Yesterday us Eastbound commuters got yet another taste of how little customer service and intelligence GO Transit really has. I was working away at my desk, totally unaware that my bad day was about to get a lot worse, trying to get through my last hour. Just as I found something to occupy my remaining time with, an email notification pops up from GO Transit mentioning something about service suspension. I believe it said there was a major fire in the Victoria Park and Danforth area and all Lakeshore East service was suspended so find your own alternate trip home. Nice! Don’t bother to get buses arranged at Union or anything. Or give us some possible alternatives. This emergency preparedness on the part of GO shows just how much they care about their service. With this kind of attitude, people will look for permanent alternate travel plans and take their dollars elsewhere.
Anyhow, back to the story. After a few frantic seconds of thinking I was going to be stranded in Toronto for the night (the worst torture I can think of), I took a deep breath and came up with a plan to get myself home. I was going to take another train line and my mother agreed to pick me up. The only problem with this plan is that there was a good chance I was going to be late in picking up my son from daycare so when I got another email notification from GO saying the service had resumed I was ecstatic. Since no one was being that specific as to where this fire really was I was not expecting any hitches getting home.
I walked to Union and was able to get on a train going East and once the train pulled out of the station I called my mom and told her she was off the hook for the night. After a slow ride for about five or ten minutes, the train comes to a stop and there was an announcement saying we are waiting for some trains to go through and some signals and we would be on our way. About ten minutes later another announcement boomed through the speakers. There was a change of plans, the track has been closed by the fire chief and we were heading back to Union Station.
I called my mom once again and arranged for her to go to the daycare and I would meet them at home whenever I got there. After sitting in the same spot on the tracks for another fifteen minutes or so, a third announcement came on changing the plans for the third time. We are going to wait on the tracks in the middle of nowhere until the morons at GO Transit figure out what to do with us cattle.
After waiting for about another thirty minutes, and twenty minutes after I am usually home, the train was finally moving…East. At this time, I was extremely irritated by the indecision of GO Transit and that only intensified when we passed the fire area. They should never have resumed service on that line at all last night. The train crawled through the affected section mere inches beside some fire trucks parked on the rail grade. Firemen were only a few yards on the other side of the grade trying to extinguish the fire. Although, how they saw anything in that thick “toxic” haze of smoke I’ll never know. Someone could lose sight of their hand in it if they extended their arm out. All evening long, service was on again, off again until they finally stopped around 10 or 11.
Anyhow, back to the story. After a few frantic seconds of thinking I was going to be stranded in Toronto for the night (the worst torture I can think of), I took a deep breath and came up with a plan to get myself home. I was going to take another train line and my mother agreed to pick me up. The only problem with this plan is that there was a good chance I was going to be late in picking up my son from daycare so when I got another email notification from GO saying the service had resumed I was ecstatic. Since no one was being that specific as to where this fire really was I was not expecting any hitches getting home.
I walked to Union and was able to get on a train going East and once the train pulled out of the station I called my mom and told her she was off the hook for the night. After a slow ride for about five or ten minutes, the train comes to a stop and there was an announcement saying we are waiting for some trains to go through and some signals and we would be on our way. About ten minutes later another announcement boomed through the speakers. There was a change of plans, the track has been closed by the fire chief and we were heading back to Union Station.
I called my mom once again and arranged for her to go to the daycare and I would meet them at home whenever I got there. After sitting in the same spot on the tracks for another fifteen minutes or so, a third announcement came on changing the plans for the third time. We are going to wait on the tracks in the middle of nowhere until the morons at GO Transit figure out what to do with us cattle.
After waiting for about another thirty minutes, and twenty minutes after I am usually home, the train was finally moving…East. At this time, I was extremely irritated by the indecision of GO Transit and that only intensified when we passed the fire area. They should never have resumed service on that line at all last night. The train crawled through the affected section mere inches beside some fire trucks parked on the rail grade. Firemen were only a few yards on the other side of the grade trying to extinguish the fire. Although, how they saw anything in that thick “toxic” haze of smoke I’ll never know. Someone could lose sight of their hand in it if they extended their arm out. All evening long, service was on again, off again until they finally stopped around 10 or 11.
This was the second incident this week for GO Transit as well. This most recent episode, although not started by GO Transit, was compounded by the lack of decision by GO. I would have much rather been anywhere but stuck on a train with no room to move around. This is just another example of how few options the train commuter has once on the train and how many outside factors can influence the fate of a commute home. With the fact that GO cannot keep their equipment running properly and their lack of customer service I don’t know why I am still using them. Maybe it’s time to start driving.
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