Metrolinx dropped this ad today

You'd think they would have filmed this commercial in one of their new refurbished coaches with those god-awful Metrolinx green polka dots!

Metrolinx press conference about GO bus passenger fatality (Radika Nankissoor, 56, of Brampton)

In case you were wondering why the back of your pants are dirty

Meanwhile, in Chicago (Note: you can SEE the rail crossing's lights clearly engaged)

Metrolinx and GO Transit brass to meet with the media this morning

Metrolinx Chief Executive Officer Bruce McCuaig and GO Transit President Greg Percy will hold a news conference to discuss GO Transit's response to last night's tragic GO bus fatality. The conference is to take place at 10 am this morning in the executive boardroom of Metrolinx's Toronto headquarters.

According to a media release issued by Metrolinx, they will not be commenting or speculating about the investigation into the crash currently under review by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Radika Nankissoor, 56, of Brampton, has been identified as the passenger killed in this crash.

Remember the days when you could bring a guest with you for free on weekends?

All you needed was your monthly GO Transit pass.

The introduction of the PRESTO card killed that privilege back in 2009 but did you know Metrolinx and GO Transit employees can bring a guest to ride along for free?

The perk, buried deep in a collective agreement, was questioned by Premier Wynne during a session of the Legislature.

Really? That's a concern for her? What should be a concern is the thousands of GO Transit passengers who continue to be ripped off by PRESTO. I am pretty sure the money we lose to that system due to its fatal flaws far surpasses the loss in fare revenue to complimentary rides. You'd think stealing that privilege away from the fare-paying ridership (Metrolinx employees ride for free) would cancel it out.

BUT I DIGRESS.

GO Transit bus passenger killed in Highway 407 collision (Now identified as Radika Nankissoor, 56, of Brampton)

Source: @OPP_GTATraffic and @CityNews via Twitter

The punchline that writes itself

Ear worm

What does this have to do with public transit you ask?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

-23C and suddenly everyone is a transportation planner or engineer

How cold was it this morning? So cold that we couldn't power down the windows on our now-fixed - but was brand new vehicle after it had been left sitting in the driveway overnight.

Should I be outraged at Ford Motor Company for selling me a car that can't handle a -23C morning? Should I be calling for the resignation of the CEO?

Our screen door was actually sealed to the weather stripping and made an awful sound when I pushed it open this morning. Shall I sue Anderson Doors?

A deep and sudden freeze like what happened over night (+1C at 11:00 pm and then -23C at 5:30 am) can wreak havoc on anything that might have had standing moisture on it - signals, electronics, switches, door frames, window frames, etc.

I was on the 7:15 OSH train that came to a dead stop just outside of Oshawa station, held hostage by a malfunctioning signal. Then, nearly an hour later, once we were on our way, we faced a switch issue at Whitby. These two events threw the Lakeshore East corridor into chaos.

Luckily I was stuck on a train, unlike years prior, where GO Transit WOULD NOT terminate a train and put other trains as ALL STOPS, or start trains at the next station - you'd just be left on a platform to freeze and figure it out. This time, GO Transit got it together and although Whitby passengers were stranded for 20 minutes in this god-awful weather, at least they weren't forced to wait an hour and half like years prior. I have no idea what happened to the Oshawa folks who waited for trains that never came and were replaced by shuttle buses to Whitby. I hope most of you had the sense to head back to your cars, or wait in the station (which can only hold so many people), or just drove to Whitby.

And as pissed off as people were on Twitter, these people failed to realize this was simply a shitty day based on shitty weather and not based on a shitty system. I remember the days when -2C weather would hold a train up due to frozen switches. Those days are very few and far between because mechanisms have been put in place to prevent them. And, despite passengers bitching otherwise, GO transit has listened to those of us who complained in the past and are learning to pull trains, swap trains, re-start routes at other stations, to avoid commuter headaches.

Today wasn't perfect but at least it wasn't a repeat of the winter of 2009. I also hope that whatever happened today, something was learned from it. Maybe it's time for monkeys with blowtorches on ladders.

I just received an email from a woman who drove to Oshawa to catch the 7:28 train as she does every morning, who was livid she was "made to wait over an hour for information" only to learn she'd have to catch a bus.

What do you mean, "made to wait"?

Look, let's be realistic folks, if you DROVE to the station and you notice Oshawa is a no-show, you walk back to your car and you drive to Whitby.

Anyone that waited for over an hour in this cold for a train because you were too stubborn to drive eight minutes to the next station doesn't deserve sympathy. That's just common sense.

These are the same people who complain about the lack of parking spots.

I can lead you to water ...

GO Transit winds up a loser in our year-end round-up of Metrolinx "achievements"

by Chris P. Bacon

Because the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) didn’t bestow an award on GO Transit, as it did in 2013, Metrolinx is advertising its own TOP TEN achievements for 2014.

Why didn’t GO Transit repeat as a winner in 2014?  Is it because Glen Murray was replaced by Steven Del Duca as Minister of Transportation?  Is it because former president Gary McNeil retired and was replaced by Greg Percy?  Is it that the newbies can’t work the same magic to make things happen?  Is it because the Customer Service Advisory Committee no longer meets?  Their last report was for November 2013.

Or is it something simpler?  Is it because APTA tuned in the social media channels and used our views as the true litmus test of Metrolinx’s award-worthiness?  Well, Metrolinx wants to hear from us on Twitter or Facebook.  We can provide our feedback on ThisCrazyTrain.com, thank you very much.  So, without further ado, here is our recap of 2014.

The year started badly.  The refurbishment of Burlington GO station was supposed to be finished in December 2013, but it was nowhere near ready.  Passengers had to endure another winter with the station in shambles.  The revised completion date of June 2014 came and went without a ribbon cutting ceremony.  After this blog skewered the project not once, but twice, the Toronto Star jumped on the bandwagon, because the Clarkson GO parking structure was also lagging.  Metrolinx couldn’t light a fire under the contractors (Bondfield Construction Company Ltd) to move the projects along.  Burlington GO now has a tentative completion date of June 2015.  Commuters will need to suffer through another winter without a proper train station.

The real-time bus information system was promised for January 2014, but it, too, was not delivered.  It wasn’t until November that on-board next-stop announcements and variable message signs were turned on – not without on-going problems.  The most important part of the system – next bus arrival notification – was nowhere in sight.  As one blog submitter pointed out, local municipal transit systems have had such systems in place for years.  Why can’t the laggards at Metrolinx roll out theirs?  E-mail and SMS alerts continue to fail. (Note – CJ still has yet to receive a single SMS message on her phone, a problem now 27 months in the making)

We’d be remiss if we didn’t include a few words about PRESTO.  In 2014, PRESTO provoked the ire of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) because the Transit Usage Reports did not conform to CRA’s requirements.  Where is the sign-off for User Acceptance Testing?

This blog exposed non-trivial bugs in the system.  We showed how PRESTO steals money from a passenger’s account when they attempt to load funds to their e-Purse when there is an “open trip” in effect.  Since this happened most often on buses, GO Transit’s response was to stop the practice of loading money to a card on buses.  This was a completely untenable position, and GO Transit eventually had to eat crow on the matter.

PRESTO can pilfer funds from your account when a bus trip is setup in the reverse direction.  The matter is still being discussed with PRESTO and GO Transit.  Stay tuned for a future article on this topic.

Then there was the Auto-load problem that went on for months (years?) and was resolved finally by one of PRESTO’s senior business analysts and her financial and technical support teams, but not before further bugs in the system were identified.

We showed how PRESTO allows double-taps prior to boarding a train, and if the passenger realizes their mistake and reverses the second tap-on, the card status during a fare inspection is a failed tap-on.

All this illustrates the requirement for cardholders to remain vigilant and audit their transaction history religiously.  No discount is big enough to compensate us for our lost time in this endeavor.  On this point alone, PRESTO is an epic failure.  Most GO Transit employees I’ve talked to long for the good ol’ days of cardboard monthly and 10-ride passes.

We looked at PRESTO’s three-hour Travel Window and how it discriminates against certain passengers.  An on-going investigation revealed that the bus system was designed to allow the Travel Window to be extended when adverse traffic or weather conditions lengthen a bus trip, but that facility does not work.  Sadly, most bus drivers do not know how to extend the Travel Window, and only one driver could confirm our findings that this part of PRESTO is broken.

Also in 2014, we saw how The Burlington GO parking lot continues to be an auto parts warehouse for thieves.  GO Transit even provided the concrete blocks that thieves used to jack up at least one victim’s vehicle.  The GO Transit Passenger Charter speaks of “creating a sense of security in our parking lots”.  What does that mean?

We don’t suspect 2015 to be a stellar year unless Metrolinx manages to fix all that was awry in 2014.

Watcha doing? Oh, just chillin' with this giant hamburger at Union Station

Source

And the PRESTO cards keep snapping (no, not to the beat of a lively tune)

And then there's this:

Say what?

Does SPOS stand for Super Piece of Shit?

Remember yesterday's "Doors are closing" train dive? Here's what happens when you don't make it

FOUR MINUTES? Honestly, just get up and move

Like a glove!

You had one job, GO Transit!

You know, if this was a GO Train, that table would be used to pile bags on when the seat was full (of more bags)

from:		KM
to:		cj@thiscrazytrain.com
date:		Sun, Dec 28, 2014 at 1:50 AM
subject:		Trains in (somewhat) style

Writing to you from the Hague, Netherlands. On a commuter train to see a friend and the set up is nice. WiFi (hence the emailing)and  a table... It's nice :)

Meanwhile, in Rio de Janeiro

Two trains have collided outside Rio de Janeiro, with 229 people injured in the incident, local media cited authorities. One of the trains, which had stopped at a station, was crashed into from behind by another.

FULL STORY

Guest blogger? Why I love guest bloggers! Here's a top 10 list (with commentary) of what Metrolinx announced as projects in 2014

from:		Anonymous
reply-to:		Anonymous
to:		"Cindy (Cj) Smith"
date:		Mon, Jan 5, 2015 at 12:00 PM
subject:		Re: Fares

Metrolinx has announced its top ten projects of 2014! (http://www.metrolinx.com/en/aboutus/mediarelations/news/Top_Ten_2014_list.aspx). Below is a wrap up and idle commentary on their best of the best from last year:

10. Extension of GO Transit’s Richmond Hill line

Ooh it looks like we’re counting down (exciting!)…Coming in at number 10 is the announcement of a new station at Gormley. It's coming soon! (well, in 2016 + delays). Quick question: Where’s Gormley?

9. Glass atrium at Union Station

Yah it looks nice from the outside but, not to be a downer, I can’t see much difference from underneath…

8. Eglinton Crosstown tunneling completes phase 1

You have to give Metrolinx their due, if the TTC were building this it would be 10 years from completion. One thing about GO – when they get a mandate and the moola, they get stuff done (yes it's always late but it's way better than, ’the better way’ ;) (remember the St Clair debacle?))

7. The Georgetown South Project nears completion

I don’t travel on this line but I did take a look at some of the construction around Dufferin a few months ago – what a mess. This is obviously a massive project. Maybe some readers can comment on its impact…

6. PRESTO expands on TTC

Local politicians are pushing for a quicker PRESTO rollout… There’s no doubt that the current toe in the waterdeployment is finicky (when oh when will we be done with these stupid transfers? It feels like we’re stuck in the 80’s (the 1880’s…))

5. BRT expansion in York, Peel & Durham

I don’t venture into the hinterlands but this looks pretty cool. Can anyone comment on whether BRT actually works? I hear Mississauga messed it up...

4. More GO Buses coming

Hooray! More buses! CJ will be thrilled. I haven’t travelled on a GO bus for years but I know this – they need bathrooms. Have you ever tried the hour plus commute to Hamilton? I have, many times. And after a few yards of lager too. Not a pleasant experience…

3. UP Express is almost here

For some of us anyway…Yes, for those of us who flash our Gold Mastercard whenever we need to feel big and important - this is exciting news! For the rest of us scamps, well we can just keep on catching the #192 from Kipling…

2. Union Station GO Bus Terminal redevelopment announced

Thank God for that. The current terminal is a mess. The car park opposite the ACC is a much better spot.

1. Regional Express Rail is coming

Yah this is a biggie. 15 minute all day service. And electrification which will speed up the service nicely. Now, if only GO could fix their pricing... I took a short trip with the family over Christmas and man – it’s expensive. Over $30 for 8 of us going 2 stops one-way. The TTC would have saved us $13 (but added 20 minutes). Needless to say we cabbed it home.