299 Bloor, call control

With info from http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread_archive.asp?fid=3&threadid=1936

If you've spent any kind of time on Toronto's subway system, especially if you're a daily commuter like me, you've likely heard numbered codes being broadcast over the system's public address system. The most common of these that I've noticed is "Two-nine-nine Bloor, call control" or some variation. If you're like me, you like to know what these things mean. Or, maybe you're like me and you are easily bored, or fascinated by numbers, or something.

I was starting to think that the numbers were route codes, since the Toronto Transit Commission internally refers to the Bloor subway line as route 2. And I've heard announcements like "506 Dundas" although I later realized Dundas streetcar is route 505; 506 is the Carlton route. So today, I did some internet investigating.

As might be expected, the Toronto Transit Commission doesn't seem to make a list of these codes available online, although I suppose I could call and ask. Regular readers of my blog will know how I feel about telephones, though. At the above-linked forum, I found a list of some of the codes that are used. Although different posters offer different descriptions, they all seem to agree that 299 refers to a subway line mechanic, and 506 to a station janitor. So the "299 Bloor" announcement is a broadcast asking the subway line mechanic at Bloor station to call the control room.

Maybe it's not really useful for subway riders to know that the janitor at Dundas station has gone AWOL, but I suppose it's good to know.

By the way, according to the site, various medical emergencies are grouped together under the code "Priority One", which supposedly refers specifically to a collision with a person at track level. I doubt that the TTC would actually broadcast a Priority One over their PA though; more likely one of their flowery "we are experiencing delays" announcements.

Happy mass transiting!