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TTC crowd control at Bloor/Yonge began at the end of 2009, based on an idea Adam Giambrone, the former TTC chair, brought from Asia. Thanks to these workers, the city’s busiest subway station functions — for now.

Mayor Rob Ford loves subways. That’s easy for him to say: he doesn’t ride the Yonge line during crush hour. Ridership on the TTC’s Yonge-University-Spadina line has climbed from 583,000 people per weekday in 2000 to 711,000 riders in 2010. Andy Byford, new chief executive at the TTC, warned reporters Friday that the Yonge subway line is full.

Visits this week to three key subway stations on the Yonge line during rush hour revealed what capacity feels like; it feels pretty crowded.

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“Good morning ladies and gentlemen,” comes a voice over loudspeakers on the southbound platform at Bloor/Yonge. “The train is approaching. Please stand clear of the yellow line.”

The rich South Asian baritone voice, invoking all the civility of the British Raj, belongs to Aramugan Jeevarakshagan (people call him “Jeeva”), originally from southern India.

Mr. Jeevarakshagan’s job resembles that of a square-dance caller. He sits in the crowd control booth at Bloor/Yonge. To his right a console shows him trains approaching from the north. Two TVs show him 25 views of this station. He mainly watches the southbound Yonge platform; his goal is to calm and reassure the crowds.

“Watch the doors. The doors are closing. There is another train on the approach,” he advises.