The Indelible Bonobo Experience

TTC board members are set to discuss a proposed downtown relief subway line and platform cellphone access at a meeting Wednesday. The board is also taking a look at a report on the Spadina subway extension, which is scheduled to open almost a year behind schedule. (via TTC board to discuss relief line, platform cell service | CP24.com)

• Because of increasing pressure on the Yonge subway line and congestion at Bloor-Yonge station, a new line that runs through the southern portion of downtown Toronto is needed to keep pace with growing ridership, according to the report.
• Employees are currently studying which route would best link downtown stations to the city’s east end at a cost of $3.2 billion.
• Maps within the Downtown Rapid Transit Expansion Study suggest the proposed line should run south from Pape Station to Queen Street East, and then west to King and St. Andrew stations.
• The second phase would head west to the Roncesvalles area and then north to connect with the Bloor-Danforth line.
• Meanwhile, the TTC is moving forward with a plan to provide cellphone access on underground platforms at subway stations.
• The agency is hoping to have all platforms cellphone-ready within two years, meaning riders will be able to use their phones when they’re waiting for a train, but not when they’re riding on one in a tunnel. If the plan goes ahead, Broadcast Australia Pty Ltd. will shell out $25 million over 21 years to equip 61 stations with cellphone access. Deals still have to be worked out with wireless carriers.

When it comes to cell phone access in the subway, Hogtown is far behind not just major cities in developed countries, but even cities in developing countries. Citizens there have long had cell phone service even in moving trains.

A Swedish court ordered Nadar Khiari to pay $1,800 in damages to his victim and ruled that he will be deported after serving his sentence. He was not charged with leaving the man on the tracks, since Swedish law does not require people to help. (via np)

• The court wrote that the victim had been “in a particularly vulnerable position, lying intoxicated and injured on the subway track without any opportunity to protect himself, in danger of being killed or being seriously injured. Nadar Khiari must have been fully aware of this.”
• Khiari confessed to stealing the man’s cellphone, a silver case and a gold necklace, saying he was unemployed and needed money for food and medicine. He apologized for not alerting subway staff that there was a man on the tracks.
• He was also convicted of another theft, committed in August. It was not immediately clear whether he would appeal the ruling.