STM worker may face assault charge
The STM worker accused of assaulting a passenger may face charges, although this piece says the STM is adamantly against having any of its workers speak anything but French under any circumstances.
Indeed it couldn’t be clearer. The STM does maintain a parallel English-language website in which most features are duplicated and translated from the French side. I was looking up a bus schedule just now and noticed a new contest thing called Faites résonner votre voix dans le métro (ironically, clicking on it leads to a app-based feature on Facebook, an American site operating in English, but let it pass), in which you’re challenged to record yourself speaking encouraging messages to other metro travellers and maybe win an Opus card for life or other prizes.
Nope. The contest is not offered on the English side. (The feature “My Voice My STM” is a different thing, having to do with opting in to focus groups.)
History has shown that if you permit the existence of second-class citizens at the institutional level, one consequence is that people at all levels can feel more justified in acting out their contempt. This is a demonstrable fact, and a dangerous one.
The claim that the STM worker also said to Mina Barak go back to your country is also a serious one that’s been eclipsed by the language politics side of the story. I want to like the STM, but I flinch from thinking about the institutionalized xenophobia that seems to run in its veins.
David Tighe 09:49 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
For what its worth I sent this complaint to the STM. If they reply it will be the first time ever.
“I am disgusted by the report on a passenger being attacked. I speak French, thank God, so I have not had it happen to me. However, I have often noticed the impoliteness of ticket booth employees. When I am overseas, however, I have always been politely treated by public transport employees, even when I did not speak their language.
Putting aside the ethics, surely your objective is to attract public transport users. How do you hope to do this by allowing such attitudes?”
Tux 10:44 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
My version of the STM’s reply to your letter:
Dear David, We are wholly dependent on government subsidies for our continued existence. The STM is not, and never has been, profitable by itself. This is why we don’t care. We are a government-supported monopoly, we see no value in catering to our customers, whether they’re local or otherwise. What are they gonna do, take some other transit system? Like it or not, you are locked in. Now bend over, lube up, and remember that Icitte ca se passe en Francais!
David Tighe 11:10 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
No Tux, I do not see the STM faux pas in that way. I live more or less 80% in a French-speaking environment and I do not see this as a facet of the English-French low-level conflict that seems to rumble on eternally. It is a problem of poor customer relations (and how) stemming from poor personnel management and probably absurd union rules re staffing etc. My letter should be read in this context.
Blork 11:57 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
I agree with Kate. However, as a counterpoint (at least in terms of anecdotes) I offer this: last week I was going through a turnstile at Vendome station and the turnstile stuck. I tried my card again but it flashed red because it had already read the entry. Frustrated, I looked over at the STM guy in his booth and gave a “WTF?” type of shrug (no words spoken). The guy immediately summoned me over and explained that I was in too much of a rush, and I had pushed on the turnstile before the thing had registered my card, causing it to snag. He said I should always wait for the beep before pushing the turnstile.
Here’s the thing; he said it all in English. I had not said a peep to the guy, and I’m not wearing a sign that says “ANGLO.”
I have nothing further to add, other than making this observation that seems to fly in the face of the current view of STM agents. (Yes, it was Vendome, and NDG/Westmount have a lot of anglos, but still…)
david m 12:09 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
yeah, not to defend the weird agents there, but i’ve ridden the metro and buses probably a few thousand times, and i can’t think of a single instant when the drivers or attendants were especially hostile. aloof and grumpy, sure, but never once any sort of altercation. and i’ve jumped turnstiles, used expired passes, cruised in there drinking beer straight from the bottle, etc. the most i got was a ‘come on, buddy’ or ‘get a load of this guy’ type reaction.
Marc 13:03 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
I think the worst one is the whole “go back to your country/go back home/where you came from” nonsense.
Want me to “go back home?” Okay, I’ll just take the metro three stops then a short bus ride and I’ll be back…
Tux 13:23 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
No David, I’m saying that the STM doesn’t care what you think because they’re a government supported monopoly. There’s no competition for you to take your monthly bus pass money to, so you’re stuck, no matter how crappy they treat you or how bad the service is. Anyone ever heard of a dispute with the STM being resolved in the customer’s favour without the involvement of third parties like cops? Didn’t think so. Take a look at any other service business (like say, a restaurant) where treating your customers rudely is a great way to go out of business or, as a low-level employee get fired. Compare to the STM where pleasant service is the exception rather than the rule and employees feel free to display prejudicial signage in the ticket booths and draw your own conclusions. It’s not about language, they just don’t give a crap. Why should they? At the end of the day, whether you’re happy or not, you still have to get to work.
Kevin 13:41 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
It takes ten nice people to make up for one jerk, but unfortunately with the STM there seems to be more jerks– from attendants who leave their booth for extended periods of time, to yelling at customers, to deliberately trying to make people fall down on the bus, yeah, there’s a lot not to like with the STM.
MB 15:13 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
@David, quite the rational letter.
@Tux, seriously? Big gubment conspiracy?
Ugh, there’s not a single transit agency in the world that isn’t dependent on government subsidy, excepting a few limited jitney systems. Even highways and the automotive industry require government subsidy to function. Do you really want to go back to a world where the inner city has multiple transit operators competing with each other? Ask New Yorkers who dealt with the IRT vs. BMT vs. IND if that was better. How about those towns in England that recently opened up their bus routes to private competition—how do you think that’s playing out? (The answer: predictably bad—now the service sucks, AND it’s expensive!)
Also, the STM does not even have a monopoly over modes of transport, nor public transit within the metropolitan area, so quit using that word.
I mean, the STM has ridership quotas to reach in order to even GET government subsidies, so I don’t know how you go around thinking they don’t care an iota about customer service. The evil government is under no obligation to continue funding the STM, and there are likely more than a few in the Transport Ministry who would like to stop—remember the 25+ year moratorium on subway construction? Also let’s not forget that the turnstile supplies a great share of their revenue. Encouraging or ignoring poor customer service would be shooting themselves in the foot. The STM has to care about customer service whether or not they want to.
Let’s not forget: millions of people, every single fucking day, go about their business without a problem, more than a few in English. We should be angry but let’s not get out of hand and turn blame into hyperbole.
Marc 16:24 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
The TTC is the system most dependent on fare revenue. Although the city’s much bigger population plays a signficant role, they may take customer service more seriously. The longest you’ll ever wait for a subway train is 6 minutes. That ain’t happening here.
And just to bring language into it, it’s almost guaranteed you won’t find a TTC ticket taker or bus driver who can speak French, they won’t be a total dickhead about the fact they can only speak English. You won’t see an “In Ontario, it happens in English” sign.
jeather 17:44 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
I’ve found that STM employees can be indifferent, or rude, or abusive, but — except the people at the customer service area at Berri — never anything more pleasant than indifferent. It’s not because it’s some sort of government job; I’ve dealt with municipal, provincial and federal government employees, as well as various levels of US government employees, and customs agents all over, and they cover the normal spectrum, mostly fairly pleasant, a few wonderful, a few terrible. It’s something particular to the culture of the STM.
If you drive places, though, you never have to deal with STM employees . . .
Josh 18:02 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
MB: I’m pretty sure that Tux isn’t saying it’s a conspiracy, it’s just that when there is no competition, you tend to get lousier service. So, protesting in the way that David Tighe outlines above will go nowhere.
C_Erb 19:14 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
Farebox recovery ratio has little to do with customer service generally. The TTC has dealt with just as many, if not more, customer service embarrassments over the last few years.
dwgs 20:36 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
I commute by bus, I get on one in the morning and one in the afternoon and I have to say that by and large the drivers are decent. The odd one is a bit dickish but most are civil and some are downright nice. I see far more douchey passengers than bus drivers. When my son was in daycare and would ride the bus downtown with me I had a driver stop the bus and chew out the passengers because no one gave up a seat for my two year old. There was also a regular driver who would let my son sit on the little raised bit beside him and would answer his endless questions with patience and humour. Even let him play with the fare box and open the door when we got to our stop. There are many decent STM employees out there. I find that in general you get what you give when dealing with people who serve the public. Will you meet the odd a-hole? Sure. Give them a big sh#t eating grin and wish them an excellent day. It’s the best revenge.
Tantastic Ted 20:51 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
If you speak to people like that really loud and very slow in English it tends to get better results.
montrealfilmguy 21:58 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
A long time ago,before the net and iphones in every hand i remember on a bus an Hindu family getting off.Nice folks,mom,dad,kids.As the idjit french driver closed the door,he looked over the first sitting customer and loudly mentioned how it already smelled better with a wave of the hand.
Jerks are jerks in any language even in mine.
Doobish 22:22 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
I must be hallucinating. I read into Kate’s post a comparison between the STM and Nazi Germany.
montrealfilmguy 22:33 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
Godwin’s law in full effect ?
Kate 22:59 on 2012/10/31 Permalink
No, I didn’t intend that, although when I wrote “if you permit the existence of second-class citizens at the institutional level, one consequence is that people at all levels can feel more justified in acting out their contempt” I meant it, and unfortunately this sort of thing applies in many places and has applied at many other times than Nazi Germany.
I agree with those in this thread who say many STM employees are decent folks. I posted not long ago about a bus driver in Verdun whom I’d noticed being considerate to a very elderly passenger who needed a little extra time to exit the bus, and she spoke to him in English too. But my point is that if you enshrine a false doctrine like the notion that Montreal is 100% francophone – or if it isn’t, it’s somebody’s fault – then everything that follows from it is going to be flawed.
The STM has reached a point where the irresistible force – the principle that its workers should be polite to the customers – has run into the immoveable object, the doctrine that no worker need ever speak any language but French. But that’s based on faith, not evidence. On evidence, some Montrealers speak English, and many more foreign students and tourists and business visitors also speak English. Ignoring this fact isn’t noble or admirable, nor is it frivolous when it leads to bad outcomes. What that ticket-taker did has undone thousands of dollars’ worth of feel-good PR for the STM, and has probably persuaded dozens if not hundreds of people they’re better off driving. Who could blame them?
David Tighe 08:40 on 2012/11/01 Permalink
That public transport be mainly government funded is necessary. However, I do not think that being a public monopoly must be synonymous with poor service and inefficency. Privatisation of public services sometimes works, sometimes does not. Do we need examples of its failures? In the case of the STM, the problem is poor management and complacent and visibly unmotivated workers. If management want to correct it, they can.
Actually, I find STM bus drivers, in particular, not bad at all compared to other countries. I like in particular, the way that they hold the bus for tardy pasengers. Also I find that now the older ones are being displaced by younger, general agreeableness is improving.
Tux 08:53 on 2012/11/01 Permalink
@MB and David: My point is only that when there are no negative consequence for rudeness, there is no motivation to improve service, and that the usual motivations present in a service business (loss of customers/loss of revenue/bad publicity) are not present for the STM since they are a government funded monopoly, not reliant on customer goodwill for their continued existence. As someone without a license but with a need to get to work, I have to take the bus every day, even if it is driven by someone who’s rude to my face and sucks at driving to boot. David, you say better management could fix the service problems… I have my doubts. I don’t work there, but I’m guessing it’s similar to police culture, where there’s a sort of built-in contempt for the people they’re supposed to serve. A sort of Us vs. Them attitude. How do you fix that? Meetings? Powerpoint presentations?
Tux 10:00 on 2012/11/01 Permalink
P.S People saying “the service sucks” and people saying “the service isn’t that bad” are both right. Both happen regularly. How much suck you get probably depends on the specific modes of transport, areas, and times. Going from Cote Vertu to DDO and back every day, I see a lot of suck. The drivers are pretty much universally bad (braking and accelerating like their bus is a small car), that “waiting for someone to catch the bus” thing doesn’t happen. You could be 5 seconds from the door… the driver will close it in your face and drive away. Forget talking to these guys in french OR english, they’re practically mute. I used to say “merci” to my morning driver every day. A summer’s worth of absolutely no acknowledgement and I’ve stopped doing it.
MB 11:51 on 2012/11/01 Permalink
Hi Tux,
Sorry if my tone was unnecessarily confrontational. My point is this: farebox recovery is a huge part of the STM’s revenue, and they don’t get their subsidies if they don’t reach ridership targets, so I don’t think the usual motivations present in a service business disappear just because, like many other industries, the STM requires subsidy to maintain operations. Their revenue would decrease quite noticeably and they would miss millions of dollars in subsidies for failing to retain or attract new users.
In fact, the opposite seems to be happening. I haven’t looked at this year’s numbers, but they are increasing revenue and ridership has shot way up—in per capita terms, I think it’s #1 or #2 in North America. So I think they are doing something right.
Incidentally, I have had impeccable and friendly service on the STM for a couple years now. Let’s remember this crucial point: we tend to weigh negative criticism of transit disproportionately because everyone complains loudly when there is a problem, but just about nobody will demonstrate an iota of praise for normal or exceptionally good operation of the network. So, when we see *anything* about transit, be it Facebook, blogging, news media, Twitter, it tends to be negative, and hence we tend to think that this happens more regularly and to more people than it does in reality.
In other words, the Gazette isn’t going to run a headline like this:
“Ticket Taker Flawlessly Switches Languages, Gives Helpful and Courteous Directions to English Tourists”
precisely because it happens every day.
MB 11:53 on 2012/11/01 Permalink
(Just to be clear, I am not trying to downplay this recent report. Assault is assault: it is beyond unacceptable, it is criminal and obviously bad news for the STM.)