Last week I was at GO early and the stench was unbearable, even though there was only one smoker in evidence - right by the door, right under a no smoking sign.There is NO enforcement. I have become convinced, by experience and news from reliable sources, that this is not about allocating scarce enforcement officers, or overloaded workers, or logistics. This is a conscious policy arrived at, perhaps at even the highest levels of Metrolinx brass, Nto OT to enforce the policy and NOT to discomfort entitled smokers.The fine for smoking is set at $45. There have been periods of time when I have been at a GO station where a pair of enforcement officers could make upwards of $2000 in a one hour period. The smoking is regular, visible and plentiful. This is just at one station.But my sources told me that Health and Safety Officials at GO were advised by Enforcement people at their own level that the unwritten policy is NOT to enforce the bylaws at all, if possible, and to only enforce pro forma and intermittently on complaints.This may well have served the need and aim of not ticking off regular clientele (smoking GO passengers are creatures of habit, don't ya know) when smokers made up 30% or even 20% of clientele... But adult smoking levels are down in the 15% range.The consequences of that are two-fold: the 15% left are majority, bull goose loony severely addicted and self-entitled idiots; and the number of people like CJ and myself who are medically compromised by exposure to cigarette smoke may soon outnumber the butt suckers...Very soon there will come a realization that a tipping point has occurred. GO will not be about to continue this much longer...
Monday, April 29, 2013
If this is true, it's wrong and things need to change
This comment was made on my rant last week about the smoking infractions at Oshawa.
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11 comments:
That is a disgusting policy.
If they enforce the by-laws, they can cover the costs of having more enforcement officers and save from further fare increases.
It is a win-win, yet they don't want to see it happen.
I totally believe this is true but it's not 1993, it's 2013 and this archaic off-the-books policy needs to meet the same fate as the dinosaurs.
thanks CJ...
They just need to step out the east side doors at union to hand out fines to all the smokers on the south-east side of Bay, puffing away beside no smoking signs to make some money.
@Sylv - I agree. The smokers on West Teamway are a big problem. I wait down there daily for my train until the preceding train occupying the same track departs. I can count at least 2-3 people standing directly under (or within 10 feet of) a no-smoking sign. I guess it's too much work for them to walk 50-feet to the uncovered area at either end of the pathway.
And I'm a smoker! But I have never lit up, or brought a lit cigarette to the Teamway area.
Here is the easiest fix... contact TeleHealth or the OPP. Alert them of the problems. OPP can enforce these laws, and if enough complaints come in, perhaps The Smoke-Free Ontario Act will get teeth. Seneca College was SUPPOSED to start enforcement this month but have "delayed implementation due to smokers concerns (aka bitching) about where they will smoke, and the distance from doors during inclement weather."
Distance from doors during inclement weather? Has anyone been to a hospital lately? You can't smoke anywhere on the property, distance and weather be-damned. If you're a smoker and you want to light up, but you happen to have a broken ankle? Better find a wheel chair and wheel yourself out to the public sidewalk...
OPP wont enforce the laws.....and smoking on GO property is enforced....however when you balance all the other concerns and complaints that need to be addressed...there's only so much to go around.
BTW - enforcement nevers pays for the staff or costs, is rarely revenue neutral when you balance all the costs.
That said....enforcement of smoking does occur.
"That said....enforcement of smoking does occur."
Where, when, how often? Wish I could believe you but...
There are pictures of enforcement officers on site, with people smoking within sight of their vehicle, directly beneath no smoking signs by entrance ways, and enforcement officers are doing nothing... at all.
A rule or law is a set of regulations on what should or should not be done combined with a penalty for when the regulations are not adhered to.
A rule or law that is not enforced is NOT a rule or law - it may as well not exist.
I don't know how one goes about getting GO to enforce rules they are clearly not enforcing. Perhaps a campaign to have the no smoking rule repealed on the grounds that it is not enforced might be the way to bring attention to it.
Either that or print up stickers that say something like, "Odds of being fined are slim to none, so you may as well smoke" with a cigarrette in a yellow circle and stick them on the no smoking signs. BUT, that would be vandalism!
Taking the bus daily at the McNab terminal in Hamilton it always made me rage when someone smoked under the "thank you for not smoking" sign. Those people are the scum of the earth.
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