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Dear Greg,
My train left Union Station at 5:35 pm heading east on Wednesday, December 4, 2013. It is now 7:40 pm and I've made it as far as the Distillery District, and there's NO sign of any clear progress!
Please forward this to the idiot in charge of directing and managing train traffic, and then subsequently fire him/her.
I have been held HOSTAGE on this train for over 2 hours now. I am HUNGRY, as I was rushing home to have dinner!. I am thirsty! There's no source of water on the train.
We are a few hundred meters away from union station, yet no one has made the call to reverse back into Union, and ALLOW people to get off, get something to eat, or make alternative plans to get home. Staff announcements, as always, have been lacklustre. Movement has been non-existent for the past hour or so.
Had we actually gone back to Union Station I would have been able to take the TTC and make it home over 1 hour ago! You are NOT the only form of transit in Toronto, and I could have easily made alternative plans.
I get that extenuating circumstances are beyond your control, yet YOU WERE AWARE OF THIS DELAY SINCE AT LEAST 4:10!!! You KNOW how much each train gets delayed and what your traffic patterns are like, yet no one in your organization seems competent enough to figure out how to prevent from having your customers from being stranded on a train.
Why! Why, can't you coordinate with the bridge inspection crew and ONLY release trains from union station when the way to the bridge is clear. I'm sure there is now a clusterfuck of trains waiting inline because no one has the foresight to plan!
Its is NOT hard to offer your customers choices if you arm them with information. Make CLEAR announcements, not that garbled crap you pass off as announcements, that INFORM passengers of the EXPECTED delay. Work with the supervisor of the inspection to get an estimate of the delay and REVISE it as new information comes in.
NEVER, EVER should you force your customers to wait within eyesight of a station without giving them the opportunity to get off!
I expect a personal response from the you clearly explaining the steps and precautions GO will now take to ENSURE this will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN and how you plan on actually providing your customers with realistic and up-to-date delay estimates. I'm not talking about the current estimates you provide e.g. an announcement at 8:10 telling me "your 8:05 train is now 5 minutes late". I mean do some math, some modelling, some actual head scratching based on line capacity, traffic, back log, and other factors to tell me when the hell I can expect a train to arrive, and when I can expect to be home.
I understand these skills might be lacking in your organization, as a trained engineer, I'd be happy to help.
Regards,
D.H., PhD
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