A few days ago, my Go Train friend sent me a text message. He said he had a blog-worthy picture, but couldn't take it without being caught and he just had to tell SOMEONE. Do tell, I say. And so he does:
Him: 553? if you're on 553 you need to get to car 2115.
Me: taking 643. tell me.
Him: ok...here we go. Early 20s, wf, shapely legs, daisy dukes that are shorter than i've ever seen before...may even break some laws, sitting in the 3 seats by the door. legs wide apart.
Me: !!!!!!!
Him: At times, and here is the kicker, she puts a flipflop free foot up on the pole...like 3' up the pole, constantly txting. for this, I don't mind ppl putting their bare feet wherever they want.
Me: perv! what's everyone else doing? R they looking at her?
Him: NO! I know, right?!
As you can imagine, the conversation took a serious nose-dive after that. There was a lot of discussion on how he could take the picture without getting arrested. We agreed it wasn't possible, and I didn't have enough bail money on me.
I'm wondering if her parents know how she behaves in public. Then again, depending on how far east she lives on the LSE line, they could very well be proud. Perhaps, one day, their baby girl will be on Jerry.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
C.J. over at This Crazy Train already beat me to this, but I cannot let this news bite go by without commenting.
Here's the premise: McGuinty, in order to get votes (let's be honest, it's the only reason he'd do this), is making a promise he cannot possibly keep. He proposes that GO Transit refund fares when a ride is 15 minutes late.
What is the catch? Oh, don't pooh pooh my cynicism. If you didn't think the same thing, you haven't been taking the train long enough.
The catch is that GO will determine what is deemed a delay. And note that there is no stipulation made for cancellations. I once read (and, dammit, I wish I could find that blog again!) that GO will cancel a train that will be 30 minutes late (or whatever their cutoff time is) because cancelled trains do not fall into the "sorry-we-were-late" category. This keeps their "on-time" status up. This is how they can say they run 90-something percent on time.
So, McGuinty says:
“In those circumstances over which we have control, like equipment failure or the management of the tracks, including sharing with other users, we take responsibility for those kinds of things,” Mr. McGuinty said while making the announcement at a GO station west of Toronto.
First of all, what is this "we" shit. As though McGuinty works at GO Transit and has any clue about commuting.
We all know what this really means. It means that the GO alerts we've been receiving--telling us the delay is due to switch problems--will now say the delay is due to passenger illness (how will we know?), extreme weather conditions (do leaves on the track constitute 'extreme'?) and accidents.
C.J. described the accident scenario best.
*snort*
Good one C.J.!
Here's the premise: McGuinty, in order to get votes (let's be honest, it's the only reason he'd do this), is making a promise he cannot possibly keep. He proposes that GO Transit refund fares when a ride is 15 minutes late.
What is the catch? Oh, don't pooh pooh my cynicism. If you didn't think the same thing, you haven't been taking the train long enough.
The catch is that GO will determine what is deemed a delay. And note that there is no stipulation made for cancellations. I once read (and, dammit, I wish I could find that blog again!) that GO will cancel a train that will be 30 minutes late (or whatever their cutoff time is) because cancelled trains do not fall into the "sorry-we-were-late" category. This keeps their "on-time" status up. This is how they can say they run 90-something percent on time.
So, McGuinty says:
“In those circumstances over which we have control, like equipment failure or the management of the tracks, including sharing with other users, we take responsibility for those kinds of things,” Mr. McGuinty said while making the announcement at a GO station west of Toronto.
First of all, what is this "we" shit. As though McGuinty works at GO Transit and has any clue about commuting.
We all know what this really means. It means that the GO alerts we've been receiving--telling us the delay is due to switch problems--will now say the delay is due to passenger illness (how will we know?), extreme weather conditions (do leaves on the track constitute 'extreme'?) and accidents.
C.J. described the accident scenario best.
*snort*
Good one C.J.!
Friday, August 5, 2011
It is clear that Air Canada is taking customer service cues from GO Transit.
An airplane, departing from Toronto, veers off the runway, onto the grassy knoll, sinks down and is rendered useless. Passengers are left on the airplane for three hours. Three hours!!!
When I watched the news this morning, the news reader said the passengers were only told the airplane was having equipment issues.
Equipment issues? Really? The airplane drove off the fucking runway! How is that an equipment issue?
Instead of making up some random excuse, why can't businesses be honest? The pilot should have come over the PA system:
"Um...guys? Yeah...listen. I was texting my buddy, and I wasn't paying attention, and I kinda drove off the tarmac a little. Sorry. My bad. We're just gonna sit here for a bit. The Trolly Tarts are gonna walk up and down the aisles and hand out free booze. Smoke 'em if you got 'em."
An airplane, departing from Toronto, veers off the runway, onto the grassy knoll, sinks down and is rendered useless. Passengers are left on the airplane for three hours. Three hours!!!
When I watched the news this morning, the news reader said the passengers were only told the airplane was having equipment issues.
Equipment issues? Really? The airplane drove off the fucking runway! How is that an equipment issue?
Instead of making up some random excuse, why can't businesses be honest? The pilot should have come over the PA system:
"Um...guys? Yeah...listen. I was texting my buddy, and I wasn't paying attention, and I kinda drove off the tarmac a little. Sorry. My bad. We're just gonna sit here for a bit. The Trolly Tarts are gonna walk up and down the aisles and hand out free booze. Smoke 'em if you got 'em."
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
It's been quite a while since I've posted anything. Sorry about that. It boils down to two reasons: It's stupid busy at work, and whatever has pissed me off, I've managed to let go. I think I found a pusher with good shit.
Today I received yet another GO Transit survey. Shouldn't they address the last survey before releasing another? Just sayin'.
So, here we go... (you may want to take a nap first.)
GO Writes:
GO Transit is improving the way our printed and online schedules, quick tables, station display boards and station maps look and read.
Earlier this month, we conducted focus groups with GO customers and non-customers to ask their opinion on new schedule designs and would like to know what you think about them too.
Please take the following survey and let us know what you think. Your opinion will help us make improvements to our schedules and to continue to meet our customers’ needs.
This survey may take up to ten minutes of your time. Your participation is appreciated and completing this survey will enter you in a draw to win one of three great monthly prizes.
1. Currently, GO Transit provides its customers with many types of schedules. Which of these schedule types do you use most often to get GO Transit schedule information?
A: Printed timetables, simply because I have one at work and one at home and it’s easily accessible. I also checked online tables, but I don’t use them as often.
2. In order of preference, how you would prefer to get GO Transit schedule information?
A: Printed Tables, Online Tables, Smartphone Tables. The key here is whether the schedules available online will be up-to-date.
3. How often do you use the following types of schedules to get GO Transit schedule information?
A: One of the selections was ‘Station Display Boards’. If you’re at the station, isn’t it too late to get schedule information? Shouldn’t you pretty much know what you’re doing before you get there? Just sayin’.
4. How would you rate each of the following types of schedule in terms of ease of getting the information you require?
A: Let’s be clear about one thing here. It doesn’t matter what I answered, or what you answered, the first time you looked at a GO Transit timetable, you shit yourself, didn’t you? You looked at all those columns and rows and numbers and station names and thought, how the hell am I ever going to figure out how to get from A to B? And God forbid should I need to side-track to X or Y!
5. Other than schedule information, when looking at the current printed timetables, what type(s) of information do you look for?
A: There were a lot of choices in this list, none of which I use, except to confirm whether the trip I want to take is express and actually goes beyond Pickering. I also want to know what the departure and arrival times are. Other than that, I’m at the mercy of GO Transit (God help us!).
6. How would you rate the current printed timetables in terms of…
A: One selection was “providing you information on the area surrounding the station.” I can see this may appeal to tourists, but locals? Do people really jump on the GO Train and wait until they look at a map before they decide where to go? Or, perhaps I’m misinterpreting this. Perhaps the intention is to provide people who know where they want to go with information on how to get there. Still, I’d just call GO Transit and ask Customer Service. I don’t think the maps are user friendly.
And now we get to see new concepts for the timetables. Hmm….
7. In recent focus groups, customers were shown a variety of different covers for the new printed timetable concepts. Based on their feedback, we made a few changes and narrowed down the choices to two of the best covers. Please look at these covers and answer the following questions:
7.1 Select the cover that most appeals to you (I'm paraphrasing here, as I forgot to write down the question).
A: I picked Cover 2 for all the answers on this. I like white space.
7.2 Using the highlighter, please select elements of the new covers that you like the most or click 'Next' to skip to the following question.
A: OK. Give me a moment here. When I read this, I immediately thought “Oooh! Highlighter.” Then I clicked the highlighter button. My cursor became a huge-ass highlighter! How frickin’ cool is that?! AND there was an eraser! I may not leave this page.
7.3 What elements of the new covers do you dislike?
A: I like the new covers, so I picked None of the Above. I did add that the photos could be more interesting. They’re a little ho-hum.
7.4 Using the highlighter, please select elements of the new instructions page that you like the most or click 'Next' to skip to the following question.
A: More highlighter!! This is fun! I admit that I do have an old schedule, but nowhere does it tell you how to read the timetable. I like that they’ve added instructions.
7.5 On the current GO Transit schedules we often use down arrows (↓) to designate transfer points. We are thinking about changing the symbols that indicate transfers/connections between trains/buses on the new schedules to this: [they had a pic of the symbol].
A: Oh yeah. That’s much better. It took me a while figure out what the arrows meant when I was a newbie.
7.6 What elements of the new instructions page do you dislike?
A: None of the above. (do you think they’ll hand out highlighters with the new tables? I hope so!)
7.7 Using the highlighter, please select elements of the new schedule concept that you like the most or click 'Next' to skip to the following question.
A: Again, more highlighting. Could this be any more fun?! There really isn’t any major difference, other than the train and bus symbols. But I like those, so they’re yellow now.
7.8 What elements of the new schedule do you dislike?
A: None of the above. It is what it is. I’ll live with it. I mean, really, how can you impart this much information without killing a small forest?
7.9 Using the highlighter please select elements of the new back page that you like the most or click 'Next' to skip to the following question.
A: The proposed back page is basically Presto propaganda. Really? Is it necessary to take up the whole back page for this? The old back page has important information like holiday service schedules and telephone numbers. I assume this will go somewhere in the timetable, but it’s easily accessible on the back. I only circled the contact information. It’s the only information I need from the new back. Besides, it just tells you to go to the Presto site. Oh, thanks, that was very helpful.
7.10 Overall, how would you rate the new printed timetables?
A: I marked everything as Good. It’s not excellent, and it doesn’t suck. So it’s Good.
7.11 Other than schedule information, when looking at the current online schedules on your PC/Mac/laptop, what type(s) of information do you look for?
A: I don’t use GO as my main means of transportation. Let’s face it, it’s not like the TTC. So I don’t look for the detailed information they seem to be so proud of providing. I only want to know when my train leaves and when it arrives (though we all know that despite the fact that it’s in writing, it’s not guaranteed).
7.12 How would you rate the current online schedules?
A: I didn’t give this a good rating. Mostly Poor and Fair.
7.13 How would you like to search for schedules and information on GO Transit’s online schedules and maps webpage?
A: This was difficult to answer. Sometimes (not often, but sometimes) I need to know where it’s stopping and I do travel to other stations periodically. So, a drop-down list, printer-friendly schedules as well as comprehensive planner were all good ideas.
7.14 You will now see the new GO Transit map concept, followed by a few questions about it. The concept is an example of the Milton corridor map.
A: My immediate thought was that it wasn’t very clear what the cross streets were. However, I did like the train and bus symbols to identify the two lines, and I liked that they added a few highlights at some stops (i.e. Square One). That’s helpful for someone like me who never takes the Milton Line, for instance. It might be helpful to add a landmark at each station.
7.15 How would you rate the new map style?
A: The overall feeling was the only thing that got a Good. The colours, layout and clarity are Fair to Poor. Plus, I’m colour-blind. If they had a blue and green line, I’d be lost. More so than usual.
7.16 What elements of the new map style do you dislike?
A: There were some interesting choices for answers. The bus route is very busy and overwhelming. The train route doesn’t stand apart from it. Major intersections need to be labelled and the text wasn’t easy to read. I’m assuming that’s because we were looking at a scanned picture on the web. I sure hope it will be clearer when they go to print. One choice that made me smile was “I couldn't tell which direction was North”. Lake Ontario is clearly marked on the map. If you don’t know where north is based on that, perhaps you shouldn’t be leaving your house, let alone taking public transit. However, if the lake was not visible, and particularly if you’re not familiar with the area, you’d have a hard time figuring it out without a small compass logo.
7.17 If given a choice between the two maps below which of the two do you prefer?
A: This was a tough one. But I’ll admit that my immediate choice was the second map. It’s simple, easy to read and you are not distracted and overwhelmed by the street lines.
7.18 Why did you choose Map 2?
A: It’s easier to read. I always have a general idea of the location of my destination and never rely on a GO Transit map for details directions. I use a proper map for that, if necessary. I only use the GO map to determine the location of a station.
7.19 If a decision was made to no longer have printed schedules, and only provide schedule information through quick tables, online schedules and on station display boards, what impact would this have on you?
A: Some impact – I prefer to use the printed schedules, but would adjust. I really wanted to check “Significant impact – I only use the printed schedules” because I hate looking up the information on line, but I get that we shouldn’t be levelling forests just so I can read a GO Train schedule.
7.20 Are you aware that GO schedule information is available on Google Maps?
A: Oh yeah, like Google Maps is reliable. Do you know how many stupid people have driven into swamps by following Google and GPS?
8.0 Do you have any additional comments or feedback for GO Transit regarding the changes we are making to our schedules? If so please let us know what you think in the box below.
A: I said a few more things. Nothing bad. No, honest! Then this: “It is much faster to grab the schedule and flip it open (I've highlighted the times I usually take) than to log into my computer, open a browser, open the GO site, find the Schedule menu, find my route, find the time then try to interpret what the schedule means.”
That's it. Did you get a survey request? Did you complete it?
Today I received yet another GO Transit survey. Shouldn't they address the last survey before releasing another? Just sayin'.
So, here we go... (you may want to take a nap first.)
GO Writes:
GO Transit is improving the way our printed and online schedules, quick tables, station display boards and station maps look and read.
Earlier this month, we conducted focus groups with GO customers and non-customers to ask their opinion on new schedule designs and would like to know what you think about them too.
Please take the following survey and let us know what you think. Your opinion will help us make improvements to our schedules and to continue to meet our customers’ needs.
This survey may take up to ten minutes of your time. Your participation is appreciated and completing this survey will enter you in a draw to win one of three great monthly prizes.
1. Currently, GO Transit provides its customers with many types of schedules. Which of these schedule types do you use most often to get GO Transit schedule information?
A: Printed timetables, simply because I have one at work and one at home and it’s easily accessible. I also checked online tables, but I don’t use them as often.
2. In order of preference, how you would prefer to get GO Transit schedule information?
A: Printed Tables, Online Tables, Smartphone Tables. The key here is whether the schedules available online will be up-to-date.
3. How often do you use the following types of schedules to get GO Transit schedule information?
A: One of the selections was ‘Station Display Boards’. If you’re at the station, isn’t it too late to get schedule information? Shouldn’t you pretty much know what you’re doing before you get there? Just sayin’.
4. How would you rate each of the following types of schedule in terms of ease of getting the information you require?
A: Let’s be clear about one thing here. It doesn’t matter what I answered, or what you answered, the first time you looked at a GO Transit timetable, you shit yourself, didn’t you? You looked at all those columns and rows and numbers and station names and thought, how the hell am I ever going to figure out how to get from A to B? And God forbid should I need to side-track to X or Y!
5. Other than schedule information, when looking at the current printed timetables, what type(s) of information do you look for?
A: There were a lot of choices in this list, none of which I use, except to confirm whether the trip I want to take is express and actually goes beyond Pickering. I also want to know what the departure and arrival times are. Other than that, I’m at the mercy of GO Transit (God help us!).
6. How would you rate the current printed timetables in terms of…
A: One selection was “providing you information on the area surrounding the station.” I can see this may appeal to tourists, but locals? Do people really jump on the GO Train and wait until they look at a map before they decide where to go? Or, perhaps I’m misinterpreting this. Perhaps the intention is to provide people who know where they want to go with information on how to get there. Still, I’d just call GO Transit and ask Customer Service. I don’t think the maps are user friendly.
And now we get to see new concepts for the timetables. Hmm….
7. In recent focus groups, customers were shown a variety of different covers for the new printed timetable concepts. Based on their feedback, we made a few changes and narrowed down the choices to two of the best covers. Please look at these covers and answer the following questions:
7.1 Select the cover that most appeals to you (I'm paraphrasing here, as I forgot to write down the question).
A: I picked Cover 2 for all the answers on this. I like white space.
7.2 Using the highlighter, please select elements of the new covers that you like the most or click 'Next' to skip to the following question.
A: OK. Give me a moment here. When I read this, I immediately thought “Oooh! Highlighter.” Then I clicked the highlighter button. My cursor became a huge-ass highlighter! How frickin’ cool is that?! AND there was an eraser! I may not leave this page.
7.3 What elements of the new covers do you dislike?
A: I like the new covers, so I picked None of the Above. I did add that the photos could be more interesting. They’re a little ho-hum.
7.4 Using the highlighter, please select elements of the new instructions page that you like the most or click 'Next' to skip to the following question.
A: More highlighter!! This is fun! I admit that I do have an old schedule, but nowhere does it tell you how to read the timetable. I like that they’ve added instructions.
7.5 On the current GO Transit schedules we often use down arrows (↓) to designate transfer points. We are thinking about changing the symbols that indicate transfers/connections between trains/buses on the new schedules to this: [they had a pic of the symbol].
A: Oh yeah. That’s much better. It took me a while figure out what the arrows meant when I was a newbie.
7.6 What elements of the new instructions page do you dislike?
A: None of the above. (do you think they’ll hand out highlighters with the new tables? I hope so!)
7.7 Using the highlighter, please select elements of the new schedule concept that you like the most or click 'Next' to skip to the following question.
A: Again, more highlighting. Could this be any more fun?! There really isn’t any major difference, other than the train and bus symbols. But I like those, so they’re yellow now.
7.8 What elements of the new schedule do you dislike?
A: None of the above. It is what it is. I’ll live with it. I mean, really, how can you impart this much information without killing a small forest?
7.9 Using the highlighter please select elements of the new back page that you like the most or click 'Next' to skip to the following question.
A: The proposed back page is basically Presto propaganda. Really? Is it necessary to take up the whole back page for this? The old back page has important information like holiday service schedules and telephone numbers. I assume this will go somewhere in the timetable, but it’s easily accessible on the back. I only circled the contact information. It’s the only information I need from the new back. Besides, it just tells you to go to the Presto site. Oh, thanks, that was very helpful.
7.10 Overall, how would you rate the new printed timetables?
A: I marked everything as Good. It’s not excellent, and it doesn’t suck. So it’s Good.
7.11 Other than schedule information, when looking at the current online schedules on your PC/Mac/laptop, what type(s) of information do you look for?
A: I don’t use GO as my main means of transportation. Let’s face it, it’s not like the TTC. So I don’t look for the detailed information they seem to be so proud of providing. I only want to know when my train leaves and when it arrives (though we all know that despite the fact that it’s in writing, it’s not guaranteed).
7.12 How would you rate the current online schedules?
A: I didn’t give this a good rating. Mostly Poor and Fair.
7.13 How would you like to search for schedules and information on GO Transit’s online schedules and maps webpage?
A: This was difficult to answer. Sometimes (not often, but sometimes) I need to know where it’s stopping and I do travel to other stations periodically. So, a drop-down list, printer-friendly schedules as well as comprehensive planner were all good ideas.
7.14 You will now see the new GO Transit map concept, followed by a few questions about it. The concept is an example of the Milton corridor map.
A: My immediate thought was that it wasn’t very clear what the cross streets were. However, I did like the train and bus symbols to identify the two lines, and I liked that they added a few highlights at some stops (i.e. Square One). That’s helpful for someone like me who never takes the Milton Line, for instance. It might be helpful to add a landmark at each station.
7.15 How would you rate the new map style?
A: The overall feeling was the only thing that got a Good. The colours, layout and clarity are Fair to Poor. Plus, I’m colour-blind. If they had a blue and green line, I’d be lost. More so than usual.
7.16 What elements of the new map style do you dislike?
A: There were some interesting choices for answers. The bus route is very busy and overwhelming. The train route doesn’t stand apart from it. Major intersections need to be labelled and the text wasn’t easy to read. I’m assuming that’s because we were looking at a scanned picture on the web. I sure hope it will be clearer when they go to print. One choice that made me smile was “I couldn't tell which direction was North”. Lake Ontario is clearly marked on the map. If you don’t know where north is based on that, perhaps you shouldn’t be leaving your house, let alone taking public transit. However, if the lake was not visible, and particularly if you’re not familiar with the area, you’d have a hard time figuring it out without a small compass logo.
7.17 If given a choice between the two maps below which of the two do you prefer?
A: This was a tough one. But I’ll admit that my immediate choice was the second map. It’s simple, easy to read and you are not distracted and overwhelmed by the street lines.
7.18 Why did you choose Map 2?
A: It’s easier to read. I always have a general idea of the location of my destination and never rely on a GO Transit map for details directions. I use a proper map for that, if necessary. I only use the GO map to determine the location of a station.
7.19 If a decision was made to no longer have printed schedules, and only provide schedule information through quick tables, online schedules and on station display boards, what impact would this have on you?
A: Some impact – I prefer to use the printed schedules, but would adjust. I really wanted to check “Significant impact – I only use the printed schedules” because I hate looking up the information on line, but I get that we shouldn’t be levelling forests just so I can read a GO Train schedule.
7.20 Are you aware that GO schedule information is available on Google Maps?
A: Oh yeah, like Google Maps is reliable. Do you know how many stupid people have driven into swamps by following Google and GPS?
8.0 Do you have any additional comments or feedback for GO Transit regarding the changes we are making to our schedules? If so please let us know what you think in the box below.
A: I said a few more things. Nothing bad. No, honest! Then this: “It is much faster to grab the schedule and flip it open (I've highlighted the times I usually take) than to log into my computer, open a browser, open the GO site, find the Schedule menu, find my route, find the time then try to interpret what the schedule means.”
That's it. Did you get a survey request? Did you complete it?
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