GO Transit, which serves approximately 50 million commuters throughout the Greater Toronto Area a year, has rejected a petition by riders calling for fare rebates when service falls short.
The petition, delivered by Patricia Eales of Oakville, contained close to 11,000 names calling for the transit company to offer rebates to passengers on GO trains running more than 20 minutes late, or not arriving at all. It also demands elimination of a 15 cent per fare increase which took effect on March 14, 2008.
The Toronto Star reports:
They listened, but Pat Eales isn't convinced GO Transit's board of directors heard the deafening hue and cry of frustrated commuters demanding better service and a refund when trains are late.
"They just kept bringing up the same old excuses – the weather, the switches – and that it wasn't their fault," the Oakville mother of two said after tabling copies of an online petition at yesterday's board meeting, supported by almost 11,000 dissatisfied riders.
...But her requests fell on deaf ears. A 15-cent-per-ride fare increase on a single adult ticket goes into effect today. Board chair Peter Smith confirmed there will be no refunds, something he said would spell disaster for the system in the throes of a major expansion.
GO Transit relies on the fare box for operating funds, so essentially riders themselves would be picking up the cost of the refunds.
On a positive note, after rejecting the petition, the Board's chairman - Mr. Peter Smith, made promises to GO Transit passengers to improve the transit service.
The National Post reports:
Mr. Smith said Ms. Eales has had a “huge impact” on efforts to immediately improve the service’s reliability. GO has already responded by posting on its Web site the “departure boards” that are found in Union Station that give train and bus updates.
Yesterday, the board approved a three point plan that endorsed hiring a 15th board member, who would focus on customer service, establish a customer service advisory committee and an action plan to address many of the concerns Ms. Eales raised.
For her part, Ms. Eales said she will take her petition to the provincial government next, hoping to further improve the GO Transit commute.
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3 comments:
As a daily user of Go for over 7 years I can only say it's not that bad most of the time. People complain that they are arrive late a work varying from 2 times a week to like me once a month or less. Then there are the ones who claim they were delayed by the trains but actually just got on a later train.
I ask, you if you drove in todays traffic with the accidents, weather and just run of the mill congestions, How often would the trip go delay free?
Now I'm not claiming it's without problems but how is taking money away from a transit organization with fixed subsidizes going to improve service? It takes money to fix the lines, hire more staff, modernize signals and switches, and rail stock. Every dollar of rebate is one dollar further away from good service.
Finally Go is a renter on CN lines, they don't maintain the tracks, it's like shitting on the cabby because of a sink hole he can't get past.
I see these whiners on my train all the time, "too hot" "too cold", "too noisy",Too costly", "Too slow" and the oh so common "Someones in my Chair".
If anything Go should be complaining to CN for lousy service. As for me it's cheaper than driving, a lot cheaper than paying for parking and it's enviromentaly responsible, Just Suck it Up People!
The ability to have a viable transit system is based on governments both provincially and federally that support it. The GO Train is an essential service, however, most governments are based on getting elected every 4 years, so as long as they constantly get supported by giving people their money back in tax cuts, they are going to continue giving tax cuts. However, tax cuts mean that there is less money for public transit like the GO Train. So the next time the Tories or Liberals give you a break for a couple of hundred dollars on your taxes because that is why you voted for them, you're then going to have to thank yourself for service which is below your expectations. Nothing needed like public transit, good health care, or world class education comes for free. You voted, and now you get to see what happens. Next time you might want to consider voting Green, a party that supports public transit.
October 28, 2008's 11:13pm train eastbound to Oshawa carrying hundreds of Leaf fans is delayed until 11:45pm and then takes one hour to get to Danforth because "the rails are slippery."
Sounds like a new level of misery to me. I would like to offer Patricia Eales any and all support to take this to the next level. It's not about the delays - as green assassin says - it's about GO's responsible behaviour when issues arise - which right now is unacceptable.
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