The incident occurred around 6 p.m. last Friday, and video taken by a transit rider surfaced online a few hours later.
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A passenger caught it all on video.
“This was human error and this is a very serious matter”, Ross said.
The doors stayed open after the guard returned to the train, which continued east to Broadview, where it was finally taken out of service.
The union also said the guard does have specific procedures to follow, but could have been instructed otherwise by TTC control.
TTC spokesperson Brad Ross said the door was not a mechanical issue, but rather the fault of the TTC guard for leaving the station with the door open.
Kinnear, meanwhile, said the union was disheartened by the firing, and called on the TTC to share the results of its investigation – namely, the nature of the communication between the subway operators and central transit control. “There was nothing wrong mechanically with the train”, Byford told reporters.
“It appears there were problems with the processes that were followed to isolate the doors”, said TTC chief operating officer Gary Shortt.
Ross said the commission determined that human error was to blame because the subway’s safety systems were found to be working properly. He elucidated that “the driver wouldn’t have gotten a door-open alarm because those doors were isolated, or offline if you prefer, and therefore wouldn’t have known”.
Yikes. So easy to get off the subway if the doors are never closed. “We would need that audio to see exactly what that communication was and if in fact there was a communication breakdown”, Kinnear said.
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The TTC is expected to hear more on the incident from staff at a board meeting Tuesday afternoon. “The actions we have taken are commensurate with the seriousness with which we take this”.
