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Thursday, May 24, 2018

Hi friends! Let's rant!

Is this month of May any different than the previous 51 years of Mays on Go Transit? May can be a warm month. Many of us have been dealing with roasting coaches in the mornings on trains throughout the system. And as much as Go Transit customer service reps on-line tells us all coaches are regulated at the yard at 21C, we all know this is a damn lie. I've walked end to end of trains and can tell you that temps can vary from coach to coach.

Why this is never addressed is puzzling. Personally, I'm tired of it.

You know what else I'm tired of? Cyclists on rush hour trains. Get lost.

12 comments:

Squiggles said...

21 degrees is too warm regardless (it is 72 degrees Fahrenheit, aka warmer than room temperature). After roasting in my office all afternoon, I cannot stand getting onto a too-warm coach in the evening. People already give me weird looks because I am down to as little clothing as possible.

This could also explain the uptick in emergency button pushing: people fainting and getting sick from being too warm.

G said...

Hoo boy, where to begin! The hot coaches, the footriders, the door donkeys, the F350 superduty trucks taking up multiple spaces in the parking lot, the people who can't understand the concept of a quiet zone, the people that leave their garbage all over the place (and yes, newspapers count!), the platform smokers/vapers, the ever-increasing fares (that no longer receive a tax credit). I'm happy to say that June 1st is my last day of GO commuting since I'm switching to another job.

Skin Man said...

Mornings haven't been a problem for me - its the afternoons/evenings that suck.

Ed said...

It's all I can do to not grab those bikes and toss them off the train when a door opens. We had one moron at Clarkson trying to get his bike and spandex covered fat ass onto a train that was packed. He even held the door open until the CSA threatened him over the intercom. Even then he gave everyone the finger when the doors closed and used some very unfriendly words to describe commuters. I waved goodbye...

Get ready for Milton to be the slowest line ever since CP could be on strike Monday. No doubt there will be signal and switch issues galore.

Warren Downe said...

Kudos to the CSA who challenged the cyclist over the intercom (as witnessed by Ed).

If cyclists are that prevalent on rush hour trains, where are the TSO's?

Squiggles said...

@Warren,

They are there, but never when you need them.

The Thursday before the long weekend, I caught the 4:00 LSE. 3 bikes on ONE coach. And the TSOs kicked them all off. Even got into it with someone when they tried to get back onto the train when they disembarked.

It was like seeing a Unicorn.

Nora1968 said...

@Squiggles, you're a lucky woman. As CJ knows from my Twitter rants, I am seemingly endlessly tweeting at @GotransitLE to advise of bikes on trains (last week we had a guy who brought his full-size bike on a rush-hour train, didn't secure it anywhere (left it leaning against a wall BLOCKING the doors), then sat down elsewhere and left the bike and his backpack unattended. If he hadn't been sitting within view one of us might well have tossed the bike out the door - possibly someone trying to get IN the door. And GO's response to all this? "Thanks Nora, we'll look into this". Sent AFTER we had already disembarked. Useless.

Ed said...

Happened again this morning. On the LSW at Oakville three guys all decked out for speed biking tried to get on the train on my car.

The CSA told them no bikes allowed and they ignored it so the TSO dudes (and dudette) got there and kicked them off at Clarkson. I should have counted the "I know my rights" spoken when they were escorted off. Two TSOs left with them and the other two continued fare checking. I would imagine that they were going to make sure none of them got back on the next train.

Once in awhile the stars align and the world seems fine. The one TSO was totally professional and ignored the comments sent his way. It was awesome. I have to wonder why people think it's ok to insult, harass and say passive aggressive threats to someone doing their job. Especially when that person has powers of arrest.

Rouge-Hill-er said...

Bikes haven't been a big problem with me but it seems like the number of Chatty Cathys has increased...can someone tell me WHY when there are 2 of them, they can't sit beside each other so they don't have to yell at each other? And why oh why, do they think the entire car wants to hear the petty details of their little lives?
I know, we have the Quiet Zone, but it's not always possible to get a seat there. And just because the QZ exists, that does not mean that the rest of the train is a free-for-all!

OK, I'm done now...thanks!

Anonymous said...

WTH? From: GO Transit
Date: May 29, 2018 at 7:09:10 PM EDT
Subject: Union Station 17:50 - Kitchener GO 19:57 train delay

The Union Station 17:50 - Kitchener GO 19:57 train is delayed 10 minutes from Georgetown due to heavy passenger volume.

Nora1968 said...

@Ed - how exactly does one *ignore* instructions from the CSA not to baord with bikes? On the LSE the obvious feeling of entitlement of most cyclists (at any time of day) is overwhelming, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it's one thing for them to ignore other passengers (who shouldn't have to police this anyway) and quite another to give the proverbial finger to someone who actually does have the authority to tell them what they can and can't do.

Ed said...

@Nora
They simply heard the instruction from the CSA over the intercom but chose to board anyway. I wasn't in range to hear them talking but I'll bet it ans't nice things about the CSA.

The train wasn't that packed and there were seats left but Clarkson was coming up and who knows how many people were waiting for a seat? They also blocked most of the end of the car and the stairway with their bikes by not using the space reserved for bikes.