Twelve Things That Will Be Obsolete in 10 Years

Maybe the sleeping Toronto Transit Commission employee was dreaming of the future, when transit payment systems will be almost entirely automated or electronic.

In early 2010, a cellphone picture of a sleeping Toronto Transit Commission ticket collector became a viral sensation, appalling Torontonians and Canadians in general. It seemed to manifest the perfidy of government and its agencies, recalling old images of featherbedding unionists and redundant staffing regimes.

The commercial press leapt upon the picture, couldn’t get enough of it, as a symbol of the apparent decline of the public realm (what image will they use for the decline of the newspaper, a delivery boy with a bad arm?).

That the worker in question, George Robitaille, turned out to be a decent man with a medical problem came out later, but did little to disarm the outrage.

Well, the good news is that Robitaille and his fellow ticket collectors will be obsolete in 10 years. They are the last vestiges of old-school transit systems like the TTC, 1970s systems run by the East Germans.

In the not-too-distant future, our transit systems will have almost entirely automated or electronic payment systems. There won’t even be fare booths like we see at every subway station in Toronto. Instead there will be electronic kiosks where you can chart your trip and pay by debit, credit, or cash. More advanced systems will allow you to swipe a credit card with an embedded chip that will carry the data on your transit subscription (whether you are a monthly subscriber, a student or senior, or someone who qualifies for a subsidy, including, hopefully, a low-income subsidy).

The most advanced systems will have all of that embedded data on a cellphone, with subscriptions and payments being handled wirelessly from the device or through a PC. For people who can’t afford a cellphone, the transit system will provide an inexpensive model for transit purposes.

The subscription and payment system will operate in all sorts of modes: someone could board a Via Rail train in Kingston using the electronic ticket bought and stored on her cellphone, get off at Union Station in Toronto and use the cellphone to enter the subway system, and then use it again to transfer to a streetcar or bus. Even better, she could use it to make a taxi payment through the reader device in taxis.

Or a businessman in Barrie might drive his car on a toll highway using the chip in his cellphone as a transponder, drive to the most northerly subway station, and enter the transit system from there, all with a pass of his phone over a reader.

Such electronically enabled ability to move from one mode of transportation to another without fumbling for cards or change will make getting around easier and more enjoyable.

And what will happen to Robitaille and his colleagues? They will be freed from the ticket booth. Those like Robitaille, who are apparently affable and capable, will help transit riders adjust to the new system, showing them how to use the new kiosk machines and where to wait for their train, helping parents with strollers find the elevator or negotiate the escalators safely, and otherwise providing the customer service TTC riders want.

In addition they can tell riders of the ancillary benefits of system improvements, like where they can use the chip in their phone to buy a coffee or muffin while they wait the eight minutes for the streetcar (according to the electronic sign at the stop), or to buy a newspaper, some groceries, or umbrella. (All of these things become new revenue sources for the transit systems as they license use to merchants around the station, providing a benefit both to the merchants and the public budgets.)

So Robitaille will not become obsolete; his boring and outdated job will become obsolete, and he will become the service face of the TTC. He will be liberated by a new payment system, enabled by currently available cell technology.