Smoakville and soggy butts

Special to This Crazy Train
by MM

So Tuesday I missed my early evening connection from GO to local transit. No big problem, the weather was fine, and my next connection was only a twenty minute wait away.

In that twenty minutes I hit the mother lode. Before I stopped counting I saw at least 22 smokers. There might have been even more since I was distracted (more later) and busy getting shots. At 45 bucks a pop GO might have made serious dough. Pro rated for the hour they could clear $2,000 easy.

There were also two bicyclists riding their bikes on the platforms (another infraction).

It was like shooting fish in a barrel, if the fish were gasping and the barrel was filled with soggy butts.

The last pic is of the capping event. I was standing at the bus stop right under the no-smoking sign when this guy pulled up - sucking his butt and blowing away. I could have gotten a better pic, but I was busy reviewing the ones I had so the first few shots I had of him were rushed and out of focus. He was a flamboyant and affected little coffin nail aficionado though, and putting on quite a defiant show of stench spreading - until he saw my camera up.

He passed, turned and asked me if I took his picture.

I said, yes, I had.

He gave me the standard "You need my permission to take my picture..." bit. I mean - do they print this on cards and insert them into cigarette packs? I get this from every smoker I frame under a sign. They seem oblivious to others' needs, but fixated on their own.

I gave him the standard - that picture taking in public is considered public not private, and that HE had not asked ME permission before smoking, and that the signage indicated no smoking - not no picture taking, and when could I expect him to ask ME for permission?

I think the nicotine had constricted the capillaries in his noggin so much that I lost him somewhere around the first sentence there.

So he threatened me.

So I pointed out that I now had video enabled and could he please repeat that?

So he walked away. Which recommends him in a little self-centred, entitled, but not without some sense.

Then my bus arrived and he came back. Walked up to the window beside my seat and pounded on it till I opened it.

He asked me my name. His rationale was that I had taken his picture, so he deserved my name.

The logic of the situation and his lack of understanding of social obligations seemed beyond him. Privacy seemed to be only something that HE was entitled to - over entitled to actually. There was no quid pro quo. I would have posed for a pic if he wanted, but I didn't owe him my name. I waved.

Once again - if guys like this with such a warped sense of behaviour are so prevalent at Smoakville, how can the admin at GO get away with their laughable commitment to rider comfort and safety?

Smoakville - where everybody is woefully stupid

from:		Michael
to:		"Cindy (Cj) Smith"
date:		Wed, Sep 23, 2015 at 6:33 PM
subject:		Smoakville Chronicles

Making the transfer today in Oakville - city of German Imported Cars and Super Inflated Entitlement.
Let the pics tell some of the story:

Smoakville 1 - A nicely composed shot - note the young smoking couple under the two conveniently placed no smoking signs. Nothing new here, really. Approached to a safe distance (not easy since they were upwind) and asked if the signs meant something different to them.
They had the good grace to leave right away - though snickering.
Smoakville 2 As they passed I noticed the other two - Mr. Big Boy Pants, and a guy who looks like he still thinks he could land a spot with the 1990's Bare Naked Ladies.
I ask them to please comply with the GO no smoking policy. Mr. Bare Naked Manque responds that the law says that he has to be more than 15 feet away from the doors. This is wrong. 
He's on GO property, and if it were adequately explained by the signage (it isn't - and why is that?) he'd know (or have no way of denying) that he has no right to smoke on GO property.
He's also closer than 15 feet to the entrance, but hey, he can only be so wrong before he's over 100% wrong - am I right?
Smoakville 3: So I'm snapping pics and his little friend (they're in Blue Jays matching outfits! SQUEE!), Mr. Big Boy Pants, offers to break my "fucking camera". So I turn on the video feature and ask him to approach and repeat. Strangely enough, he demurs.
As my local bus is leaving I note that several more smokers have taken up the perch between the no-smoking signs and the PRESTO machine.
For the 1,250th time - howzabout a sign that clearly explains that there is no smoking on GO property and what that means in terms of geography and possible penalties?
When they're smoking right under your signs as they are now, and right by the PRESTO machine, I 'd say its safe to conclude that the GO safety and comfort of passengers commitment beyond being a travesty and is in the neighbourhood of being a willful lie.

Addendum: GO YANKEES!

I went and thanked all these smokers for their co-operation before I boarded the bus

@metrolinx had a contractor come by and install a butt stop for the smokers at @gotransit Oshawa station. A+ pic.twitter.com/TgsKS6Lo3e

— CJ Smith (@ThisCrazyTrain) June 24, 2015

... Then I told the asshole sucking cancer right outside the bus door that he can walk 40 metres to the smoking area and puff there. I didn't even let him get a "but" in before I told him he was compromising the health and safety of the bus driver, who is at work, in his office, and who is protected by the law to not be subjected to harmful second-hand smoke while he operates his vehicle. I could see a "fuck you" forming on this ape's lips so I told him if he had any further objections, we could wait for the police to decide who has the upper hand.

And seriously, rather than just move over to where  he could smoke - freely - he threw his cigarette to the ground, tossed his hands up the air and started yelling at me about his "rights". I boarded the bus. I couldn't listen to his shit anymore.

It's true! GO Transit allowing smokers to smoke on platform at Oshawa station

I was told by several people yesterday that the far west end of the platform at Oshawa GO had a green smoking sign indicating smokers could light up.

I saw it with my own eyes this morning as my train pulled out of the station.

How does this help non-smokers avoid inhaling second-hand smoke? It's called wind.

If smokers need to smoke so badly, they can do so in the location Metrolinx set up for them near the bus loop.

Unless this was done to accommodate Bombardier and GO Transit employees, there was no need to bend the SmokeFree Ontario Act to do this. Metrolinx would have had to map out where their "place of business" ends in order to determine where it would be acceptable to have passengers or employees smoking.

How do you feel about this?

Me, I'm finding this ridiculous. Where's my designated drinking area?

Bring all the drank!

Designated smoking area opens up today at Oshawa GO. Bus driver takes the lead to set example

Looks pretty lonely, doesn't it?
A+

But they've got a bench and I'm pretty sure they'll get a canopy for shelter from the rain. (I'm not being sarcastic - this has been a long time coming).
B+

Only a bus driver took the lead to sit down and have a smoke while reading the paper.
A+

Where Metrolinx chose to put this area is close enough to the entrance to the platform that a butt can be extinguished, a Prestocard tapped, and hopping on the train can happen in less than  2 minutes.
A

The only thing that bummed me out a bit is the smoking area is right next to where the 90 bus boards. If the wind is just right, lining up for the bus is going to suck.
D

I also took note that there isn't a refuse receptacle for extinguished butts.
F

On-board announcements at Oshawa also began today reminding Oshawa passengers smoking is not permitted on the platforms (which how this bullshit fight started). This is a personal request of mine and several others who wrote into GO Transit asking for advocacy measures.
A+

We just wish it didn't take 11 years.
D-

Welcome to GO Transit where the rules don't matter

This was at Appleby GO Station this morning. I tried to zoom into the photo without distorting it, but that is a cigarette that passenger is holding.

The smoking situation at Oshawa is now a free for all. Smokers smoke on the platforms and with the bus drivers on the bus platforms. Yes, drivers. In GO Transit uniform.

I spoke to one driver who told me to mind my own business. True story. Mind you, he must have felt bad afterwards because when I saw him this morning, he was standing in the parking lot, smoking. I think his comment to me was more of a knee-jerk reaction. More of surprise that someone actually said something.

It doesn't help that he's also one of my favourite drivers because I was hurt by his comment to me.

People now light up when they exit the trains at Oshawa, blowing smoke into the faces of passengers crowded behind them as we move towards the one and only exit.

When the Bombardier operators exit the locomotives or the cab cars, some will also spark one up at track level.

So, for those who have complained to me about the smoking situation at GO train stations, what can I do? We have employees of the agency who refuse to obey the by-law.

All I can do is ask that you write to GO Transit. And don't blame the Transit Safety Officers. These men and women do the best they can, but it's hard to enforce the rules when your colleagues are also breaking them.

Passengers see this. The optics are terrible.

PS. I am not publishing photos of the employees. I have asked people to email them directly to GO Transit. If you're reading this and you have photographic evidence of employees smoking in non-smoking areas, please email them to customerrelations@gotransit.com. Please cc cj@thiscrazytrain.com