For those who don't know, Metrolinx is seeking board approval to raise fares next year by 4.8%. For myself, this means $0.31 more a trip (based on how I read the proposal outlined in my post from yesterday).
In 2012, I paid $8.01 using Presto to travel from Oshawa/Courtice to Union and paid the same to come back. I paid $16.02 a day.
In 2013, I pay $8.40 using Presto to travel from Oshawa/Courtice to Union. I pay $8.39 to come home. I gave up fighting Presto/Metrolinx/GO Transit over the one extra cent. It's apparently a software glitch. No one one seems to care that I pay one extra cent. I uncovered this in a post from February. Add up all the people who take the GO bus on my route who are also affected by this 'glitch'. Is this not fraud? Well? Thousands of pennies add up to extra money GO Transit isn't supposed to have or collect.
All I can say is that come February 1st, when my fare rises to $8.71 one-way, each way, and this 'glitch' isn't fixed, heads are gonna roll - someone is accountable! By the time it's all said and done, GO Transit will have pocketed $4.80 extra in fare from me this year. Sure, it's less than the cost of a venti latte from Starbucks but it's my venti latte they're drinking!
I am disappointed this is still happening. It can't continue!
15 comments:
http://www.auditor.on.ca/en/
Start here. And don't procrastinate.
How widespread is this glitch? Do you know? Is it only affecting people on your bus route or are others affected?
So I will have to pay almost $18 a day to get to work. I don't even think I would spend that much in gas... my neighbour drives to yonge and eg each day from harmony and 401 and spends $65 a week for her honda civic. parking is free at her office tower.
I will psending 90$ a week to get to work!!!! WTF. Factor in the presto discount and my grand total for the month will be $328.50!!!!
Why should all the capital expenditures be coming from our pockets. go needs to be subsidized better. ridiculous. OH but Scarborough gets a billion dollar subway!!!!
I knew this was coming. And I am disappointed with this raise as well. Especially considering how there has NOT been any change in service levels.
I do understand that prices and costs go up. But this raise is too much for that, it is purely a cash grab. They need to quit treating us as walking wallets.
Clean house, get budgets and such in order and QUIT BUILDING PARKING GARAGES! Especially if you are not going to charge for their use. People will pay a small fee, and that money can go into the pot for other infrastructure upgrades and special projects (cough Whitby charging stations cough). People do not want these nor do they need this. Get your hands out of my pocket and spend within your means.
Metrolinx is another Billion Dollar Boondoggle. Soon we will see them alongside eHealth and the Gas Plants.
And sorry for this. It did start out rationally and then I made myself upset.
So is that $410 a month for the Civic driver?
$260 in gas
+ $150 insurance (approx)
Excluding maintenance and repairs.
I worked it out, I'll be paying another 39¢ per ride. It works out to about $15 more a month. That's nuts.
Just watch the number of fare cheats go up.
$15 more per month for the convenience of the go train, the luxury of having someone driving you to work in a clean environment? How is that nuts? Feel free to spend that $18 in gas per day plus pay your parking in Toronto, then add up the amount of stress you go through in driving and the wear and tear on your vehicle. Quit your bitching and think practically. GO train is still by far the best alternative.
So let me get this straight.....
You people were so fed up about parking donkeys, door blockers, loud people on the trains, having to wait an hour if you missed your train... Etcetc.....so GO listened to you by creating HUGE parking garages , adding extra coaches on rush hour trains, creating the quiet zone, adding half hour service....and you expected to pay nothing more?? You greedy donkeys should find other alternatives then. Perhaps work from home and save everyone the hassle of having to deal with you in public.
Hi,
This "donkey" never asked for any of those improvements. I am not a fan of the quiet zone. I haven't taken advantage of half hour service as I work 830 to 430. I can't speak for anyone else but I thought that last 5% increase was implemented to cover the costs and sustain those improvements you outlined.
Parking garages, by the way, provide no benefit to me as I don't drive to the station.
Yes, it is nuts when my expenses are going up anywhere from 4 to 42% but my pay goes up only 2.5%. Would I mind the increase if I thought I'd get some benefit out of it, maybe not. My problem is I do NOT trust the bureaucrats to handle my money prudently.
As Cj said, the Lakeshore east expansion which was to happen years ago has not yet happened and most likely, won't happen until 2021.
My wife and I moved to Bomanville from Pickering due to my wife getting a job in Newcastle, buying a home in Aspen Springs instead of in Orono as originally planned so our kids could be car-less in their efforts to get to university when they reached that stage. We wanted to be in area that would be serviced by transit.
Our neighbours have two sons who commute to school. One son is at Ryerson and one is at U of T. Both drive from Bomanville to get to the Oshawa GO station and though they have tried to co-ordinate their schedules, they are forced to take two separate cars. They used to drive to the park and ride at 57 and 2 but it has limited spots. They would then park over at the old Canadian Tire and walk to the bus until one of the cars was towed one day. Parking at Oshawa is at capacity. Some days the boys drive to Whitby to take advantage of the parking garage because Metrolinx won't build one at Oshawa because the station will move one day, probably when those kids no longer live in Bomanville.
We've watched all these transit improvements happen in Pickering while Oshawa and the eastern commuters are stuck with buses that only connect with three express trains and a parking lot that reaches capacity by 7:20 am.
I take GO transit and ride the bus, walking up to Highway 2 from my home. C.j.'s story in the Star resonated with me because I gave up my car four years ago and it was a difficult decision as well. But I am better off for it. But being at the mercy of the bus is no fun, especially when it's cancelled, breaks down, goes missing, is late, runs early, etc...
Metrolinx bought huge parcels of land for the eastern stations and like C.j. said, they currently sit vacant when they could be leased annually for farming while the government drags its heels on bringing the train to Bomanville. That's a missed opportunity for revenue and is more favorable to increasing fares.
The half hour train service is nice but it's not without its issues. I have bus friends who shift work, who wait an hour for connecting buses because the bus schedules apparently weren't adjusted to accommodate passengers who DON'T DRIVE and DON'T HOP INTO A CAR when the train arrives at the station.
So yes, the improvements are nice but not without faults but I was also under the impression the last fare hike was to cover half hour service and sustain its operation.
Did anyone expect the fares to go down? Remain the same forever? Did the cost of parts to maintain the trains go down? (train parts are REALLY expensive!) Do the people working for GO get a 2.5% pay raise? Does the Bombardier operating contract go up a bit every year? Do the mechanics who fix the trains get a 2.5% raise in pay? The fare will always rise and we will complain about it every time. So will the price of gas, groceries, movies, heat HYDRO, taxes, phone, university, travel, cars etc.
Anonymous,
You need to calm your jets. Just a smidge.
Are you even reading the replies?
No one is AGAINST you. Holy smokes. You need to smear some hemorrhoid cream on those fingers of yours since they must be so inflamed from flying across the keyboard.
The last fare increase should have been sustainable. This is all that we are saying and should be in line with cost of inflation. Ridership is up. More ridership equals more money. It didn't cost GO any more money to run trains on lines that don't have half hour service as people who moved to those areas cram themselves onto trains. Do you ride a corridor that is at capacity? Those folks aren't getting all day service on the Barrie line, or Kitchener, or Richmond Hill but ridership has increased exponentially. That's more money and service that remains the same.
Another thing you're missing is the fact that many Presto users are being skimmed an extra penny on our fares. Where is that almost $5 times so many people going?
When that gets fixed, then I will support a fare increase. It's hard to support a fare increase when money is being stolen from me every time I tap.
what about those who cannot work due to disabilities & employers wont hire us, we are forced to live on measly amounts, my fare is almost $10 one way, I have to give GO at least 1hr notice to get on a bus & can only get on/off at major stations ( many times to only be stranded at a stop, because the driver of the bus was NEVER notified by control, or the driver cant get the accessible features to work or just is not trained well, I travel alone, 99% of the time so the 2\1 discount is not used, I pay FULL FARE, also I have to deal with possibly not making it home at my end connection to local transit because of GO's screw-ups..
I NEVER can get a straight answer out of GO..
Also up until 2 months ago, NONE of the "Train-Meet" buses accepted wheelchairs, because of drivers whining about scheduling..
Try living in Hamilton, our only option is take burlington transit which is $3.25 one way, to Aldershot, then the train to Toronto, (that is when the elevator at Aldershot IS working...) OR take the QEW express, EVEN THEN it is constantly jam packed, drivers REFUSE to ask people to move for wheelchair users.. I've had to sit at UNION, & watch 3 drivers & 2 supervisors play "jump on the lift" trying to get it to go back down or work at all..
I've been stranded in downtown Toronto, at 2:30am, because the last bus, the driver couldent get a simple lever to move on the seat that needs to get pushed forward for me to be able to get on..
So a simple 6 inch piece of aluminum stopped me from going home..
You want to whine about fares raising, I live on $235 a month, once rent is paid along with bills, due to medical reasons & lack of specialized services here, I have to travel to Toronto every week for various appointments..
(( my old eye specialist doc here in hamilton, retired 2yrs ago, was the straw that broke the camels back.)
Squiggles was spot on the money "Metrolinx is another Billion Dollar Boondoggle. Soon we will see them alongside eHealth and the Gas Plants."
Metrolinx's spending is out of control, a vision of trying to force everyone to take public Transit.
If Metrolinx succeeded with naking more give up the car, look at the costs of the falling Motor industury, businesses collapsing etc...
Metrolinx is desperate to find a away to fund all it's projects, only the other day they are looking at up to 10C per litre gas tax!
The vast majority of Ontario's population does not take public transit, yet we are being forced to pay for something that the majority of Ontarions will never see.
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