So many Passenger Charter violations!

Hi CJ, 

I just returned from vacation to find this response in my inbox from GO about the Stouffville line changes.  The original email to GO is at the bottom of the email.  Not only did it take 9 business days to reply (I sent in my comments on June 9th), but it doesn't address a thing.  Immediately below, I've also attached some additional correspondence from Facebook.  Feel free to use anything you want to get the word out.  

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GO Transit: Facebook

Go Transit really needs to acknowledge to its Stouffville line passengers that the changes to its schedule are not to their benefit. The change will result in a significantly longer commute time, plus added hassle of transferring at Unionville Stations for those commuting further north. For example, the 11:20am-12:05pm bus from MtJoy to Union station will now become 11:08am-11:31am bus from MtJoy to Unionville Station, 11:46 train from Unionville to Union station arriving at 12:27pm. 45 minutes total time now compared to 1h19m starting next week. This is just one of the many changes as well as the evening commute at 8pm, 8:30pm 9:40pm are increasing by 30 minutes in duration. Please explain yourself GO.

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GO Transit Hi Paul, thank you for your feedback. We'll forward your concern to our team for advisement. This new changing coming to Stouffville line next week is part of the Reginal Express Rail way project. The ultimate goal is to have all-day, two-way train on Stouffville line. You can find more information here: http://www.metrolinx.com/.../reg.../rer/rer_stouffville.aspx ^CW

Metrolinx Regional Express Rail – Stouffville GO line

will be added to GO Transit’s Stouffville line from…

METROLINX.COM

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 · Reply · June 16 at 12:03pm

Paul Gill When the ultimate goal is to have all-day, two-way service at the expense of efficiency then I think you missed linking a key priority that is crucial to your customers. If you provided service every 20 minutes, but if it takes 50% longer, are you truly offering a better service? No, you are only providing more frequent service. Fast, frequent, economical, convenient and reliable service is exactly what you customers expect. Your revised scheduling taking effect June 26th does not check the box of all of the aforementioned priorities Just so you know, my commute time is currently is 20% longer than when I first started taking GO in 2006 from the exact same station.

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 · Reply · June 16 at 12:34pm

From: GO Transit Customer Relations <customerrelations@gotransit.com>
Sent: June 21, 2017 1:39 PM
To: Paul Gill
Subject: We've Received Your Comments EM0016007382

Dear Mr. Gill,

Thank you for your recent email regarding the recent addition of midday and evening trains to the Stouffville line.

We always look for opportunities to tailor our service to meet the needs of our customers.  Although, there are no additional changes that will be made to the board change that takes effect on June 26^th customer feedback on how we can improve service is very important to us.  Your suggestion has documented for review and consideration

Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback.

Regards,

X

Customer Service Representative, Customer Relations, Customer Care 

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From: Cindy (Cj) Smith <cj@thiscrazytrain.com>Sent: June 12, 2017 1:58 PM
To: Paul Gill
Subject: Re: Stouffville Line Changes.

That's ridiculous. Please forward me the reply. I will publish your email (anonymously) and the reply.

On Mon, Jun 12, 2017 at 11:15 AM, Paul Gill wrote:

FYI - It seems as if GoTransit is touting their new train service to Stouffville, but neglect to share the whole story with its passengers.  Below is an email I sent to customer service.  Just thought I would share since I believe this is incompetent planning at its best.

As a Stouffville line commuter, I "just read the service change update that is posted here: http://www.gotransit.com/Public/en/news/Stouffville/Default.aspx

GOTransit.com - Stouffville www.gotransit.com MORE TRAIN TRIPS. MORE REASONS TO GO. As of June 26th, we’re bringing you a lot

more service on our Stouffville Line, so you and your neighbours can get to Toronto ...

Dear Go Transit,

Following my review of the schedule, I'm shocked if GoTransit actually views this change as a benefit to all its Stouffville commuters.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but my reading of the schedule now suggests that my commute time to Mount Joy station will increase from 37 minutes currently to 1 hour 7 minutes as of June 26th from 8pm onward (with exception of 10:30pm which is 53 minutes).  In addition, underpinning this is the fact that all customers will now be expected to disembark at Unionville station to transition to a bus to proceed northward.  How can you justify that this is a progressive change that is good for your customers if the results are 30 added minutes and an inconvenient transfer on top of this?   You have a lot of explaining to do to your Markham/Stouffville customer base."

Regards,
Paul