Arriving at the GO Station in Aurora this morning, the third train, normally departing at 7:24, was still at the station. It was 7:45. “Uh, oh”, I thought, “This can’t be good.”
Turns out that train #4, the fourth and final Bradford train normally departing Aurora at 7:54, had not started and train #3 was waiting till either it started or they would take the last load of passengers and run 1/2 hour late. This is nice and convenient for the later passengers, not so much for those who needed to get to work on time on train #3 which was in perfect working order, but not really the subject of my complaint.
Eventually, we were told that train #4 was underway behind us and that passengers could choose to take this train or wait for the next. However, this train would be running express from King City to Union Station, so passengers for York University had to wait.
So train #3 left Aurora at 7:55 and everyone got to where they were going, all less than 1/2 hour late.
So why am I writing this? Because of the false sense of hope that one might be led to have by subscribing to GO Transit’s E-News Alert system. That would be the system where GO Transit promises to tell riders of delays or activities on their particular line.
We finally did receive an email from GO, sent at 8:02 as we were halfway to King City which I received on my Blackberry.
—–Original Message—–
From: enews-list-request@enews-gotransit.com On Behalf Of GO E-News Alert
Sent: August 22, 2007 8:02 AM
To: GO E-News Alerts
Subject: GO Train Partial Cancellation
Bradford corridor:
The 7 02 train trip from Bradford to Union (8 15) will operate express from King City to Union.
Passengers wishing to travel to stations between King City and Union, will be let off at King City to board the next train departing Bradford.
Please do not reply to this email. This is an outgoing message only.
You’ll note that this email said nothing about either train being delayed, said nothing about the cause of the change, and said nothing about when to now expect the trains to arrive. And most importantly, since the faulty train was due to leave Bradford at 7:02, the email was sent a full hour after the initial problem. Earlier notice might have give people choice about their day.
In short, this email service is useless.
show hide 2 comments
Hear! Hear! My wife used to be a regular commuter on the Richmond Hill line, and rest assured there is no special treatment for this route. The email alerts, as you point out, consistently arrive late (if at all). But in fairness to GO Transit, the service is not “useless” – the emails do provide a great subject for conversation with other irritated GO commuters! Perhaps they should try sending the updates by courier…
Delays are becoming the norm now with GO Transit.
To voice your concern, please go to http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/go_on_time/