Get Onboard: Walk in the Shoes of a Transit Operator (7)

by Richard Lee

Success and promotion within Toronto's public transportation system come at a price. The shifts bring both physical and mental stress. The effects of these seep from work life into the social and personal lives of the operators. Parallel to this is the author's own personal story, a moving portrayal of a broken family home, abandoned teen dreams and a desperate need to be loved and appreciated. The author struggles with daily abuse from the public and his own demons, to the point of almost calling it quits. However his own personal quest to be the best at whatever he does leads him to experience a shift in life focus when he starts to do his job as if the CEO is standing at his side on every shift.

220 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2015

About the author

Dr. Richard Lee is the Founding Pastor of First Redeemer Church located in metropolitan Atlanta's Forsyth County, which is recognized as one of the fastest growing churches in the Southeast United States.

Dr. Lee and his wife, Judy, reside just outside of Atlanta in the Cumming, Georgia area.

Reviews

[Nico · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this for Christmas and obviously I pounced on it. Personally, I really could've done with less of Lee's life story and more information about the TTC itself (the operators, what's being done internally, what being a Supervisor is like etc). I did enjoy the parts that were anecdotes from the operators, I just wish they were expanded on it and those bits accounted for more of the book. I did learn some things, and the chapter on Shifts was very interesting, but at times the content was quite repetitive, and again, focused very strongly on Lee's personal life. Some of it was relevant to understand where he was coming from when he spoke about the public, but it carried on and his thoughts on Emma or self-help read more like a memoir about his struggle with depression than what I was interested in - which was of course the TTC.

All that said, this was super readable and I'm always happy to be more well informed about my favourite transit agency and get a better perspective on what working as an operator can really be like. I knew they went through some bad shit (I've witnessed some myself) but this reaffirmed it as well as my healthy habit of always being grateful and polite with any operator I come across. Always be kind, people - you never never know when someone really needs to hear it.

[KateMc]

This book was a retelling of the author's experience of becoming a TTC operator, with a few quotes of colleagues at the beginning of each chapter. I think it's a great idea for a project and I learned lots I didn't know about becoming a driver.