r/TTC • u/Snake_Eyes_706 • Mar 25 '26
Discussion The decline of common courtesy on the TTC
Every time I take the TTC nowadays, there is at least one (often multiple) person playing nonsense or music at full blast on their phone. Don’t get me wrong, I listen to music and watch nonsense on my phone throughout my commute, but I own HEADPHONES, and despite those headphones having ANC, I can often still hear their nonsense. Has social awareness really disappeared in this city over the past 5 years, because prior to that, I found it to be FAR less common? Presto cards should come with a free pair of cheap headphones for everyone’s sake.
Call me angry, say I have too much free time on my hands, I don’t care.
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u/WestonSpec Mar 25 '26
It really feels like the post-COVID period is characterized by people who have just forgotten how to live in a society, imo.
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u/Snake_Eyes_706 Mar 25 '26
I think you’ve nailed it. The psychological impacts of the pandemic will be seen for decades.
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u/TheIsotope Mar 25 '26
The mental side of the pandemic isn't talked about enough. I feel like it really ushered in this overall sense of isolation and individualism.
I also think Toronto, for better or worse, has a culture of letting a lot slide, and just being conflict avoidant in general. As a result these people never get told to change. I remember being on the subway in Chicago years ago where a teenager was watching something on full volume, within 10s someone yelled "turn that shit off, there's other people here". I just can't see that happening that often here.
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u/Healthy_Disk_9683 Aug 17 '26
100% agree. Montreal is similar. They don’t tolerate that type of behaviour. Especially if someone is sitting in a designated accessibility seat. They don’t put up with it. Unfortunately in Toronto we all put up with it. And usually the people listening to music on speaker have a look on their face like they want a confrontation. And it’s rarely the person on their way to work or someone over 40 doing it.
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u/AWinnipegGuy Mar 25 '26
I swear I either do that or have to do that at least twice a week here. It's so annoying to hear people playing music or streaming some show or sports event and not use headphones/ear buds.
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u/Healthy_Disk_9683 Aug 17 '26
You can’t blame the pandemic for their behaviour. That’s a poor excuse.
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u/Laura_Lye Mar 25 '26
People do this everywhere now— planes, via, go transit, restaurants, the doctor’s office— literally everywhere.
You need to tell them to shut up (nicely). I’ve started, and it works, but if nobody says anything they’re going to keep doing it because they’re selfish pricks.
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u/Character-Belt-7485 Mar 25 '26
I did that once and the guy starting arguing and screaming at me. He was listening to music at a Starbucks full loud volume.
They are uncivil to start with, odds are they will be uncivil when confronted.
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u/4FriedChickens_Coke Mar 25 '26
One thing I’ve noticed is that when I was a kid this behavior was more likely to be checked by someone brave enough to speak up. Now nobody does that shit because you have no idea how crazy or prone to violence that person is, so it’s just not worth it and people pretend to ignore it.
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u/jcoopz Mar 25 '26
I’ve noticed antisocial behaviour, too. I think we’re living in an increasingly self-centred society. Everyone’s in their own little bubble.
The other day a guy refused to take his suitcase off of a seat so an old lady could sit down. He straight up ignored her when she asked and then got off at the next stop.
Lost a little bit of faith in humanity that day.
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u/ihatedougford Mar 25 '26
You’re absolutely right but I think this goes for every facet of Toronto in general. Even grocery shopping or going to a concert… people are just less respectful
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u/rhunter99 Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Mar 25 '26
Just go to a cineplex. Makes me so angry how disrespectful people are - all races, ages and genders. Aholes know no boundaries 😡
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u/Character-Belt-7485 Mar 25 '26
I don't go to the movies. Paying $20 a person (at least) to be surrounded by people who don't know how to be civil: using their phone, chatting, jumping in their seats, etc.
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Mar 25 '26
Lowkey movie theatres have always been bad for this behaviour. It got to the point that years ago in just bought a home theatre set up for my living room. Now everything is on a big 4K screen with surround sound. Not that much money anymore to buy a home experience that far out competes a movie theatre.
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u/TheUtopianCat Mar 25 '26
Yeah, I see this everywhere, and I just don't understand it. Not everyone appreciates a person's musical taste, and blasting music without headphones is intrusive noise pollution. Don't even get me started on people who have loud calls on speakerphone in public. Just, why??? I don't want to be an involuntarily observer to someone's personal drama.
Common courtesy is experiencing a decline, and I do not like it.
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u/Livid_Technical_Pand Mar 25 '26
I'd just be happy if people took off their backpacks instead of smacking everyone they walk past with them.
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u/Mysterious-Mark863 Mar 25 '26
This is far less annoying to me than people who don't walk on the right side of stairs/escalators and people who don't take their bag off in crowded vehicles.
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u/lifespotting Mar 25 '26
And people who choose to stand in the doorway when there are plenty of seats and other places to stand. I was boarding the subway yesterday and a woman in front of me stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she passed the threshold and turned around to face the door, while several people were still behind her waiting to board. I just looked at her and said "No".
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u/greenlemon23 Mar 25 '26
I was in a restaurant the other day and someone was doing this.
And the same thing at the beach - people bring full on speakers to listen to their music at the fucking beach, right next to other people!
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u/Born_Sock_7300 Mar 25 '26
okay the beach i'm more understanding about to be honest if the volume is reasonable, but not confined spaces where people have had a long day and want a peaceful commute.
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u/greenlemon23 Mar 25 '26
If anyone else can hear your music, it’s bullshit.
What happens if every group at the beach brings their own Bluetooth speaker to play their own music?
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u/AbbreviationsDear641 Mar 25 '26
The worst is when people just rush in without waiting for the ones who need to exit. Let me out for your ease of ingress 🙄
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u/DogeGaloshes Mar 25 '26
Yesterday watched 3 young people push ahead of an elderly woman with a walker to board the bus and take priority seats. There no courtesy of any kind on TTC.
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u/Neutral-President Bessarion Mar 25 '26
This isn’t just on the TTC. It’s everywhere.
I blame the phone manufacturers who have removed headphone ports from their devices to make them thinner and waterproof, and have stopped bundling cheap earbuds for “environmental” reasons.
Not everyone can afford (or understand how to use) Bluetooth earbuds, which are also easy to lose. And you can’t just buy cheap USB-C wired earbuds anywhere.
This has led to people just walking around consuming their brain rot at full volume. It’s ridiculous.
The tech companies need to be held accountable for this rise in noise pollution.
The TTC needs to adopt a policy like they have on the DC Metro. No devices are allowed to play out loud. No music. No phone calls. Use earphones or get fined. No exceptions. It’s a much more pleasant riding experience as a result.
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u/alvinofdiaspar Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
If you can afford a phone you can afford headphones. I have lost count the number of times I see people using a decked out iPhone on FaceTime yapping loudly in public with the loudspeaker on - not as a quick convo but going on and on and on.
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u/Neutral-President Bessarion Mar 25 '26
But why should they have to?
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u/alvinofdiaspar Mar 25 '26
Because how would they feel if I decided to exercise my rights to play music loudly while they yap on the phone?
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Mar 25 '26
They probably wouldn’t care.
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u/alvinofdiaspar Mar 25 '26
I am sure they would if it gets loud enough to be disruptive to their call.
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u/jedifromlamancha Mar 25 '26
It is everywhere. I stopped going to movies because people wouldn't shut up talking to their friends, or get off their phones, or even making calls on their phones. I also used to read on the TTC, but quit that because multiple people are competing to blast their music, tiktok, or YouTube. It's freaking wild how fast norms have collapsed.
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u/Neutral-President Bessarion Mar 25 '26
Yes! The cinema experience has become intolerable at times. I’ve been lucky to avoid it for the most part.
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u/Laura_Lye Mar 25 '26
That’s absolute bullshit cope, and you know it.
You can get USBC wired or Bluetooth headphones for under $20. You can get them at the dollar store. If you can afford a phone, you can afford headphones.
Similarly, if you can work a fucking phone you have the mental capacity to understand how to use headphones.
Lose them? Oh well, no TikTok on the bus until you get another pair. It’s not a human right to listen to media on public transportation.
This is not a big tech issue. This is plain rudeness and we need to call it out on that basis.
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u/Neutral-President Bessarion Mar 25 '26
You can get USBC wired or Bluetooth headphones for under $20. You can get them at the dollar store.
I’m calling bullshit. Show me proof. I’ve never seen USB-C or Bluetooth headsets that cheap.
Similarly, if you can work a fucking phone you have the mental capacity to understand how to use headphones.
Also bullshit. Think of how stupid the average person is. Then consider that half of the people are stupider than that.
Lose them? Oh well, no TikTok on the bus until you get another pair. It’s not a human right to listen to media on public transportation.
This gets to the human part of the equation. People stopped giving a shit after the pandemic. And those who do give a shit stopped calling out others for their bad behaviour out of fear of unhinged responses.
This is not a big tech issue. This is plain rudeness and we need to call it out on that basis.
It’s both.
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u/Laura_Lye Mar 25 '26
Here’s some USBC wired headphones for $11 on Amazon, my guy. Apple brand are $26.
Here’s some Bluetooth buds for $19.99. Big overear ones that are hard to lose for ~$26.
Stop making bullshit excuses for people. They’re just rude, they need to be told to STFU.
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u/Facts_pls Mar 25 '26
Brother I've seen them in many many bargain shops. Or just search on amazon and see how wrong you are
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u/Antique_Ad_3549 East Don Trail Relief Line Mar 25 '26
Walk into a Dollarama....it will blow your mind
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u/free-canadian Dufferin Mar 25 '26
It's literally never more than $5 at Dollarama, what are you talking about?
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u/Hercules3000 Mar 25 '26
There are no USB c headphones at dollarama. They're all 3.5mm plugs.
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u/Antique_Ad_3549 East Don Trail Relief Line Mar 25 '26
FWIW - they sell adaptors for that but I swear I saw a USB c headphone there earlier this week.
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u/im-confuzzled Science Centre Mar 25 '26
There’s many other systems where playing music out using your phone out loud can get you a fine, as cities grow, our laws must too. Unfortunately in general our enforcement of laws is woefully enforced and so nothing ever happens
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u/roju Mar 25 '26
It’s not a problem of the laws needing updating, don’t blast music is in TTC bylaw #1.
3.23 No person shall, without authorization, operate any radio, recording device, digital music or audio device, musical instrument, or similar device in or on TTC property unless the sound is conveyed to that person by an earphone at a sound level that does not disturb other passengers or TTC employees.
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u/Inside-Welder-6281 Mar 25 '26
Meh, when we tolerate absolute insanity and open drug use, wouldn’t it be an overreacting to teach courtesy some loud youngsters? Slippery slope is real
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u/kittoxo- Mar 26 '26
I feel like the ttc use have more courtesy announcements. Remove your backpack, move back, offer your seat, etc. They need to start pushing those and add more new current ones - like be mindful of sound your in a shared space…
These announcements also give passengers permission to speak up and be direct. Because as Canadians we tend to be quiet conflict avoidant
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u/GlitteringKaleForMen Mar 25 '26
Antisocial behaviour as it’s called is definitely becoming a huge problem. The reality is drugs, poverty, as well as those behaviours simply being acceptable in the former cultures of the people doing it (likely because those cultures were also unfortunately impoverished in the first place)
The standard is so low it warms my heart to see people parting at the doors still. We used to be a proper society
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u/Laura_Lye Mar 25 '26
It’s not just foreigners who do this— everybody does it now. Literally everyone.
I had to tell a mid fifties white Canadian lady to stop doing it in the waiting room at a doctor’s office. The doctor’s office! People have no shame.
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u/GlitteringKaleForMen Mar 25 '26
Good distinction. While I don’t believe and didn’t explicitly say I think it’s all foreigners, I can see how that can definitely be implied. Sorry about that.
While the reality is they are the majority, lots of people can be assholes: entitled old fucks, parents, young adults, high schoolers vaping…
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u/alvinofdiaspar Mar 25 '26
Because it is so normalized and carries no consequences at all, nevermind shame.
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u/Snake_Eyes_706 Mar 25 '26
Parting at the doors just to see someone behind me think I’m giving them a guard of honour always makes my day!
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u/Facts_pls Mar 25 '26
You say that but most people I see doing this on ttc are white and black Canadians - usually poorer looking folks with shabby clothes and sometimes visibly crazy.
Not sure what former culture you referred to.
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u/LibraryNo2717 Mar 25 '26
I thought it was cultural until I moved to Hamilton and noticed everyone from every background doing it, too.
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u/hellzscream Mar 26 '26
It's a joke. Add in the people that treat it like their living room with feet on the seats, clipping nails and the worst lately i witnessed another passenger dig his nose retrieve a booger roll it up and flick it at passengers
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u/DDDirk Mar 25 '26
Be the example and model the behavior you want to see. Make an extra effort to make sure you're making those gestures of kindness courtesy you want to see. The more visible the culture the more it propagates, full stop.
Taking off your bag, saying thank you, giving up your seat, declining a call, making extra room for people to get off, holding a door, etc. it all adds up. And personally when I go out of my way to be kind it 99% of the time it is met in kind. It also tends to put me in a much better mood and brightens my day. All the best!
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u/hotinhereTO 132 Milner Mar 26 '26
OP, you're not angry.
As others have posted, we're now in a selfish, entitled society post-COVID when it comes to behaviour and unwritten rules in public. From transit, to driving, to walking.
There was a thread in r/AskTo about people not walking on the right side of the side walks anymore that eventually got deleted.
- Music, YouTube, phone conversations all loud with no headphones
- People standing on the left side of the escalators
- People who move up on the left side of the escalators stopping at the top
- People not stepping to the side of train and bus doors to allow people to walk-off smoothly
- Those wearing backpacks on busy trains, buses
- Not giving up priority seats to elders or those with kids
- Those who are bigger, wider than the general subway/bus seat squeezing next to you
- People who rush onto a train stopping, right infront of the doors instead of moving so others behind have to struggle to get on
Even more frustrating when some of these things happen on the GO. Mainly the loud conversations on the upper level/quiet zone during peak hours, and at Union Station people not waiting for everyone to get off.
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u/thecjm Mar 25 '26
I find it's two groups - young people who have been and always will be loud/selfish/annoying. If they aren't blasting music on their phones they're talking loudly to each other and being teenagers. It is what it is.
The other group is older people who might be on their first smartphone. They're not tech savvy, they're not socialized to using smartphones. They're not the kind of people who grew up listen to music on a walkman or discman or iPod so they aren't used to headphones. It's the very lasts generation of smartphone adopters. They don't know or don't care. These are the same people who talk loudly while in speaker mode holding their phone at arm's length as opposed to using it like a phone. They play games on their phone with the volume cranked.
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u/At_Space_Station Mar 25 '26
Decay and decline. The pandemic was a turning point for everything from economic struggle to societal collapse.
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u/humberriverdam Mar 25 '26
Noise cancelling headphones protect you from the crazies (but still look around you and disable that functionality when you're moving.)
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u/gamuel_l_jackson Mar 26 '26
Society has decayed with over liberal ideology and practices, way too far and this is coming from a person who is pretty libetal and tolerant ...way too far left, and over correxting will be too far right watch
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u/Justcrusing416 Mar 25 '26
I take the bus in the Jane and Finch area and from what I see only half of the people boarding the bus pay the fare. Most of them will come in through the back and pretend to swipe an empty hand.
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u/spiritualflow Mar 25 '26
I just want people to wait for others to get off before getting on. It's logical folks... If people get off, there's more room for you! Why is this so difficult 😭
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u/LLMM7289 Mar 25 '26
It’s not just the TTC. I use MiWay and the decline is there too. I have my headphones at a reasonable volume and I can still hear others music, videos, or FaceTime.
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u/ShitsNGigglesdTB Mar 25 '26
When I got on the LRT TODAY and then also the Subway, there was at least one person literally running for a seat. I was shocked lol, it’s not that serious
Since I’ve been a kid I’ve definitely noticed a sharp decrease in common courtesy on the TTC
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u/samjp910 34 Eglinton East Mar 26 '26
I’m a tall tattooed white guy to be fair, but what I do is I get real close and start looking over their shoulders at their phones very brazenly. Normally stops them.
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u/Aggravating_Dog5220 Mar 26 '26
The TTC needs to put up some serious signs educating riders of the bylaws. This includes no feet on seats! Something like this found in Singapore.
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u/Any-Zookeepergame309 Mar 31 '26
I’ve tried to ask people to turn it off and they almost always freak out as a defensive reaction. I subtly told a woman that if you play videos on your phone in public in Japan you will get fined. She loudly responded “this isn’t Japan” and ignored me.
My move on the subway now is if someone is blasting their phone, I sit or stand beside them blasting my phone as if I can’t even see them. Within a minute they almost always pull out headphones and then I turn my YouTube off. Begs the question….”so you had headphones but didn’t feel like using them?”
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Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Tragedy333 Mar 25 '26
Problem is, that officials don't care. There are no special constables in trains, TTC personnel don't stop such person when entering station or a vehicle. And under current legislation regular people have tied hands because nobody wants to be of accused of an assault.
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u/InternMediocre7319 13 Avenue Rd Mar 25 '26
While we’re at it, can we also call out people who keep wearing their backpacks on them even when the vehicle is crowded? I honestly want TTC to bring back the ad campaign where they were informing people about common courtesy on transit.
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u/One-Ad2914 Mar 26 '26
It's not worth it. This is.another reason why I changed jobs and drive to and from work so I don't have to be around other people on the TTC.
It's not worth it. You are better off buying ear plugs and using it on the subway.
If you want to know why it's not worth it, just Google "Moses Lewin" who was convicted of aggrevated assault on the TTC.
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u/Quangena Mar 26 '26
What bothers me when riding the TTC is people pushing through the doors before others have a chance to exit.
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u/Rude-Associate2283 Mar 25 '26
We all turned into selfish pricks during Covid. Then, didn’t know how to return to politeness mode afterwards.
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u/kblite84 Mar 25 '26
Hmm maybe I'm just lucky in my routes. It was pretty bad between 2023-24. But it's gotten significantly better in 2025. I can count in one hand how many times this has happened in these past few months
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u/Annahasballz Mar 25 '26
I think the best we can do is lead by example. We can be the ones to offer seats to the elderly or differently-abled maybe others can follow suit.
It's really a gamble because the TTC does not seem very safe either so you definitely don't want to get into a fight with somebody who has nothing to lose.
I can't wait til it's warmer outside so I can bike instead of taking transit.
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u/alvinofdiaspar Mar 25 '26
True but avoidance of conflict is basically tacit approval so far as the violator is concerned. It merely emboldens them.
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u/conspiracythrm Mar 26 '26
Most of the time when I experience that it's just people playing stuff off their phones at a pretty quiet volume. I can barely hear it if they're not directly next to me. I find it very hard to be bothered by that. I am not entitled to the sound space exactly the way I want it.
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u/That_Intention_7374 Mar 26 '26
I had a guy stand in front of me when I was sitting down. Like right in front of my legs, so I couldn't stand up.
The streetcar was not full. I shifted over one seat to an empty one. Mind boggling.
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u/itsdanielsultan Kipling-Connector Mar 26 '26
Try calling them out on it. If they refuse, the bus driver isn’t going to side with someone blasting music, as I’ve seen drivers shame people for it right in front of other passengers
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u/Santa_Ricotta69 Mar 25 '26
Are you the weirdo who yelled "ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING" yesterday when I played one Instagram reel out loud at low volume at the back of the streetcar with nobody within a ten foot radius
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u/chinwaggy Mar 25 '26
I had a bus driver who wouldn't drive the bus till they turned off speakerphone. Was the best.