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Wednesday, August 9, 2017

A picture tells a thousand words

As a graphic designer and someone who works with photos a lot to help illustrate a story, it is important your stock photo or professional photos don't send the wrong message.

Recently, I've noticed an increase in bikes on board trains at rush hour and have received tweets and texts from other passengers also noticing this. I fully support transportation on two wheels but when space is at a premium during commuter time aka rush hour, bikes need to be tossed off. There is no room. Please don't.

I got an email about GO and the CNE and in that email was this link gotransit.com/JustGO
When the site pops open, what is the first image you see? This:


So, if I'm a daytripper or even a regular GO commuter, what does this image tell me?

Exactly.

Please, Go Transit friends, can you try a different image here? We're already putting up with a lot on trains with unregulated temperatures, shorter coach lengths, platform congestion at Union, construction woes at stations *cough*, Burlington, *cough* and increased fares come September.

Throw us a bone, k?

10 comments:

C.J. Smith said...

It pained me to post this because there are way bigger fish to fry but some of the cyclists many of us have encountered have been overly rude about this. We're not saying you can't bring a bike on a train. You just can't do it at rush hour. You're not exclusive. The rule is for everyone.

We pay too much in fare to be told off or trying to police this.

Unknown said...

Yes, there are bigger fish, but it is the littler stuff that drives people absolutely bonkers.

As in yesterday morning the HEAT was on in my coach for a bit. It was disconcerting but I was chilly and it worked for me.

The bike issue is something that pops up fairly frequently. GO needs to figure out what exactly their policy on it and ENFORCE it.

It is like smoking: it is not up to the passengers to police this. It is GO's responsibility to enforce these policies.

They need to change that picture.

TomW said...

GO's policy on bikes and trains: http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/travelling/cycletogo.aspx

Nora1968 said...

AMEN!

Anonymous said...

Seems that the 'policy' is more of a suggestion than anything. I questioned GO on their facebook page last Friday about a bike rider during rush hour that was pulled off the train by transit enforcement at union, only to be let back on 2 minutes later. And you guessed it, no response whatsoever from GO.

Anonymous said...

Consider hooking the bikes to the front or back of the train like transit buses.
Make the owner put it on the pegs and take it down themselves.

Iona Pintó said...

Interestingly, other parts of the world have solutions:
http://bit.ly/2vuY8Va

Anonymous said...

The main cause of confusion is Go does allow bikes on the trains during rush hour.
However they are not allowed in the direction of rush hour flow
(which includes the Rush hour branches) or inside Union Stn.

Folding bikes can be transported at any time and on all trains provided its folded.
Source
http://www.gotransit.com/public/en/travelling/cycletogo.aspx

Anonymous said...

That is a Niagara Falls excursion train stopped in St. Catharines. All of these Falls excursion trains have dedicated bicycle cars with racks on the bottom floor and may be used at anytime. I've seen around 30 cyclists disembark at once.

CJ Smith said...

Great!
The average GO daytripper wouldn't know this.
It would not have hurt for the photo to have some context.