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rfmcdonaldThe Toronto Star started it all off by reporting that Rob Ford, while driving on the street, didn't stop behind the open doors of a TTC streetcar on Dundas Street West near the AGO.
Toronto Life carried Ford's reply.
The commenters at Toronto Life were uniformly skeptical of Ford's explanation.
What can be said at this point but that this sort of incident, regardless of whether or not Ford's explanation is correct or even justifiable (apparently, according to a commenter, doing what Ford did still isn't acceptable), is inevitable when Rob Ford connects with a municipal service he's been so intimately involved with.
A confrontation between Rob Ford and a TTC driver occurred Wednesday because the mayor drove his vehicle past the open doors of a streetcar, the head of the transit workers’ union said Friday.
“My understanding is that Mayor Ford bypassed an open door and the operator then got off the streetcar – left his seat anyways – to advise the motorist, not knowing it was Mayor Ford, of the seriousness of the violation, as well was the concern for our passengers,” Amalgamated Transit Union Local 113 president Bob Kinnear told the Star.
Failing to stop behind the open doors of a streetcar is a violation of the Highway Traffic Act, with fines of $109.
Ford’s office said Friday morning that they would not comment on the matter.
The incident happened near Dundas St. W. and McCaul St., according to Kinnear, who said Ford drove past the rear doors but stopped before the streetcar’s front doors as passengers were boarding.
The mayor rolled down his window and “had some comments for the operator,” said Kinnear.
The streetcar driver was “interviewed” by the TTC following standard procedure after Ford lodged a complaint, he said.
Kinnear said he didn’t know the exact nature of the mayor’s complaint.
TTC spokesman Brad Ross has confirmed that the operator left his seat on the streetcar he was driving to speak to the mayor, something the driver agreed he shouldn’t have done.
Toronto Life carried Ford's reply.
Rob Ford’s dislike of streetcars had until now mostly been limited to speechifying and pamphlets on LRT crashes, but now he’s quarrelling with the drivers themselves. Last week, a TTC driver told union reps that Ford motored past the open doors of a stopped streetcar on Dundas West, breaking the rule that cars must stay two metres behind any open streetcar door. Ford and the driver allegedly exchanged a few choice words, prompting Ford to call TTC head Andy Byford to complain (it’s against TTC rules for operators to leave their seats to confront drivers). Today, Ford made a rare visit to the city hall press gallery and gave a bare-bones summary of his side of the story: “The back door shut, I went past the back doors, the front doors were open, the front doors were still open and the driver came out and accosted me.” If that’s true, we’d almost feel sorry for Ford—if he didn’t have his own history of accosting strangers while enraged.
The commenters at Toronto Life were uniformly skeptical of Ford's explanation.
What can be said at this point but that this sort of incident, regardless of whether or not Ford's explanation is correct or even justifiable (apparently, according to a commenter, doing what Ford did still isn't acceptable), is inevitable when Rob Ford connects with a municipal service he's been so intimately involved with.
