rusty_armour (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rusty_armour) wrote2008-01-23 12:40 pm
rusty_armour) wrote2008-01-23 12:40 pm
Entry tags:
Taking the “Better Way”
It’s always such a jolly adventure travelling to work on the TTC. This morning as I walked into Eglinton Station, I saw a woman yelling, “There are no trains! No trains!” As I was on TTC property, I assumed the woman was a nutjob and exchanged a mutual eye roll with a woman who had just entered the station as well. When I reached the northbound platform, a train was sitting there, so I assumed nothing was amiss. Of course, the TTC announcer waited until after the train started moving to inform everyone that there would be no subway service between Lawrence and Finch because there had been an “incident on the tracks” at York Mills Station. Silly TTC announcer. We’re not complete idiots. We know that an “incident on the tracks” usually means that someone has jumped in front of a train. Anywaaaaay, we were informed that the train would be turning back at Lawrence and returning to Eglinton Station, but that shuttlebuses would be travelling from Lawrence to Finch. As I had absolutely no intention of standing in a huge crowd of people hoping to squeeze on to the fourth or fifth shuttlebus that came along, I re-traced my route back to Eglinton Station to catch a Lawrence bus to Don Mills. If I’d known earlier (e.g. before boarding the train), I could have just taken a bus in the first place and saved myself ten minutes. Oh, well. The TTC will have its little games.
The fun and laughs continued on the bus platform as a large number of people milled around trying to figure out what bus to take. I found this confusing as I was sure the shuttlebuses were leaving from Lawrence Station, not Eglinton. I suppose it’s possible that these people were also trying to avoid the sheer hell that is shuttlebus service. However, would it have killed them to consult a route map instead of jumping on every bus that pulled into the station to ask the drivers if they were going to Sheppard? And, yes, now I’m forced to concede that most TTC customers are complete idiots, so I guess the TTC is somewhat justified in treating its patrons as such.
In the end, I was 40 minutes late for work. Of course, if I had gone with my other travel option, I wouldn’t have made it to work at all, so I suppose I should be grateful. Yes, compared to walking to Markham, the TTC is the “better way”.
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This morning, I was a 20 minutes late because of TTC wackiness. I know the feeling.
Obviously, many TTC patrons are idiots -- just look at their garbage/recycling area. Every single bin has the same mixture of newspapers (those not left on the floor for us to trip on), coffee cups and water bottles. They can't follow the signs with handy diagrams. Or today, when we had to evacuate the train at Ossington. The first people off the train just blocked the doorway. They didn't want to let anyone else off. (Which is pretty much how they board the train too.)
I've noticed when shuttlebuses are deployed at Ossington station (thankfully not today), no one has any idea where they will show up. There are no signs to be posted, no helpful people in maroon jackets shouting instructions -- just a crazy, anarchist mob ready to push all other patrons into traffic.
But I'm told it's much better than the New York subway.
Allen
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From what I heard from a co-worker who did brave the shuttlebuses at Lawrence Station, there was similar chaos as the kind found at Ossington Station. There were no clear instructions on where to stand, and people were just gathering in mobs. Of course, there were no helpful people in maroon jackets to provide any kind of assistance.
I think you're right about many TTC patrons being idiots. I'm often amazed at the number of people who can't read simple signs or follow the most basic instructions. I think there's also a degree of laziness and selfishness in the behaviour of some people. I always get ticked off at the number of people who insist on rushing inside the train when the patrons inside haven't had a chance to get out yet. However, my number one pet peeve at the moment is people who take up seats with their bags -- during rush hour, no less! This guy on the Don Mills 25D was doing just that yesterday morning when the bus was packed. However, he seemed willing to move the bag when I glared at him.
How depressing is it that the New York transit system is worse than ours?
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Yeah, same problem in Ottawa with OCTranspo and people never consulting route maps. You'd think they were difficult to read or something.
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LOL! I'll be sure to do so -- once I've recovered from my exhaustion! *g*
Yeah, same problem in Ottawa with OCTranspo and people never consulting route maps. You'd think they were difficult to read or something.
I mean, I know Canada has an illiteracy rate (like every other country in the world), but surely there can't be that many people who can't read route maps or signs. Oh, well.
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I sympathize. I really do not miss the TTC, or really any transportation within or without Toronto. The UK is just so much better at the moving of people from one location to another. Except when all of northern England floods and buries the tracks, but we'll ignore that.
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LOL! Yeah, you're probably right! Markham isn't pedestrian-friendly at all, so even walking within its borders isn't great.
I sympathize. I really do not miss the TTC, or really any transportation within or without Toronto. The UK is just so much better at the moving of people from one location to another. Except when all of northern England floods and buries the tracks, but we'll ignore that.
I'm guessing that the TTC is one of the things you miss least about Toronto! Yes, I'd say the UK provides much better service -- except when the tracks are buried under water, of course. Or there are children on the line. I got stuck on a train at Chesterfield Station (I think) because there were children on the line. However, I'm guessing that's a fairly rare occurrence as well. My only other complaint would be about the bus service in some of the smaller towns in Britain after 6:00 pm because there just isn't any. *g*
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Hee. I learned that the hard way. Got stuck in Glastonbury in September. I suppose there are worse places.
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passenger strike
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But, I don't need to go to downtown, so I drive my 30 miles to work. Not too bad most days, but when it snows it slows up terribly (took me and hour and 45 minutes to get to work one day last week). You'd think that people in Minneapolis would get used to driving in snow. (Me, I'd rather take a train and have the time to read.)
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My husband had driven me to our neighbourhood subway station here in the west end (because I really didn't want to do the 15 minute walk in the howling wind and wet, blowing snow that night, especially wearing my dance skirt). I planned to take the subway the rest of the way, but I'd only gone a few stops (to Dundas West), when the train slowed to a halt in the tunnel and the lights went out. Then an announcement came that there was an "emergency" in the station up ahead, and that we would be "evacuating" through the back doors of the train onto the tracks.
Well, my adrenaline kicked into full gear, I started to hyperventilate, and I thought I was going to have a full-blown panic attack at being trapped in the subway tunnels with some unspecified danger blocking my escape. (Was it a fire? Would the train I was on burst into flames at any moment?)
But, looking around, the other passengers just look bored and mildly exasperated in that "Been here, done this" kind of way. So, that was quite reassuring to me and helped keep my panic under control.
The passengers started moving (very slowly) toward the back of the train, but then the queue came to a halt. As people were starting to question why we'd stopped, the driver came into our car and said that they'd changed their minds and we would actually be exiting through the front doors of the train, onto the platform (thank Goddess!).
Once we were in the station, they made the announcement about "injury at track level". [Dammit, if I'd known it was just a jumper and not a possible fire, I wouldn't have had a panic attack!]
There were some garbled and mostly inaudible announcements about shuttlebuses leaving from a different station, but I really didn't want to go that route. I had my cell phone and called my husband, intending to ask him to pick me up and drive me the rest of the way to the dance.
Unfortunately, he'd stopped to do an errand on his way home, so it was half an hour before he finally answered the phone.
I got to the dance about an hour later than I had planned. But, one of the dance organizers came in about half an hour even later than me. She'd wound up taking one of the shuttlebuses, and she said it had taken over an hour just to get between the few stations that the shuttlebuses were bridging.
Oh, and did I mention there was a snow-storm in progress while all this was happening and driving was trecherous? *g*
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