400 Millions and It will take 2 years to figure out what to do with it

This is very interesting. Communters have been complaining for years to Go Transit and the TTC and suggesting small things they could do now to improve things. The excuse was we don't have to money to do it.

Ironically, now they have the money and it will take them two years to figure out what to do with it. Well commuters can tell them a lot and the auditor did too. We need the switches replaced that are always breaking. For example the one leaving union on track 3. Its always frozen or broken or someone needs to jackhammer it. I am sure out of $400 million you could afford to do that.

For TTC, how about spending money on repairing some of the platforms. There are tiles that look like they are going to fall off above us at some stations. How about re-opening the order for the buses you were going to use to expand the fleet. Are you telling me it takes 2 years to make a new bus? If so, no wonder there are so many cars out there. They can mass produce millions at the blink of an eye.

If the problem is that you are not getting the money for 2 years from the government that is another story. The government has no problem taking our tax money every year but when it sponsors programs they always defer it. They get the popularity now but the next guy in office flips the bill. If it happens to be themselves then they reiterate how they are keeping their promise now after 2 years and here is the money.

The solution here is for more of us to be vocal to Metrolinx and Go Transit as well as to the Ministry of Transport. I know people from Go Transit and the Ministry of Transport read my blog so its a perfect place to post comments.

McCarter's Auditors Report says Poor Service. Will Go Transit Respond?

Its interesting because last night I was on the 8:43pm train out of Union and we sat on the train until after 9:00pm while all the crew at Union worked on getting the switch fixed. Its funny in a way because the conductor joked about the dispatch finally waking up and maybe they would let us back up and go through another track when we finally moved forward. What if at 8:43 when the switch was determined to be broken they had backed us up and put us on our way. We could have got out of Union almost on time.

This morning on the 6:55am train arriving at Burlington, the entire train had no head and minimal lighting. Since this is a common occurance in winter, I have a good cost cutting measure for Go Transit. I came up with it as I wore my NorthFace Coat and Merrel Shoes. Why doesn't Go Transit run their engines all the time with minimal heat and provide all Monthy pass holders with a new NorthFace jacket. It would be a lot cheaper than fixing all the trains. The customers would be very happy getting their coats and would be warm, not noticing the missing heat. How about it Go Transit? You could take the added savings and use it to fix the switches.

I found it interesting how the Auditor himself got stuck at Clarkson waiting for 40 minutes due to mechanical conditions. The thing I found interesting was the 89.5% on time, I guess that is the official numbers, so since I have been on late trains that the customer service at go says never occured I wonder where the real number lies. I am thinking a lot lower.

Riders on the rapidly growing commuter-rail service endured more than 160 train
cancellations and 3,400 delays between October, 2006, and February, 2007, the
report says. Over all, only 85 per cent of trains ran on time, nearly 10 per
cent off GO's performance in past years.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20071212.AUDITORTRANSIT12/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/

Here is an idea, how about a rider suggestion box on your website one you actually look at to find ways of optimizing rail traffic. We ride it every day so we know first hand where, when and why the trains are getting delayed. Sometimes its just a matter of the train changing track unnecessarily.

The other comment the Auditor made was about fare collection and 40% of the time them not getting a ticket but a warning. One of the problems with the system is that a lot of the ticket stampers simply don't work. The other day I spent 3 minutes trying to get the ticket stamped and ended up missing my train because it arrived and left early. Most months I buy my monthly pass but in december since most of us have christmas break off its not economical to do so but I notice a lot of people use the ten rides year round and I see a lot of them complaining.

Now that the Auditor is complaining and not just all the Go passengers, it will be interesting if Go Transit responds. I know they read my blog so posting comments here would be one way to show you are listening. Another would be to issue a press release with what you plan on doing over the next couple months to help.

Metrolinx NOT Metrolynx or Metrolinks

It seems when it comes to the TTC they always do everything confusing and backwards so why
should their new name be any different.

Metrolinks would be obvious as a link of the metro transit systems. MetroLynx would be a cat
that runs really fast but maybe they decided not to because of all the transit delays. I guess they opted for a name that says we are metro and we will try and appear to be faster but not really.

Here is the real link to their site. Check it out and hopefully they will put up some area where we can voice our concerns to help improve transit.

http://www.metrolinx.com/default.aspx

Since I could not find the comment area on their site here is my first comment for them:

At the beginning of the month when people are wanting to buy their transit passes at Union Station. Instead of filling the metropass machines after the morning rush, how about doing it before so all those people in line for passes at the booths could use the machine. This would allow people buying tokens to get through faster and the same for those purchasing passes. It took me over an hour to buy my pass at union station because your guys filling the machines didn't arrive until close to 9:00. This is not just this month. Over the past 4 months it has happened each month.

Hope some of the MetroLinx people will eye my comments and take action. Once your commenting section is available I would appreciate if you would place a comment here with the link. It would help those reading my blog to take advantage of it.

Go Transit To Use Bombardier More

I read recently that Bombardier won some more contracts with
Go Transit. The plus side is that with everything under Bombardier
they cannot blame each other for delays. Oh it was the conductors,
oh it was the engines. Since the trains are theirs, the staff are theirs
everything but the track is theirs so if its broken it them.

This is a good thing. Now the only complaint we will hear from Go is
congestion on the tracks. The CN and Via trains. But with new track
being added that should help reduce them too.

Things are picking up at Go Transit. They are getting smarter and doing
all they can for Customer Service. Here's hoping they continue this trend of smarts.
I have to say the additional weekend trains to Aldershot and running more evening trains there is a real plus.

The other morning one there were some delays so they did an express train Burlington to Toronto to make up time. This was a smart thing to do. The two trains were close and it got all the people from the first train to toronto in good time. Whomever made that decision deserves a good pat on the back for a job well done.

Audited for Transit Credit

I have been asked by revenue canada to send in all my reciepts for transit. Not just the metro pass but the official receipts. I called ttc and it seems they were not always handing them out but will allow you to bring your passes to the Davisville station to get them. I am interested in how many are in the
same boat or if they are simply picking on me. If I don't hear anything I will assume they are picking on me because I am writing this blog.

If you are in the same boat and are facing the task of faxing in every receipt then please email me at chrisw_88@hotmail.com as well email Mike Wallace at Wallace.M@parl.gc.ca so he will have ammunition for this issue.

Expanded Weekend Schedule - Now I am really loving Go Transit

I just received a Go Transit Alert about a schedule change and got scared but it was a good thing. Instead of weekend trains starting at Oakville, they will be now starting at Aldershot. That means we don't have to drive to Oakville then catch the train saving on gas and helping our environment.

I have to say, Go Transit is finally making us Lakeshore Customers a little happier paying more than the other go lines for passes.

Keep up the good work!!!

New Long Weekend and Transit Funding?

Now that Dalton McGuinty is in power for another term, hopefully his promises will
be kept. The big ones for me are the February Long Weekend promised and the promise
of vastly improving public transit.

We have seen some improvement but not a lot. We are still fighting issues with crowded parking lots. If I catch a train in Burlington after 8:00 it means I have to drive a lot further using more gas to take transit. I have heard worse stories from fellow commuters further east down the tracks. If they don't find parking they have to drive to work.

Its interesting that a study got released yesterday that said we should raise gas tax to prevent people from driving. How about give them a place to park in the Go or TTC parking lots. Then more would drive. Its like taxing cigarettes to get people to stop smoking then taxing the medicines they use to quit. He wait a minute don't we already to that.

Oops, I spoke to soon!!!

Well I guess I spoke to soon on that one. It seems Go has made improvements but today they fell back into their old pattern. This morning I went to take the train leaving Burlington at 7:25 am and unfortunately it left a couple minutes early so I missed it. Now normally I would say ok, you have to keep your schedule so next train. However, the difference today is that Go Transit knew at after 6:00 am that there were going to be train cancellations so the next train at 8:00 was cancelled. Knowing this it would have helped if they had been flexible with the schedule for the 7:25 am train so we could have caught it. Instead we had to wait for the 8:14 am train.

On top of this the 8:14 train was 15 minutes late so instead of arriving at work early at 8:00 am I arrived late at 9:30 am. I understand there are accidents, I understand delays are part of the situation but what Go Transit needs to understand is that sometimes, because of a cancellation it would actually help out the customer to have the prior train be a little flexible on its leaving time to catch a few strays that are going to miss the next cancellation.

I found it interesting that in the Metro this morning someone was actually complaining about Go Transit giving money to people left stranded because of the fire. I am guessing he is not a regular go user or possibly a go employee because I think most Go-Transit riders would appreciate the token of appreciation Go gave and that it was not the delay per say but kind of an apology of sorts for how they reacted.

In general, Go-Transit has gotten a lot better. This morning was a slip I think (hope), and possibly they will examine their behavior and fix it. A small change would help a lot.

Go Transit is now the Better Way - TTC Show us you deserve your title

I have to say, Go Transit has done leaps and bounds in customer service. I noticed today outside customer service people were waiting in line to get credits for the delays on the lakeshore stoffville lines. So now I am changing focus, at least for this posting to another big transit system TTC - The better way?

Here is the issue, its the beginning of the month and everyone gets their tokens and Metro Passes. So why is it that only one automated MetroPass machine is working. Secondly, from the looks of it, a large amount of the extra line this month and possibly next month with the increase in the price of metropasses was token buyers that could not use $20 bills in the token machines that had small lineups. Also the token machines today did not accept change either even though they are clearly marked with toonies and loonies on the front. I waited for almost an hour for my metropass this morning.

The interesting sidenote is that the TTC wondered why everyone jumped to get Metropasses they cited that it was simply money but fail to see that getting tokens is a pain. You have to have a $10 bill and are only allowed a maximum of 20 tokens at a time. Otherwise you need to buy tickets which means you are in line anyways so you might as well buy a metropass so you only have to lineup once.

In closing, Go Transit you have come a long way, keep up the good work. TTC, now its time to take a look at Go Transit and raise the bar because right now Go Transit is the better way.

Lakeshore East, Alternate Routes

There are some things that are out of Go Transit's control but then there are others they should be arranging better. This latest cancellation of trains East is an example. I heard about the fire at 3:00 and stayed later to avoid it.

Upon reaching the station, I noticed that the Lakeshore East trains were still cancelled and commuters were being told to go back up to yonge and bloor and take the train to scarborough and there were go buses waiting. Wouldn't it be great if that announcement were made on the ttc line as well. That way you would not have people rushing for Union Station on the subway only to spend another 1/2 hour on the subway to get to Scarborough to catch the Go Bus.

A lot of passengers do cross-over from the ttc, some from north up at Yonge and Finch so knowing they could have transferred at Yonge and Bloor instead. Hopefully they will take this advice and use it in the future.

I have to say, Go Transit has been doing a lot better job in the past year of listening to its passengers. I have seen vast improvement in service. Keep up the good work.

Good Job!! I have to give credit when its due

I have been through quite a lot of these delays due to police emergencies but I have to admit
the way they handled it last night was awesome. Even though almost all the trains were cancelled, they managed to get a train out westbound at 5:43 and actually managed to get a large number of people from the 4 missed trains on that one.

It was the excellent work of the Go Transit Workers that was very convincing in his banter to get people to squeeze in. Their orgazation meant I was only 1 hour late getting home. In the past it had been as much as 4-6 hours late so vast improvement. Hopefully this is not a fluke but actually a deliberate improvement on their part.

Keep up the good work!!!

Issue with Go-Transit and the Transit Tax Credit

I filled out my tax return as normal and put on the new Transit Credit info. Since I am coming in from Burlington and taking the TTC. This value is at a maximum. I tried to reach Revenue Canada but the line was busy all day. I got a hold of the media relations person Sam Papadopoulos and he explained the procedure.

"The computer based on past filing history could ask for validation of application before assessing or within 3 years of assessing. A computer also picks random people"

So because they goofed up one of my claims in the past, now any time there is a new deduction they are going to target me. If you are in the same boat and are facing the task of faxing in every receipt then please email me at chrisw_88@hotmail.com as well email Mike Wallace at Wallace.M@parl.gc.ca so he will have ammunition for this issue.

Props to Go Transit Customer Service

It was a nice surprise last night on the commute home to see that Go Transit had someone handing out printed apologies and stated the real reasons for the delays. This is a positive
step for Go Transit and I thought I would say thanks and keep up the good work. A little communication goes a long way.

New Track in Burlington, Any Relation To Cancellations?

So the train stopping in Burlington at 7:25 is now using the new track 3. How ironic that now the new track is there that there are train cancellations and delays everywhere.

Its interesting that now they have the new track they are still not optimizing their schedules.
The 7.25 train got to Oakville and told people about the all stop train across the platform. That train was allowed to leave before us. Given that we were the express train and would only be making a couple more stops, wouldn't it make sense to let us go ahead so we would not get stuck behind it at port credit. I guess that is why they work where they do. If they were educated in time management they would be in charge of more time critical stuff.

Why not ask the passengers for information and suggestions on scheduling. Its a shame because the passengers of the trains would be able to provide very good feedback on where the bottlenecks are and often time how to avoid them. Sometimes its a simple as not making that extra track change or letting one train go ahead of another in a logical manner.

Presto Chango - Let Me Pull More Revenue Out Of My Hat

Presto sounds like a good idea. It allows you to transfer between systems with a single pass. But from the documentation I received from Union Station this morning. It seems to be missing something.

Why would I want a Presto Card?

* Easy transfers within and between transit systems with just one
card.
* No more searching for the right change
* Peace of mind. Riders who report a registered card lost or stolen
can have any remaining value transerred to a new card.

Wait a minute here, exact change, but what about my discounts I get now for Go Transit and TTC Passes. As we all know from recent news, so many people are using MetroPass that the TTC is short millions of dollars. So are these cards only aimed at people that don't have monthly passes?

You just have to look around when security officers are on Go Transit to see how many people pull out their Monthly Passes. They are cheaper and there is a government tax credit to make it even more so. The same for the TTC, you just have to look at the station entrances to see everyone pulling out their MetroPass. So my question is will the Presto Pass support individuals paying a flat rate for a month and then carrying their Presto pass instead of 2-3 transit passes. That would be very good. I currently have a Metro Pass and a Go Transit Pass, other have local transit on one end, Go Transit and MetroPass.

Let's break it down: I take Go Transit from burlingtion and MetroPass for the TTC every day.

Go Adult Pass $247.00
Metro Pass $99.75
---------------------
346.75


Go 10 Ride $69.75 x 4 = $279
Metro Pass $99.75
-------------------------
378.75

Go Single Ride $7.65 x 2 x 5 x 12 = $306
Metro Pass $99.75
----------------------------
405.75

Go Adult Pass $247.00
Tokens $21.00 x 4 = $84
---------------------

Go 10 Ride $69.75 x 4 = $279
Tokens $21.00 x 4 = $84
-------------------------
$331

Go Single Ride $7.65 x 2 x 5 x 12 = $306
Tokens $21.00 x 4 = $84
----------------------------
$390

Go Adult Pass $247.00
Cash fare: $2.75 x 2 x 5 x 4 = $110
---------------------
$357

Go 10 Ride $69.75 x 4 = $279
Cash fare: $2.75 x 2 x 5 x 4 = $110
-------------------------
$389

Go Single Ride $7.65 x 2 x 5 x 12 = $306
Cash fare: $2.75 x 2 x 5 x 4 = $110
----------------------------
$416


I await someone from Presto to clarify this as it could be a good marketing move for you to push this in your brochure too as there are a lot of us using the system this way.

From my calculations, the fare could be anywhere from $346.75 to $416 depending on how the Presto card works. Its only beginning so I am sure there will be more press on it coming soon and more information throught the newsletter. I suggest we all subscribe to the newsletter at http://www.prestocard.ca and keep in the loop. It could be a good service but if we see now that it doesn't look useful we may want to let them know. They have many years before its fully implemented so lots of time to make changes.

Save the Shepard Line. Buy token not your MetroPass?

I thought this was odd that more ridership meant a loss of $30 million but it
does make sense. Tokens are more expensive so TTC makes more money off them so with all of us buying MetroPasses we are costing the TTC money it needs to maintain the network. The thing that doesn't make sense is didn't they realize people are going to want to save as much money as possible. How come it took so long before they realized that they were $30 million dollars short? Sounds like they need a new accounting team to look at their books.

I wonder how many other of these things are being missed and maybe instead of a fare increase they could find another way to get the money. While we are at it let's get the new accountant to look into where all the gas tax money went.

Closing The Sheppard Line

Its interesting that the TTC would choose the Sheppard Line to close as this is the transit route for many to get to IKEA. For those familiar, IKEA is known for needing police to do traffic duty in their parking lots because of the number of people driving there. This route is not just for IKEA but it is an interesting fact.



Anyways, on to the true issue here. It seems that because the TTC has been so good at marketing to us to use them and with the government incentive tax credit we have all switched to Metro Passes. Since the TTC does not make a lot of money off them they are $30 million short. But the real issue here is that the government is collecting almost half the amount we are using to fill out tanks with gas. Where is that money going? Is it all going to public transit like it should? I remember David Miller was fighting for that.



In the past 5 years, gas prices have more than doubled, since half of that is tax and if it were going where it should (public transit) we should see some improvements in this sector.



The TTC and Go Transit lines are the heart of the transit systems in Ontario, so why are there already less buses on the road now than 5 years ago. Why is the system overcrowded? Why are we actually reducing service during this time when Gas Tax revenue is up?



Whose pockets are getting lined? What private companies are getting public money as profit for building public transit? Well let's see, there is CN who is building the new rail lines with government money only to own them later themselves because they own the land. So the goverment pays to build them then pays to use them. Ok the 407, the government helps pay to build it but how much money is the government seeing back, plus government workers such as police, and public transit (buses) have to pay to use it Ok the rapid transit link to the airport, goverment funded but privately run. These are but a few examples of waste.



The answer is clear, the government likes to look good for their pictures and cameos but when it comes to really being dedicated to a better transit system it turns out to be all smoke an mirrors.



Maybe this should be the subject of a Michael Moore movie, "Full of Gas Tax, Empty on Transit"



This is only one opinion. I look forward to seeing others comment on this issue.

Train 407 Where Are You? That's Right You Are Delayed

The key to delays on our systems have been told to us over and over. Government is not giving transit enough money so they are cutting corners and having to order replacement stuff at the last minute sometimes these will create more than delay but also could be a danger to the passengers. Note in the July 5, 2007 article that the Train 407 is delayed 50% of the time and that one of the potential causes is the reduction of staff on the trains that happened in January.
But this is Go Transit you say the TTC is the Better Way. Well I have pasted in an article about that too.

The TTC is having its own issues, from the older article I found on them but the new chief over there is starting to get things going by doing much needed repairs on subway stations. Things were really starting to fall apart. The construction means delays but so be it if it means we are going to be safer. On the other hand Go Transit is delaying us, but not to make us safer.

Excerpts from July 5, 2007 http://www.metronews.ca/column.aspx?id=59806

GO
Transit packed its schedule with trains over the last decade, partly to make up
for a lack of new tracks and infrastructure, but the result is brief holdups can
begin a cascade effect.

This train, identified by GO as No. 407, is chronically late because it runs at
the end of rush hour, according to agency chief Gary McNeil.
It is delayed at
least five minutes almost 50 per cent of the time, he says, and has one of the
worst records of all GO trains.
There is so little time between trains that
small delays during peak hours get compounded, he says.
“It’s symptomatic of
the majority of the GO system, especially along the Lakeshore line and the
Georgetown line and Richmond Hill lines.
“We are operating at capacity, from
a train movement perspective. Everything has to function to 100 per cent in
order to keep all the trains on schedule.
“There’s literally no slough in any
of the times.”
GO Transit packed its schedule with trains over the last
decade, partly to make up for a lack of new tracks and infrastructure, but the
result is brief holdups can begin a cascade effect.
McNeil admits the recent
change from two locomotive engineers on Lakeshore trains to one has cost
precious minutes when trains turn around.
McNeil says this problem should
“evaporate” when a new crewing contract begins next year.
As for train 407,
GO has asked CN Rail for permission to shift an earlier run by three minutes to
ease the pressure on the schedule.

Excerpts from October 17, 2006 : http://www.metronews.ca/column.aspx?id=14002&searchtype=1&fragment=False

Quote from Bob Boutillier:

“This last year in particular has been, I guess, the perfect storm — the
retirement of old buses, late deliveries (of new buses), and on top of that we
had to do a lot of warranty work that we would not normally do
(due to a manufacturing flaw that led to small fires on some
buses).”
Next is a persistent shortage of bus operators,
aggravated
by a higher-than-normal rate of new drivers failing the training
process."

...

“There are actually seven ... command posts where you have people sitting in front of the computer — and it’s old technology.”
Some of these routes have 20 or 30 buses, and one person may handle eight or nine routes. More supervisors would mean more cost to the TTC, as would a decent notification system to tell riders why their bus is late, or why a vehicle must be short-turned. Getting the word out won’t fix the problem, but at least explain to us what’s happening."

I think that getting the word out lets people know how short changed we are when it comes to safe and reliable public transit and the reasons is our tax dollars are not going to transit. On top we expect people to stop driving and take it.

Driving Can Be Dangerous

I know most of you take Go-Transit but you may be driving to the station.
For this reason I thought I these commandments passed on by the Vatican.
Maybe they could save your lives.

The 10 commandments of driving

1. You shall not kill.
2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of
   mortal harm.
3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen
   events.
4. Be charitable and help your neighbour in need, especially victims of
   accidents.
5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are
   not in a fitting condition to do so.
7. Support the families of accident victims.
8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time,
   so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
10. Feel responsible toward others.
    
    Source: The Vatican website and
    the Associated Press

Hope these commandments will help you in your day to day travels.

If It Were Not An Election Year .. Ontario Transit Plan

Kudos to Dalton McGuinty for finally realizing the crisis we have in transit. Unfortunately it took an approaching election for him to do it and interestingly enough this will start after the election.

The plan will see $17.5 billion invested in transit over 12 years starting in 2008.

It is unclear form what I have seen what the timeline is other than it will end in 2020. There are some good ideas here, like:

• Adding GO Bus Rapid Transit from Burlington to Highway 401
• Increasing speed and reducing emissions by electrifying the GO Lakeshore line.

Being a passenger on the Lakeshore line I will be keeping a close eye on this. Saving 15 minutes off my commute would be awesome,

Now, if they could do something to reduce the number of times we have to switch tracks that would further reduce delays. I didn't see anything about this in the plan but here is hoping.