GO Transit extends Goodwill gesture to Oshawa and Whitby passengers delayed for 3.5 hours east of Ajax
9 comments:
Squiggles
said...
That is all well and good but what about the day trippers or those who bought 1 or 2 way passes? Will they release this news to them and cut then a cheque?
What disappoints me the most is that they never seem to learn. People will go off with their money thinking all is good. Until the next screw up. What is the flooding contingency plan for the Richmond Hill line? Because if it did it once it will do it again. Especially if you build on a flood plain.
What us the contingency for when another train breaks down - regardless of what line?
I was stuck on a train for 2 hours once because of a derailment at Pickering several years ago. From what I remember it was handled in the same way - really no information given and you feel trapped.
Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. Well maybe the excuses. Some of the ones in the text messages are getting creative.
I admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the amount. When I saw in the media that it would be "more than a single fare" I figured it might be $20 or something like that. $100 is substantial and I hope it sets a precedent for massive screw-ups like this.
Now, having said all that I still think it's extremely important for GO Transit to do an internal investigation and follow-up with a public report about what went wrong and what changes they've implemented to stop it from happening again in the future. If this had happened just two weeks earlier when it was 30+ degrees outside, people would have been passing out on the train when we lost power. If it had happened two months later people might have been freezing to death. At what point do they release us from imprisonment and let us walk back along the tracks to the nearest station (which in this case was a mere ~100m away?)
So I guess they successfully bought people's docility, and they likely knew they had a major shitstorm coming their way if they didn't. I'm curious to know how they came up with that value. Does that mean in the future if someone is delayed two hours they'll get a $50 credit?
I think they are trying to acknowledge that fact that it was under their control and they failed miserably. The compensation is appreciated, I know I wouldn't have been happy if it was just a refund for that particular trip. But like many others have said, hopefully someone at Metrolinx has set up a problem solving meeting to improve their emergency response protocols.....and a better plan comes of it.
@G, 7:49 am: I tweeted the question about reports should be made public and was told by Anne Marie Aikens reports are presented at Metrolinx board meetings and are made public.
Guess we'd have to have knowledge of THAT fact to know to go find them. I'm sure many people don't know that.
As for letting people off the train mere metres from Ajax, she went about no platform, uneven terrain, not enough people to assist, blah blah blah. Take from that what you will.
Thanks Bicky. I'll have to look up those Board reports... there might be some good historical reading in the archive as well.
I totally get why their policy doesn't allow us to get off the train, but at some point rationality should prevail. Everyone on the train was an adult. At least give us the choice to walk back to the station at our own risk.
It's nice they did the right thing. That is, we'll probably absorb this incompetence charge through another likely 5% fare increase! This $100 credit, however, opens up a can of worms since the Go Transit info I thought was *supposed* to be separate from our presto card. If they can do this, they should be able to automatically refund any trip that is considered late! That is, no onerous data entry necessary (presto missle code launch number sequence, trip info, and captcha phrase)
9 comments:
That is all well and good but what about the day trippers or those who bought 1 or 2 way passes? Will they release this news to them and cut then a cheque?
What disappoints me the most is that they never seem to learn. People will go off with their money thinking all is good. Until the next screw up. What is the flooding contingency plan for the Richmond Hill line? Because if it did it once it will do it again. Especially if you build on a flood plain.
What us the contingency for when another train breaks down - regardless of what line?
I was stuck on a train for 2 hours once because of a derailment at Pickering several years ago. From what I remember it was handled in the same way - really no information given and you feel trapped.
Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. Well maybe the excuses. Some of the ones in the text messages are getting creative.
I admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the amount. When I saw in the media that it would be "more than a single fare" I figured it might be $20 or something like that. $100 is substantial and I hope it sets a precedent for massive screw-ups like this.
Now, having said all that I still think it's extremely important for GO Transit to do an internal investigation and follow-up with a public report about what went wrong and what changes they've implemented to stop it from happening again in the future. If this had happened just two weeks earlier when it was 30+ degrees outside, people would have been passing out on the train when we lost power. If it had happened two months later people might have been freezing to death. At what point do they release us from imprisonment and let us walk back along the tracks to the nearest station (which in this case was a mere ~100m away?)
So I guess they successfully bought people's docility, and they likely knew they had a major shitstorm coming their way if they didn't.
I'm curious to know how they came up with that value. Does that mean in the future if someone is delayed two hours they'll get a $50 credit?
Seems a bit rich to me.
I think they are trying to acknowledge that fact that it was under their control and they failed miserably. The compensation is appreciated, I know I wouldn't have been happy if it was just a refund for that particular trip.
But like many others have said, hopefully someone at Metrolinx has set up a problem solving meeting to improve their emergency response protocols.....and a better plan comes of it.
Wow, surprising and nice to see them do the right thing. Maybe even above and beyond.
@G, 7:49 am: I tweeted the question about reports should be made public and was told by Anne Marie Aikens reports are presented at Metrolinx board meetings and are made public.
Guess we'd have to have knowledge of THAT fact to know to go find them. I'm sure many people don't know that.
As for letting people off the train mere metres from Ajax, she went about no platform, uneven terrain, not enough people to assist, blah blah blah. Take from that what you will.
Thanks Bicky. I'll have to look up those Board reports... there might be some good historical reading in the archive as well.
I totally get why their policy doesn't allow us to get off the train, but at some point rationality should prevail. Everyone on the train was an adult. At least give us the choice to walk back to the station at our own risk.
It's nice they did the right thing. That is, we'll probably absorb this incompetence charge through another likely 5% fare increase! This $100 credit, however, opens up a can of worms since the Go Transit info I thought was *supposed* to be separate from our presto card. If they can do this, they should be able to automatically refund any trip that is considered late! That is, no onerous data entry necessary (presto missle code launch number sequence, trip info, and captcha phrase)
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