Thursday, February 5, 2015

Life support, the fare increase, the supposed better service ... and the drama it causes


And this text exchange:

Hi Cindy - did you catch today's classic example of GOs customer service? Thought I'd share this morning's boondoggle with ya: I drive a ways to the Whitby station and I knew I was tight on time this am to make the 721. I parked as quickly as I could, with one minute to spare. I raced through the lot - climbed the 397 stairs to the bridge at a run (ok I the number may be exaggerated), hustled along and down the other stairs and...waited. no 721. At 726 the attendant announces it's stopped at Oshawa. At 735, the Whitby 734 pulls in going east bound. I've been through this before so I get on figuring I can stay warm and hit oshawa before making a return trip Whitby. They announce the 721 finally left oshawa about 17mins late so I get off the east train. Wait another 5 minutes for the 721 (it's now 740ish) and I get on it. No seats cuz it's two trains combined. The attendant(s) announce the 734 is right behind. (now - do you feel my critical mistake coming!?!) I trust them and!
get off to wait. 2 mins more and the 751 express from Whitby pulls in on track two. But they advise 734 is any minute here and that is not the next train. 5 mins later they have their final "gotcha giggle" and tell us the 734 is cancelled and the 751 (which is sitting here) is next train. We'll screw me for trying to believe they'd changed. I was here at 720. I'm on 751 and...yup...we are sitting at Ajax waiting on a signal. Now I wonder about that service guarantee. I tapped on for the 721 at 720. It (I assume) arrived at union a minimum of 17 mins late....but I'm actually on the 751 which is within the time Window for delay. do I get the refund or not? Sigh. Thanks GO for being SO bad with your announcements that I actually am laughing at it. (btw - checked mobile status update - no real news other than 17 mins late, but details will be added when it's more than 10 mins delayed...and received my email notices re 721 and 734 and 758 and 755 respectively!)

2 hrs
I'm with you on this. I wanted to strangle the CSA on this train (around the ankles just so we're clear). I'm on what was the train you hopped off while you clenched your fingers around the thing we call trust when dealing with GO TRANSIT. The 728 OSH train was advised at 7:25 to leave Oshawa IMMEDIATELY. We didn't roll out until 7:32 while the CSA giggled into the PA system with each update she made. As well, she made 12 doors are closing announcements over a 5-minute span. 



2 hrs
AND...they just announced we are now ALL stops - so it's obviously a bigger issue - according to status update the west/east / kitchner and milton


59 min
All had delays. Hummm. Name one reason we don't trust them?! I left the house at 645 am. At 825 I am somewhere between pickering and rouge...
59 min
Pathetic!



54 min
Ohhh! Now at Rouge they say a train is following us so if they can't get a seat, just trust 'em....another one is on its way. Someone got off and I had to fight not to yell...."dont do it...lies...lts all lies..."

52 min
GO TRANSIT runs in a parallel universe



47 min
Very true...
45 min


3 comments:

  1. GemmaFebruary 5, 2015 at 9:40 AM

    And as the text exchangee, I am happy to announce that at 9:33 I walked into my office - a mere 2 hours and 45 mins after I left my house.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2015 at 10:11 AM

    I was at Rouge Hill trying to get on that train, and both the CSA and station attendant assured us another train was coming on Track 2 immediately after your train departed. I made the same mistake as you and believed them, and headed to track 2. Where we all waited 10 minutes before being informed, actually, the next train would be coming on track 1, so we all headed to track 1. Where did the next train actually arrive? Track 2 of course. Such a mess. And on freezing cold mornings, accurate arrival times would be nice, rather than being told every 5 minutes the train would arrive in less than 5 minutes, only to wait another 5 minutes for the same update. Ended up spending 45 mins on the platform. At work now but still can't feel my toes (and I was wearing winter boots).

    ReplyDelete
  3. BickyFebruary 5, 2015 at 6:29 PM

    I lost track of how many text messages and emails came to my phone this morning.

    ReplyDelete

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