Here is my V-TARP entry, courtesy of Mr. Jerm.

I get on the bus and it’s all ads for debt management, fast food, television- ads from busybody organizations convincing me to keep my accidental pregnancy. Ads from government organizations offering me help to get a job. Ads from doctors offering to restore my hair AND my ability to get erections all from the same clinic. Ads from religions offering me an escape.

When your inundated with this crap, daily, with no choice, you can feel trapped. Optionless. Poor. No wonder the silence, peace and control of a private automobile is so luxurious by comparison.

Public Transit Operators Everywhere:
Want more humans to ride public transit? Make it more humane. Take out all the ads.

Last one,
Aren’t the smiley-face colon dots adorable?
I put up 3 clocks in 3 streetcars on 3 different lines (College, Spadina and Queen) and 2 clocks on 2 subway cars on both the Green and Yellow lines.
This is in a subway car, on the yellow line, underneath a map! Info to Go!
Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good far-off photo of the scene on the first try, and there was no time to try again- the doors were open and I had to go!
I was running late!

This is really neat,
Awhile back I got a very polite email from Christopher Moore requesting to use my dumpster diving symbol in his campaign to save Renos Dumpster Diving!
Of course I agreed. That symbol is available for use under a creative commons license- you don’t even have to ask to use it! (It was nice of Mr. Moore to ask, though!)
He used the image on the website, and on the protest signs, which can be seen in these TV newscasts!

Pretty neat!
Best of luck, Christopher!

Another one!
TAGGERS
Mebbe
checkout the trees first, next time you go to paint a favorite spot!

I really think that there should be clocks in the interiors of street cars.
I only put up one clock per car, but maybe even a few clocks per car would be good.
Here’s a clock in a different spot than the last one.
ALSO
The family that Sprays together, pays together.

This week I have a bunch of older stuff for you,
I had forgotten about them- maybe because they’re so simple and straightforward… but good!
During the summer, before our current “Snowmageddon”, I was commuting a lot.
My job at the time took me a bit further afield than I would have preferred. I had to travel for about an hour, twice a day, 5 days a week.
And on my way in, I was always worried that I was running late.
I know I’m a curmudgeonly luddite compared to most Torontonian TTCers, but I don’t carry a cellphone, PDA, or doodad. I don’t even wear a wristwatch.
So I would stew and stress over the time, because I couldn’t keep an eye on it.
I began thinking- “Christ TTC, how hard would it be to install a few clocks? The batteries last forever, the installation is dead easy, and they are super cheap!”
“Wait.”
“Why don’t I add a few clocks?”
So I did.
Even if you carry a phone, a few clocks could be still be usefull. You can double check that your time is correct, check the time even if your battery is dead, or even just get a quick idea of the time without digging through your purse. I doubt any are still up, but in winter, it could allow you to check the time without taking off your gloves!
This one is in a streetcar, rumbling along lakeshore college.

I know we get silly here, but in all seriousness,

I think that this flyer is important. It is certainly the most important flyer of the series.

I think free transit is an idea whose time has come. I think It’s a worthwhile and achievable goal.

I went off about it awhile ago, but I didn’t want to just let it die there. Blade Diary isn’t a big enough soapbox. I was thinking about ways I could better spread the idea (What sort of stencilled image would convey it? What sort of location would be best? Would text be useful? If so, what?) When I “spotted” the hooks on the subway. I thought, “what a perfect medium for this message! I’ll present the changes I’d like to see as though they are already reality in the official format and style!” I hope that this approach will emphasise the plausibility of these changes. I hope to print more and get them onto the hooks. I hope that people who find them start to wonder why they shouldn’t be demanding more of such an essential service.

Medicare, even with the wait times and issues facing it today, is a treasured system and a source of national pride. We voted Tommy Douglas “The Greatest Canadian” in 2004. But remember that publicly funded Medicare wasn’t always a beloved idea, and the change did not come smoothly or without struggle. Insurance companies, big business and common people all fought against it. Even doctors themselves fought, going on strike and then later adding “extra-billing” to raise their incomes. We can expect no less from the TTC union. But imagine if hospitals today had to recover 75-80% of their budget from patients?

Please, please feel free to print/distribute your own copies of any of these flyers.

Print resolution files here and here!

Fun and games!

You might remember the “Connect The Dots” from a earlier stencil. I just made the numbers alot bigger and cleaner.

Please feel free to print/distribute your own copies of any of these flyers.

Print resolution files here and here!

Graffiti!

Get out there and enjoy it before all the best walls are carved out and sold off!

(Patrick Stewart knows!)

Please feel free to print/distribute your own copies of any of these flyers.

Print resolution files here and here!

You never know what sort of weirdo petty-criminal with a secret life (who likes to dress up like a dead astronaut) you may meet on the subway.

My sincere apologies and thanks to Robot Johnny!

Surprise!

Please feel free to print/distribute your own copies of any of these flyers.

Print resolution files here and here!