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Dear Greg,
I'm not sure to what happened to the reply I was expecting, perhaps I set my expectations too high for GO Transit once more, much like last night, allow me to regale you with the details.
Last night was yet another example of a customer service disaster on behalf of GO Transit: I can only assume that the hamster that plans your train traffic fell of his wheel again and that your communications staff left early.
Sometime around early afternoon a "trespasser" wondered onto the tracks and between Guildwood and Pickering (what happened to Rouge Hill, are we no longer using that as point of reference). I'm being purposefully intact with my comments, as whoever is in charge of your communications was as well. Let me outline the difference, a "pedestrian fatality or pedestrian injury on a rail line" is a BAD and UNFORTUNATE thing, it elicits feelings of remorse and concern for the poor fellow/gal that wondered onto the tracks. A "trespasser" is a person who has entered your property illegally, it evicts feelings of ANGER in people. A "trespasser" can be forcefully or otherwise removed from the tracks and everyone else can then go on about their day. A "trespasser" does not require a half-day police investigation. See the difference? Your communications person doesn't, perhaps you can use my next fair hike to buy a dictionary, or perhaps use one of the free online ones. I think my wife said it best, "Trespasser is an insensitive term used do describe what happened, I'm sure the family of the person injured would be offended."
This now sets the MOOD for the rest of my story, seeing as from about 3:50 pm, all I kept hearing was that a "trespasser" has wondered on to the tracks. Which to me means a delay of 30-60 min before service is fully restored, so all an all a happy rush-hour home. Alas, such was not the case. Luckily, I smelled a ruse, so I had the foresight to make arrangements to have my kids picked up from school. Yes, amazingly some of your customers have concerns above and beyond their daily GO trip, which are often times severely messed up by the actions, ney INACTIONS, of GO Transit.
Carefully watching the departure, cancellation, delay, etc of trains using your website and my handy GO transit app I picked a time to depart when I thought the coast was clear. I had to use my own judgement as there was no hint of a smoke signal from GO as to what was going on. It was after all after 5:00 pm which I assume is the official GO quitting time and the office subsequently clears out.
I packed my stuff, called my wife, and signalled that the coast was clear and that we should catch the 6:43 pm train home to Rouge Hill. I kept checking my GO train app (the union station departure screen) on my way down to Union Station frequently in the hopes that some tidbit of useful information would be dropped, alas no. The walk was about a 25 min trek from where I work, so plenty of chances, and plenty of let down. The net sum no cancellations, only a delay, no time limit on the delay as is the style of GO transit. I arrived at union station at 6:36 pm, at which time the train was still in a date of unknown delay.
Let me briefly pause and ask you a question. In a world of GPS tracking and package shipment with real-time status updates, JIT inventory systems, why does GO Transit not know WHERE its trains are by HOW MUCH they are delayed? Seems preposterous right? I'd think so.
I waited around Union station, reloaded my presto card . . . which I can't seem to do online via the Presto website ever since the sign-in procedure has change, nor can I trust the money to be there after a reload anyways within 24 H span. But I'll save that debacle for another email, as from an IT point of view Presto is a disaster. Again, see ANY other form of electronic payment and do a compare and contrast and the pitfalls of Presto are startling! BTW, military grade integrated circuits are guaranteed to operate down to -50C, industrial grade -40C. I assume Presto cheaped out and used commercial ICs which are only rated down to -0C for their readers. Good call, we are after all in CANADA, where the temperatures dip below 0C 25% of the year.
Back to my story, I'm at union station, waiting patiently. 6:42 pm clicks, and lo and behold the train is CANCELLED. GO TRANSIT LOST A TRAIN!!! That is the only possible explanation that I can accept for your inability to track and plan your train traffic! See two paragraphs up about GPS. Seriously, how can you not know more than 1 minute before departure that a train will be cancelled? Was your traffic controller praying to some nameless deity hoping for a miracle train to show up? You know how you groan when your flight is cancelled, limo driver is late, your late is made with 2% milk rather than skim? Multiply that by about 200, that's what happend at Union station at 6:42 pm
Keep in mind, people were probably making arrangements with their loved ones to be picked up at their station, as the miracle unspecified-delay train will whisk home. Only to have to call them back, make other arrangements, ask their baby sitters to stay late, wish good night to children they won't see before they go to sleep. Yet the miracle train did not appear to the wishes of all. Let me be crystal clear, you held your customers hostage in the Union concourse while they waited for a delayed train that was subsequently lost, and cancelled.
With dreams crushed, and all HOPE forlorn in GO Transit, as there's NO GUARANTEE that the follow up 7:17 pm will not be cancelled (albeit it wasn't delayed, yet) my wife and I resorted to the TTC to get home.
So let me recap:
- 3 hours of waiting for the "trespasser" to be escorted off the tracks - tho both you and I know it wasn't a trespasser
- 25 min walk to Union station in vain
- 1.5H ride home via TTC to get home as I do NOT trust you or your ability to get me home
- 4H of baby sitting for 2 kids
Alas, this debacle will NOT qualify for a GO Transit guarantee either, as I did not want to tap my card on (in vain) before the platform was announced. In fact, I knew (with the limited information I had access to) to already start making plans to use the TTC instead. My wife did tap on, yet cancelled her ride after the 6:42 pm letdown.
Now, I don't have all of the answers, but allow me to describe to you how I would have handled the situation.
Disaster strikes. I have at least 2 trains east of pickering, probably more. Those can easily service Pickering, Ajax, Whitby, and Oshawa in back-and-forth service every 30min. I have shuttle busses (which I'm sure there weren't many) offering service between Guildwood and Pickering, obviously because Rouge Hill has fallen off the map now.
Seriously, why skip Rouge Hill, is there are lack of switches between Pickering-Rouge Hill and Rouge Hill-Guildwood, I think not. Was the "trespassing" incident at Rouge Hill? If so, why not just say that? Why stay vague. Vagueness is DEATH in the communication department for a customer service company. Instead, be precise and factual. Are you this vague when it comes to board meetings? Would you accept vagueness from your underlings in their reports? Why should your customers expect less?
Alright, back to my plan. I have 2 trains running all-stops, because there's no point in express trains in service crunch, between Guildwood (Rouge-Hill if possible) and Union every 30 min as well. Let me draw your attention to the fact that not ALL your customers call points east of Pickering their terminal stops. I would have LOVED to be even able to make it to Guildwood last night on a regular schedule. Every once-in-a-while you might be able to squeeze a train in-between the disaster zone. I'd have one train start at Guldwood (to relive the shuttle bus overload) and run run all stops to Oshawa. I'd alternate that with an express train from Union to Rouge Hill, and then all stops thereafter. Returning trains past the disaster zone can pick up the non-rush hour traffic between Pickering, Rouge Hill and Union.
Notice how I'm able to satisfy passengers travelling between Guildwood and Union with regular service, as well as passengers traveling between Pickering and Oshawa with regular service? Notice how the limited traffic restrictions between the disaster zone is handled?
Compare that to the GO transits plan: shove as many trains past the disaster zone, maintaing the illusion of a regular schedule including express trains. Then cancel trains at Guildwood due to shortage of trains at Union Station to service other lines. Thereby stranding passengers at Guildwood, overloading the shuttle busses.
Again, all of this can be optimized. There are algorithms known to man, but not to GO Transit, that plan this all out. Remember JIT inventory systems, I wonder what algorithms they use?
I hope, sincerely hope with all of my little heart, that a true disaster never strikes Toronto in my lifetime. I cannot imagine the unorganized pandemonium that would occur at Union Station while GO transit misplaces trains in a real emergency situation all in the name of keeping an unachievable schedule.
Which brings me back to your communication system. The public address system at Union Station is a joke. The place is loud, the speakers are crap, the person making the announcements mumbles and does NOT annunciate (sic), nor even repeat the announcement in case someone missed a key piece of information. Addresses cannot be heard, comprehended, and are thus useless at platform levels: you use diesel trains, NOT silent electric trains. Auditory addresses CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be used at platform level! The screens, seem to be frozen on the departure schedule. Why, only the upper 3 lines are, on average, displaying useful information critical to the people looking for their train platform. Why are these screens not used as public address systems as well? What are the hearing impaired customers to do? Your corporate communication strategy sucks, there's no nice way of putting it.
Again. There's no reason for this. It's not like there aren't other transit systems in the world that you can't steal best practices from. It is sad, but every other place I have traveled has a better customer information system and better coordination than our own. Are you as an agency happy with being the worse of the lot? I mean you're better than the TTC, but that's a pretty narrow vision, and a crippled competitor at that.
I have tried to keep keep a cool head while composing this email, but it's hard. As a GO Transit user for 15+ years, I'm fed up. I can only count on one thing in any kind of non-standard operating situation: GO transit will mess it up, I will not get home on time or possibly not even via a train. And, at the end of the day, I will be fed up and angry at your organization for its ineptitude. Not because you can't plan (which you haven't learned how to in the 15 years I've been riding GO), but solely because you cannot communicate effectively, clearly, and TRUTHFULLY with your customers.
I'm (CC'ing) more people in your organization, and more external influences in the hopes that I will get a response, including members of Parliament as you are a public agency that is not being accountable. Maybe my last response was being carried by the lost 6:43 train?
I suggest you spend the next fare increase to institute a system to schedule your trains around an emergency, again, based on traffic patterns, usage patterns, and blockages. Use that system to provide accurate and real-time estimates to your customers. Fire the hamster you've had at the wheel for the last 15+ years.
Regards,
D.H., PhD
22 comments:
People can't rely on GO's "updates" to actually be disseminated BEFORE the cancellation/delay of any scheduled trip. In fact, when trains are delayed, I like to guess how long it will be before GO sends me an update. Will it be while I'm already on the train? While I'm eating dinner? When I'm already asleep?
They have also shown an ability to accommodate passengers when regular service is disrupted, but manage to somehow sweep it under the rug when oversights like this author's Rouge Hill situation occur. When the gas leak happened at Eglinton Station earlier this year, GO had plans for people to get everywhere along the LSE...EXCEPT for Guildwood and Rouge Hill. Those passengers, myself included, were left to our own devices to find our way back to our cars which were parked at the GO Station.
It's ridiculous. And I'm ever so glad that I get to pay 5% more in February for the same level of inconsistency in the future.
Oh, and this is a neat little page. Pick your line and it shows all the trains currently on that line, moving or not. Not sure if it works on a mobile device, however.
http://www.gotracker.ca/gotracker/web/
Brilliant letter and completely spot on. Thanks for taking the time to send it in. Let's not hold our breath that any change will come as a result but at least it made me smile.
B
Despite the grammatical errors, the passion flowing from the writer was compelling enough to make me fist pump the air. Thank you DH for putting this out there and into the hands of CJ so we could all read it. I sincerely hope someone at GO takes you seriously. Having used other transit systems around the world, I can vouch that it does feel that GO, despite its recent fancy award fails in planning and communications. There is a need for JIT and GPS and disaster contingency. I am grateful you took the time to address what happened.
@D.H.
Excellent email! Don't stop; you're on a roll. Be sure to include the Minister of Transportation, Glen Murray in your distribute list.
gmurray.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
A perfect example of someone who does not know how the train service works. The Toronto Police services kept the tracks closed for an investigation as long as they needed to and GO can't do anything about it. They stopped two of three tracks and believe it or not Mr PHD, trains have a very tough time passing each other when there's only one track.
You'd think a Phd (Piled higher and deeper) would actually try to learn a little about how trains are run before performing a TL;DR letter.
On the bright side, at least Darwin's natural selection has taken care of a "trespasser" who chose to disregard safety rules.
Re: the 10:18pm comment. Read what you wrote and tell me which part GO/Metrolinx is at fault for and then read the good doctor's email again.
I've been quite vocal on social media about whose at fault for the lack of transparency.
I was once on a GO train that hit a person committing suicide. The front car. We heard the impact(s). After GO said what the incident was we felt sick. They also announced that due to the police investigating we will be sitting on that train for a minimum 3 hours. Tracks closed both directions. If there is ever a train delay for this reason, make alternate arrangements to get home immediatley. It will be at least 3 hours. And then the backlog will need to be cleared taking even longer. On monday i headed to Scrab T.C and took a bus to Whitby and was only 25 minutes later than usual.
Excellent letter - exactly what I wanted to write and send to them. With this 'trespasser' incident, I missed my daughter's first Christmas concert because I was sitting on a train not moving with no announcements, other than to say "we'll let you know when we do" which is bull. They should know everything.
When I left Union, everything seemed fine and dandy. OK good, I can get home and we can work through this delay. I was in good spirits thinking "no problem, I'll get to my daughters concert". But the train went as far as it could, and with no foresight to further traffic or signals, was thus stopped near Guildwood for 40 minutes. The pain of that train not moving and the clock ticking away drove me nuts, almost to the point of swearing out loud.
If I had known prior to leaving Union what the situation may have even remotely been, I would have taken the TTC and maybe had a fighting change to get picked up to go to the Christmas concert.
Twice in the span of a week (last week the bridge repair and this week the trespasser) brought me to utter frustration. Yes, these are terrible incidents and the poor family that went through this, I can't imagine their pain. But for GO to have virtually no plan in an emergency other than to 'see what happens when we go' is incomprehensibly frustrating. It boggles my mind why the GO people can't figure this out already. I've been taking the train for 10+ years and although it has improved slightly since Metrolinx came on board, these past serious delays (including the gas leak in September) has left me doubting whether Metrolinx has just been lucky. It just blows me away that the best course of action (see last week's bridge incident) was to sit still on a track for over an hour. By your actions you are delaying the lives of thousands upon thousands of people (who, believe it or not, want to get home as soon as possible) and you are virtually doing nothing about it. I want to see my little girl before she goes to bed. I want to see my wife before she goes to bed too (she's pregnant...). I do not want to sit on a stupid train going nowhere.
Dear Anon @ 10:18,
I'm so amazed that you were able to sniff out my intellectual ability, what I know and do not, from my initials and two emails. And oh no, you found a possible flaw in my knowledge, I'm gonna rush home and burn my PhD because now it is worthless! Whatever will I tell my children, my parents, my wife?
While I may or may not know how rail transit works, I do there are these things called BOOKS, I'm advocating for change. I want things to be better in the world we live in. And yes, while in this case, I may not be solving 3rd world problems (note this isn't he site for that) or social injustices (also not the site for that) I am trying to play an active part in society.
So, please. Go stand on the sidelines while the rest of us take an active part in changing the world and making it a better place.
Also, next time you wish to make a counter argument, read the WHOLE argument in its entirety before responding and not make your argument on what you interpret the email to be about after the first few lines.
DH, your comments to Anon 10:18 are beyond rude! Please don't think that because you have three letters after your name that you are smarter than the rest of the population. Keep your condescending comments to yourself, there is no reason to be rude. If you are smarter than Anon, rise above and don't take the bait. There are real live people at the other end of these comments. Someone as smart as you should know that.
I had a similar reaction when I read your email. You spend four paragraphs talking about your "plan". GO Trains are not the only trains that use these rail lines and to assume that they can simply make changes to the schedule as you have suggested is very narrow minded. CN regulates the schedule, GO Transit gets slotted in when and where CN (who owns the rails) says they can go. In between are freight trains and VIA trains. All on schedules to avoid us banging into each other like high speed bumper cars.
GO Transit can't say - take over the tracks, make these changes.
I do agree with what I believe may have been the original (but somewhat lost point) of your email - Go Transit communication is beyond terrible. Terrible doesn't even come close. During last week's delays, I got an email that my train was delayed while I was on the email - after we left the station. Not particularly helpful.
Quite franky, and this is not just directed at DH - if you can take the TTC during these delays, DO IT! We all know it will be hours and hours of delays. For people to complain and then say "had I known, I would have taken the TTC" makes me want to pull my hair out.
My choices were - 1. Get on a train and hope for the best. 2. Wait for it to clear and hope for the best. 3. Take a bus which will be overly crowded, standing room only (because everyone has the same idea) and I probably won't get home any earlier.
GO Transit has me by the short and curlies. I have NO other way to get home. I miss living in Toronto, where I could walk home in three hours. It still would have been faster than my delay on Monday.
If you have options, count your blessings and TAKE THEM!
Everyone was inconvenienced by these delays. I work two jobs and I have a classroom full of students waiting for me at job 2 - people who have paid for my time while I was stuck on a train.
Neither GO Transit nor CN have power over what tresspassers or pedestrians do. I wouldn't have felt any differently if they had called the person a pedestrian. For the love of pete, stay the hell off the tracks.
April,
I apologize if you think or anon though my comment was hurtful. Sarcastic tongue-in-cheek was what I was aiming for, alas no amount of emoticons can convey feeling/tone in the written medium. So we tend to project our own emotions on to what we read. My hard-ass letter to GO Transit is in no way an indication of what I'm like as a person. I was pissed off as hell, and had every right to be. I wanted GO and Metrolinx to know just that.
Anon wrongly assumed I do not know how rail transit works. That was incorrect, and I called him/her on it. Re-read anon's comment again and see if you can see how I perceived it as rude and condescending as well.
My attitude/personality has nothing to do with any of the letters in my name. The ONLY reason I used my credentials in my formal-ish letter to GO was to increase my odds of getting a response: nothing less, nothing more.
I only spent 4 lines on my plan, because quite frankly I don't provide advice for free. I'm paid for my knowledge, analysis, design, etc in the real-world, I'd expect nothing less from GO transit. The point was to demonstrate that you do not shut down a whole rail line because of one isolated fault. You segment and keep traffic flowing. Could you imagine the WHOLE of 401 shutting down both directions each time there's an accident?
In terms of GO not owning the tracks they in-fact own 65% of the rail corridors they use. http://www.cp24.com/canadian-national-selling-rail-segments-to-metrolinx-1.787752 So, yah, GO transit CAN take over the tracks and make these changes. Seeing as they are a government agency, there's a lot of clout available to make that possible: it'd definitely be motion I'd get behind.
In terms of high speed bumper cars: that's what rail transit control is supposed to govern. I'm advocating they do it better. There's always room for improvement. TTC is updating the signalling on the Yonge line so they can do just that.
DH,
I can see how Anon 10:18's comments might be perceived as rude, but that absolutely, unquestionably does not condone or excuse your response.
I did not know Metrolinx had purchased the rails, I believed the CN still owned them. I haven't kept up on this because once they tanked the extended LSE line I stopped caring. Empty promises. However, this doesn't actually change anything. If GO Transit owns the rails, and CN and VIA now rent them from GO - GO still can't make changes to the lines as it serves them. They have contracts and agreements they must abide by.
Sarcasm does not come across well in the written word. I doubt that you would have spoken to Anon in such a fashion (or him/her to you) if you were face to face. Why have we forgotten that there are real people on the other ends of these comments.
Advocating for change does not require three letters after your name, nor do those letters increase your chances of a response. A response is given when you know who to email, when you cc the appropriate people and when you say the right things.
Don't think for a second that you got a response because you said PhD.
I have taken on the school board and various levels of government, and won. Not because I have three letters after my name; because I said the right things to the right people and I made them listen to me.
Being held hostage in the concourse is still preferable to being held hostage on a GO train. I sat on the 5:53 Lakeshore East outside of Union station for about 90 minutes. They were more than happy to take my money and have me and a few thousand others sit there with only a couple of useless messages about a delay and no option to make other arrangements.
Having arrived at Union for my train, there was no notice of Eastbound delays, only cancellations and delays of Westbound trains. If I'd known i would have made other arrangements instead. Having spent over 4 hours getting home less than 2 months ago, I was not eager to go through that again, but as it was I had no choice in the matter (though the commute was only 3+ hours this time).
A little proactive or even reactive communication would GO a long way.
April,
I'm honestly at a loss for words! You chide me for being rude: I apologized and clarified that it was not the intent. Yet your very own messages directed at me are rude as well, is there a double standard I'm not aware of? Am I not a real person deserving of the respect you so preach?
I would have, indeed, said the exact same things to anon's face, based on the personal attack lodged in my direction. My parents taught me not to pick fights, but to stand my ground, hold my own, and hold true to what I believe.
I never, ever, in my original messages flaunted any of the letters in my name at anyone. I only stuck them in the signature line. Yet, it seems to have hit a sore spot with you, and CJ tells me some of her readers. Why? I've studied, invented, made concrete contributions to society for a VERY long time to earn those three letters. It's my damn earned right to use my designation as I see fit, when I see fit.
Yet, these three letters seem to be clouding people's view of what I'm trying to achieve, and not for my own selfish reasons to boot. Better communication, better disaster management and accountability on GO Transit's behalf does not only impact me personally, it helps everyone that takes GO Transit.
I'm glad to see you've taken on pervious causes on your own, won't you join ours?
I will tell you why they have the sore spot.
The way you have attached those three letters and then used them again in some of your responses, which appear condescending (even if they didn't mean to) makes you appear pompous. It gives the appearance that you believe that you are better than others, smarter than others, more capable than others.
That will always hit a sore spot with people.
The very idea that you can only get a response if you have a designation is ridiculous and it assumes that someone like me, without those three letters, has an opinion that is not as worthy as yours. An opinion not worthy of a response.
You can't write someone off simply because they don't have an education, anymore than you can assume someone is special because they do.
I am tapping out of this conversation. I know when to fight, and when it will go no where.
No, I won't join in your cause. Quite frankly, I don't feel that you speak for me. I will fight my own battles for what I believe to be write and/or wrong.
Sincerely,
April
Not even an OSSD.
April,
Thank you for stereotyping me. That is after all what you did. You do not know me, you've never met me, yet you've attached a persona to me that's quite stereotypical, no?
I don't think I'm special, never said I was. I do not think other people's opinions are unwarranted, regardless of their background, personal beliefs, education, social standing, nor race. In short, you do not know me at all, to paint me with a broad paintbrush is extremely bigoted and hateful on your behalf.
You attack me because of your perception of me. I have never attacked your character, yet you seem to think that's the way to win an argument.
You attack me because you assume I think others are less deserving in some way. I defended myself because someone though I was uneducated in a facet, yet that is wrong. Yet another double standard.
I've used my designation exactly ONCE in my responses. Only because the poster mocked me, made reference to my PhD as if rail transit is required learning. That's hurtful, the poster had no idea of what my skill set is, what my expertise are. You've hurt my feelings repeatedly by berating me based on your assumptions of me.
I abhor prejudice.
I abhor bigotry.
I will not stand and be stereotyped. I have defended myself and my points soundly and logically. I have apologized were I may have unintentionally hurt people. I have tried to understand your point of view, and tried to help you understand my point of view. Yet your bigotry and prejudice prevents you from seeing reason, or your tainted point of view.
This has nothing to do with education, but the tainted glasses you view the world though. I cannot help with that.
April and Aron thank you
DH, please read the following book CROR, and then tell me how many rules violations you have caused by: maybe squeezing a train through a disaster zone as mentioned in your recovery plan. I know if you were at the controls you would say, PhD man here “let those trains move post haste” Also read about methods of train control (CTC and OCS) and offer up more great ideas on how you would handle things.
I bet that PHD will come in handy while you order a latte and come with outstanding plans on how to move everyone. Nice to hear you get paid for your advice hopefully you know what you’re talking about because your way off base here bud!
Yes folks it is that easy, that’s why you all work for Metrolinx in operations department.
I briefly scanned though the CROR, but will read it later, thanks. You DO realize that the very document you cite as proof, is now going to be my counter-argument against you? In fact, the. very. first. page. Notice the publication date: 2008. It means it was revised at least revised ONCE since the rail lines were put down and the original CROR. Rules change, rules are MEANT to change with the evolution and needs of society. I did this when I was 10 and got bored of playing Monopoly with my friends, we changed the rules and made things fun again. Why do you think that doesn't apply to real life? Mortgage lending rules change all the time? What you can(not) bring on a plane has changed rapidly in the last 15 years.
I would NEVER, EVER, tell my child that something cannot be done, it is too difficult. All that means is you haven't looked or tried hard enough, you haven't exhausted all of the options. If that fails, change the rules, if possible and if all agree. Science does this every day. I DO this for a living. I hear "can't" and it makes me angry, because that is nothing more than a personal/society bias, nothing more then your current understanding filtering what you see, smell, taste, etc. It's called observational bias, everyone does it. I DO things for a living where other CAN'T, so no, I'm "not way off base": I know. I do.
Want proof, here's some tidbits from the past:
- man was not meant to fly
- we'll never go to the moon
- the atom cannot be split
- we can't have GO trains running more frequently because of rail traffic congestion (NB: they're running more frequently now, every half-hour, after it was mandated: then all of a sudden, IT'S POSSIBLE, because there was the will and the DEMAND for it.)
need I go on?
Doing something that cannot be done, solving a problem that was thought to be insolvable, pushing the envelope of knowledge is how you GET your PhD, in engineering at least. Impossible is possible if you open up your eyes to the multitude of possibilities surrounding you, open up your mind to understanding the world in different ways. So YES, I think things can be improved. YES I think a document written for predominantly RURAL rail transportation can be improved. Actually, I don't "think", there is proof! Look at other transit systems elsewhere in the word, we are not alone with our problems. Our problems are shared by others elsewhere, and some of them have even been SOLVED.
Yes folks, it is that easy, but WE have to make Metrolinx put in the effort; demand change of them. Would you REALLY be upset if things got better? You actually got home on time? Could plan around an emergency because you were well INFORMED? Do you think it's fare (intentional) you pay more each year for the same level of mediocre service? Don't tell me I can't, help me DO.
==
On a personal note, please don't put words in my mouth, I never said "let those trains move post haste." If you're going to quote, do it properly, like I just did. I don't drink lattes, I drink Tim Hortons' (TM) dregs. When I do drink a latte it's a treat. You presume to know me, you do not, so don't lodge attacks at my person. You can attack my ideas, that's your RIGHT in a democratic system, and in fact it is the way to solve a problem and come up with innovative solutions. Attacking my person with false accusations is libel.
I'm not sure why you're thanking April, Anon at least made a point as did you, to me they were invalid points, but at least you both had points.
Not sure why what I perceived as bullying from April baed on her own misconceptions and stereotypes deserves an applause.
I truly do welcome your comments/feedback/suggestions, but please don't make them personal attacks. Challenge my ideas, not my character.
If you do want change, if you are fed up. Write Metrolinx, tell them your story, hold them accountable for holding up your life. Isn't your time worth it?
Paging Dr. Sheldon Cooper.
"UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.”
― Dr. Seuss, The Lorax
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