Search ThisCrazyTrain.com

Thursday, July 10, 2014

How about someone pick up a hammer?

from: TM
to: cj@thiscrazytrain.com
date: Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 7:37 AM
subject: (no subject)

Did your station have people in hard hats on the platform this morning with tablets?
They were on the Burlington platform with shirts with a construction symbol on it. From what I could gather they seemed to be asking people to sign up for notifications of construction delays and elevators out of service...or something. Then the train came. 
Any idea what this was all about?
Maybe with all those people in hard hats they could have been working on the new station instead!

from: Cindy (Cj) Smith cj@thiscrazytrain.com
to: TM
date: Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 7:43 AM
subject: Re: (no subject)

This is Metrolinx’s response to the bad publicity surrounding the unwarranted lengthy construction delays at Burlington station.  Let's look like we care even though logistically we can't do much about it.
The fact that someone in PR thought it would be great to have transit employees dress up as construction workers is actually insulting.

from: TM
to: cj@thiscrazytrain.com
date: Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 7:44 AM
subject: Re: (no subject)
Seriously. There were tons of them too. Focus on finishing the station! Always seems like they focus on the silliest things when there's so much that actually needs attention.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amazing. Ms. Smith. Amazing how nothing seems to please you.

C.J. Smith said...

^ Metrolinx butt hurt?

Mark said...

Rather than wasting resources on letting people know about delays they could...you know, competently do the work.

The escalators at Aldershot have been under repair since at least 2011.

Anonymous said...

Why do they think all of a sudden that we need assistance signing up for emails?

Peter said...

We don't need more "updates" from Metrolinx. We have eyes that see the non-progress of their capital works projects and the elevators that are out of service. Metrolinx has a Flickr account to show us "progress". When was the last time photos were uploaded? Why doesn't Metrolinx manage their contractors to ensure the projects are completed on schedule? Why don't they call up their service providers to ensure elevators are repaired NOW?

Squiggles said...

They need to do this at Ajax. Or maybe, actually update their website with an estimated completion time. One that is actually this year.

Personally, I do not want to why the construction is delayed. Nor, do I want any more emails from them except when the train is delayed. What I want is to be able to hit up the website to see the most up-to-date information.

Skin Man said...

What Peter said!

dOxxxicle said...

Quoting from that article you linked from The Spec:


The public tender rules almost always obligate public agencies like Metrolinx, which operates GO, to accept the lowest bidder on transit projects.

"GO Transit's experience has been that penalties are not necessarily an effective remedy in all cases, since they can lead to legal disputes, instead of improved performance," said Aikins.


The whole setup is just fubar.

Anonymous said...

PHOTOSHOP THIS PLEASE?

Anonymous said...


The Spec's a bit off: there is no requirement that the lowest bid be accepted. Ron Engineering and MJB (two important tendering cases in Canada) set out that 1. Non-compliant bids cannot be accepted and 2. that the lowest compliant bid does not necessarily need to be accepted.