Hermes, Donica John, Rajeev Lamba, Derek Landry, Gary Lux, Tony Matos: “I would just like to say a big thank-you to Tony. My boyfriend and I were involved in a head-on collision at the intersection of Danforth and Pape. We had pulled over to the side of the road to exchange information with the couple that hit us when Tony knocked on our window. He was stopped in his bus at the red light and saw everything. He went out of his way to come to the car to see if we were okay as well as giving us his contact information and consent to be our witness if our insurance needed a statement. They called him and it made the investigation a lot easier.” … Stephen Niezen, Eva Potiriadis, Sergio Medeiros, Joan Pitters, Frank Ragone, Randy Ramsukh, Danny Rideout, Manuel Ruivo, Jatinder Sharma, Roy Simmonds, Wayne Stewart, Darrin Ward, Christopher Yates

Corporate Communications: Mike DeToma

Customer Service Centre: Tara Mercorilla, Hanh Nguyen

Danforth: Randy Caruso, Philip Matthews, Karol Sadurski, Don Walker, Hanh Nguyen

Eglinton: Esmael Abdurahman, Christina Atkinson, Christopher Baker, Michael Bilodeau: “The woman was obviously distressed and he, almost matter-of-factly, alleviated her concerns and was very reassuring. For that woman, it appeared to mean the world. For me, I thought it was a nice enough gesture to mention it. However you are training your drivers to handle the public, keep it up.” … William Broad, Mohammed Brown, Tammy Brown, Lincoln Bruney, Jose Faminial, Casey Farhall, Benson Genah, Curt Howard, Geoffrey Lewis, Mike Marson, Michael Marges, Donald McKend, Warren McNeill, Tim Mitchell, Prince Peprah, Roydel Porter, Paul Taylor, Ravinder Verma, Curate Williams, Steven Wrigley

Malvern: Saleh Ahamedi, Ramon Alo, Fekade Asfaw: “I have never seen such a caring and loving bus driver. This man actually put on his coat and assisted an elderly lady to the sidewalk as there was too much snow. He was nice to every single person who got onto the bus, and extremely patient – I think he’s an angel from heaven? Please give him a raise!! Or a million dollars!” …Denny Azevedo, Tanya Bartley, Rick Blencoe, John Brown, Brent Brumwell, Peter Evans, Ted Gaunt, Ian Greenidge, Ian Fox, Tom James, Harley Johnson, David Judson, Gerald Kolten, Grigorios Lagos, Tracey Learner, Rajeev Mahalingam, Melroy Miranda, Tina Musciagna, Randy Nabert, Sarona Primo, Wayne Simpson, Nicholas Tambacopoulos, Linda Thompson, Leonard Turner, Paul Watkins

Mount Dennis: Paul Andrews, Kenrick Augustine, Parget Banga, Kevin Borges, Craig Brown, Patrick Bygrave, Silvana Cantarella, Robert Culling, David Elrick, Errol Germain, Kiranjit Jassal, John Kolliopoulos, Edmond Lapointe, Anne Lawless, Samuel Logan, Avni Lushaku, Szon Gah De Ojeek, Helder Ramos: “A blind man entered the bus at York University and told the bus driver that he was kind of lost and that he was looking for a certain GO bus. The bus driver got up from his seat and took the time to walk the blind man around the loop to where the GO buses were. That put a smile on my face. Please say thank you for me!” … Giuseppe Rizza, David Spence, Lee Schwalb, Joanne Simpson, Denroy Stewart, Christopher Thompson

Queensway: Hussan Asheeq, Joe Barbieri, Levent Biber, John Bossio, Maninder Deol, Wayne Ferreira, Richard Frankowica, Patricia Gale, Mark Griffiths, Marlon James, George Jones, Beth Kielty, Utku Mete, Henrique Pacheco, Travis Richards: “He was truly a breath of fresh air. While most people would get frustrated, he simply took control of the situation and kept informing us of updates as they happened … Long story short, this is the best service I have ever had on the TTC. I’m only 27, but have taken the TTC for over 15 years now to school and work. I truly believe he deserves recognition for his amazing service, especially during the morning commute.” … James Roach, Alisa Simpson, Andy Sokolovas, Alkiviadis Stratigakis, Harjinder Tatla, Dave Torrance, Ishmail Tufail, Helen Yurcan, Henry Zwolinski

Roncesvalles: Mohamed Aden, Inese Alexander, Joshua Anderchek, Steven Camilleri, Ashia Conliffe, Elizabeth Defend, Justin Dunlop, Roman Dzerowicz, William Francsics, John Hefford, Colin Heaslip, Ken Hopkins, Terry Mannella, Roman Nazarewycz, Peter Pappas, Sharman Potechin, Lindsay Richardson, Mitchell Soares, Matilda Varga, Stephen Welch, Erin Wemyss, Wayne White

Russell: Stephen Barreca, Jason Brenner, Christine Bulmer, Wayne Campbell, Karl Cooper, Jose Da Silva, Enriquito Dela Riva, Steven Duncan, Ben Escultor, Rex Garcia, Robert Gawn, Christopher Gonsalves, Erin Hillman, Glen Hughes, Daniel Lendvay, Chris Lewis, Joseph Martinez, Geoffrey McCaul, Brian Morrow, William Moyer, Kurt Richards, Matthew Ritchie, Glenn Santacona, Rudy Tomlinson, Rayman Wallace

Stations/Collectors: Linda Baker, Tom James, Brian McGuire, Michael Townley, Joe Virgilio

Wheel-Trans: Farzad Akram, Linda Anderson, Chris Angelidis, Gaston Beckles, Jim Bloxam, Alan Bouchie, Andrew Bourne, Daryl Branton, Dave Burgess, Laurie Compton, Keith Conway, John Corcoran, Frank Currie, John Czindl, John Ferguson, Evelyn Gartner, Jennifer Gibbs, Corrado Guido, Richard Harrington, Peggy Howden, Danny Jeffries, Chris Jorge, Andrew Keenan, Steve Kolnik, Barb Kurelek, Chris Latour, Theresa Legge, Louis Liabotis, John Lombardi, Cecil London, Rick Machado, Bill MacKinnon, Cristina Martinez, Jim McCarthy, Lisann Mentor, Karim Mohamed, Melissa Richards, Ricky Rideout, David Robinson, Bonnie Semkin, Mike Slade, Alex Stupar, John Tiernan, Marten Vlietstra, Weston Williams, Ian Whelan, Ataulmajeed Zafar, David Zapparoli, Brad Zuber

Wilson-Bus: Deno Beharry, Thomas Ditlof, Charmaine Dupont, Ronald Keats, Michael Voycey

Wilson-Subway: Richard Brunton, Khem Chandra

It was a dark and snowy night on Davenport Road …

Dear Mr. Byford,

It was the dark and snowy night of March 1st. Due to the sudden and unexpected snowfall, getting around town wasn’t going to be easy. Just to give you an idea of what we were up against: minivans were struggling to climb Spadina Road! But it was Saturday night, and we had a housewarming party to attend, so we weren’t about to kowtow to the crummy weather! We made it to the party, and after a convivial evening and plenty of snacks, we were ready to go home.

The plan was to catch the elusive 127 Davenport bus, but we knew there was a good chance we might miss it – even if we gave ourselves what we thought was enough time. Failing to catch the 127 would have resulted in a treacherous walk, nay, trudge home. Not to mention the fact that my companion was sporting inappropriate footwear, and I had, admittedly, consumed a few glasses of fancy punch.

We had eight minutes to walk from Casa Loma, to the Walmer Road bus stop. Nerves were fraught, but spirits were high – on account of the fancy punch! Under less snowy conditions it would have been a cakewalk, but alas, it was not to be. By the time we reached Davenport we knew our chances of catching the bus were slim to nil, but we ventured on with hope in our hearts. As we trudged forward, I made a point of looking back and lo and behold I saw the familiar blue lights of the TTC appear in the distance. There was no way we’d make it to the bus stop in time. Out of sheer desperation I waved my arms like one of those inflatable wacky waving tube men. And then it happened: the driver (Mount Dennis’ Avni Lushaku) slowed the bus down to crawl, matching the speed of our trudge. Could it be? Had he seen us? Could chivalry and simple human kindness still exist in 2014? Yes. The answer is yes.

The bus driver actually stopped the bus and picked us up at least two large blocks from Walmer Road and drove us to our stop at Oakwood and Davenport. As if that wasn’t good enough, when he saw that we had a bit further west to go he coaxed us back on to the bus and drove us to my front door. It should be noted that the bus was practically empty, so he was not inconveniencing anyone with his largesse.

We found this service so noteworthy that I had to write you this note. Although we did not catch the driver’s name, we know his badge number, and more importantly, that he was one heck of a good egg. So if you see him around the TTC offices, please let him know that we were extremely appreciative that he went out of his way to help out some TTC customers.

Alexandra H.
Toronto