Traffic chaos after Highway 401 shutdown - should GO Transit hold trains for bus passengers?

Last night, an alleged impaired driver caused a fatal collision on Highway 401 near the Brock Street exit in Whitby which brought all westbound traffic to a stand still until about 8:30 am this morning.

This morning was nothing short of a nightmare. I had noticed that Highway 2 was busier than usual and my bus driver was 11 minutes late (but she's always late so technically she was on time). Once we hit Stevenson Road on our way to Oshawa GO Station, it was quite apparent we were going nowhere fast. I'm pretty sure this was apparent to every passenger on the bus - except for one woman.

She was seated in front of me. As we crawled along in a sea of traffic she began to fidget and bounce in her seat. She would sigh, look anxiously out the window, and check her watch. After 10 minutes of the bus idling in traffic, she got up and approached the driver. She asked if there was an alternate route the driver could take to the station, because she had a nine am meeting she couldn't reschedule.

Because you've all enjoyed my bad ass map skills in the past, here's a crude drawing of what traffic was like this morning. This woman got on at the Oshawa Centre, which is just north of the 401 on Stevenson Road. Its parking lot stretches to Gibb Street.

Believe me when I say there was no where else to go except stay on course.

This woman could have walked to the station in the time it took us from where our bus was stopped (shown on map) and when we finally got to the bus loop (24 minutes). The map isn't to scale. It's a 1.6 km walk to the station from Stevenson Road cloverleaf and Bloor. I've walked it in 18 minutes.

She begged the driver to radio someone and hold the 7:28 am GO train. God bless her, right? But this begs the question, should a traffic jam hold up a train? And make thousands of others late? I say no. The fact that the highway was shut down wasn't news. And even if there was an alternate route, they were all jammed.

This woman wasn't happy. She sat back down and fumed. I didn't see her try to phone anyone. In fact, I didn't see her email or use her phone in any way to attempt to reschedule her meeting. She had a phone. She was holding it in her hand. Maybe her battery was dead?

I will tell you this. If I had some place to be and it was clear I wasn't going to get there, I'd be asking anyone on the bus if I could borrow a phone to make a call.

Once we arrived at the station, I wasn't behind her to hear what she said to the driver. Some words were tossed out as she got off. I held back and asked the driver what the woman said to her. Apparently she asked if the driver could have the 96 driver hold his bus so she could take it to Whitby and catch the train there.

I just rolled my eyes. Some people just don't give up.