translink_sucks!
On Sunday December 28th, my sister and I saw the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (it was quite an enjoyable film). After the movie (8:30pm), we parted ways to go home, she taking the bus, and me the skytrain. We were downtown, so I went to Granville Station. The station platform was fairly crowded, although this is typical for Granville Station. However, after waiting for at least 15 to 20 minutes and not seeing a train or hearing a train going the other way, I became suspicious. Since Granville Station is an underground station, I didn't have cell phone reception, so I couldn't just call Translink and ask them what the hell was going on. So I had to leave the platform and go all the way up to the ticket area. (For non-Vancouverites--Granville Station is a weird station, and it takes several minutes to get from the platform to the ticket area, while this is not the case at the other stations.)
I called Translink and asked if there was "another tree on the track or something", and the woman said there wasn't, but that there were "delays". I said, annoyed and somewhat sarcastically, "So the trains are coming every 20 or 30 minutes?" and she said yes. While it's annoying that the service for the past week has been so shitty and significantly delayed due to the weather, of course I don't blame Translink for it; they can't control the weather. However, the least they could fucking do is make announcements at skytrain stations, so that people waiting know that there are significant delays, and plan alternative routs home! I told the woman that there had not been any announcements at Granville Station, either visual or auditory, and she said, "Really? I've had many people call and say that there are too many announcements at the stations." (WTF? Why would people call just to complain that there are "too many" announcements about service delays? But that's what she said...) But anyway, I told her that there weren't any at Granville Station, and she claimed that they would rectify that.
After speaking to her, I went back down to the platform, and just my fucking luck, a train had come! I was so fucking annoyed, because had there been announcements, I would have been aware of the situation. (Translink ought to have announcements if there are significant delays, and I think 20-30 minutes is significant!) And I wouldn't have be so annoyed had I been able to make my phone call while on the platform, thus not missing my train. So I had to wait for about another 15-20 minutes, and during that time, there was not one announcement about service delays! It took me about an hour to get home, when normally it would have been a 20 minute commute. Way to go, Translink!
When I called Translink and the woman said there were delays, she said, "But we're running longer trains to compensate." While running longer trains when there are lengthy delays is helpful, it's no substitute for running trains at the usual intervals. How is Translink going to cope with the Olympics? Sure they are planning on having more skytrain cars to cope with the increase in ridership (but how are only 48 more cars supposed to alleviate the crowding on an already overcrowded system?), but they better not fucking decrease the intervals between trains and "compensate" by running longer trains!
*For non-Vancouver readers: for the past couple of weeks, we've had a lot of snowfall, so of course our transit system went to shit, including several trees falling on the skytrain tracks. While it's reasonable for there to be problems and service delays with this weather, it's frustrating that there were significant delays with the skytrain long after the snow had stopped falling, and the buses, including the trolly buses, were running with minor or no delays. While I can't blame Translink for service delays due to weather and trees falling on the track, the least they could fucking do is make announcements at the stations and give out accurate information when people call! (I was trying to get home on Christmas Eve, which turned into such a fucking ordeal, and I was given incorrect information about transit delays by Translink.)
I called Translink and asked if there was "another tree on the track or something", and the woman said there wasn't, but that there were "delays". I said, annoyed and somewhat sarcastically, "So the trains are coming every 20 or 30 minutes?" and she said yes. While it's annoying that the service for the past week has been so shitty and significantly delayed due to the weather, of course I don't blame Translink for it; they can't control the weather. However, the least they could fucking do is make announcements at skytrain stations, so that people waiting know that there are significant delays, and plan alternative routs home! I told the woman that there had not been any announcements at Granville Station, either visual or auditory, and she said, "Really? I've had many people call and say that there are too many announcements at the stations." (WTF? Why would people call just to complain that there are "too many" announcements about service delays? But that's what she said...) But anyway, I told her that there weren't any at Granville Station, and she claimed that they would rectify that.
After speaking to her, I went back down to the platform, and just my fucking luck, a train had come! I was so fucking annoyed, because had there been announcements, I would have been aware of the situation. (Translink ought to have announcements if there are significant delays, and I think 20-30 minutes is significant!) And I wouldn't have be so annoyed had I been able to make my phone call while on the platform, thus not missing my train. So I had to wait for about another 15-20 minutes, and during that time, there was not one announcement about service delays! It took me about an hour to get home, when normally it would have been a 20 minute commute. Way to go, Translink!
When I called Translink and the woman said there were delays, she said, "But we're running longer trains to compensate." While running longer trains when there are lengthy delays is helpful, it's no substitute for running trains at the usual intervals. How is Translink going to cope with the Olympics? Sure they are planning on having more skytrain cars to cope with the increase in ridership (but how are only 48 more cars supposed to alleviate the crowding on an already overcrowded system?), but they better not fucking decrease the intervals between trains and "compensate" by running longer trains!
*For non-Vancouver readers: for the past couple of weeks, we've had a lot of snowfall, so of course our transit system went to shit, including several trees falling on the skytrain tracks. While it's reasonable for there to be problems and service delays with this weather, it's frustrating that there were significant delays with the skytrain long after the snow had stopped falling, and the buses, including the trolly buses, were running with minor or no delays. While I can't blame Translink for service delays due to weather and trees falling on the track, the least they could fucking do is make announcements at the stations and give out accurate information when people call! (I was trying to get home on Christmas Eve, which turned into such a fucking ordeal, and I was given incorrect information about transit delays by Translink.)