Problem with GO TRANSIT in Toronto--Lets discuss

[surfer123]

Hello All Media Broadcaster in Toronto,

I have been through some nice rip off by the GO TRANSIT and I just wanted to make sure that if you can bring this issue in light so other people doesn't go through from this issue and dealt better way.

Today July 19, 2007 there was derailment on Richmond Hill line thus 2 early trips to Union was cancelled by GO TRANSIT. They have provided shuttle service from Old cummer and Oriole GO STATION to Leslie subway station. You still have to pay for subway to ride in to your work.

As I am coming from EAST, I took Don Mills station as I heard that 2 trains are cancelled and one of them was mine that I usually take to start my work. GO TRANSIT didn't provide any status on other 2 trains when I took the subway.

I came to downtown at Union station and went at customer service desk to ask for the refund as I had to pay for Subway while I had bought the GO monthly pass for Oriole to Union station.

The response that I got from customer service desk is that they don't offer the refund at this time. I questioned what does this mean "at this time"? Does that mean that you will run add in newspaper once you decided that you will refund the affected passengers? They said no. So I said what does that mean? Than response from GO official was other 2 trains are running so service is back to normal. I said that is fine and good to know but my train was cancelled and there was no status was provided for other 2 trains so I didn't have choice and taking subway to come to work as I can not rely on the information that was provided by GO TRANSIT.

The customer service rep changes his stands and told me that it was not their problem. It was CN rail equipment that derails. Again, I had only argument is I bought monthly pass from GO, ride on GO train and looking for refund for GO service cancellation beyond that I don't care about how GO runs their operations. I am not interested in knowing if they are using CN and CP locomotive engineers, tracks or so. This is not passenger problem. This is how GO TRANSIT operates. Having all this said, I guarantee that there contractual amount GO must have gained from CN for 2 cancellations so they don't want to share that money with passengers.

Anyway after all this argument GO customer service rep said as you are monthly pass holder you got discounted price and thus you don't get refund when GO cancel the trip. My argument to that as this is monthly pass I am looking for refund otherwise I would not even have cancel my trip if I knew the service is cancelled and I wouldn't even come for refund if I would be buying the 10, 2 or day pass from GO.

Bottom line GO TRANSIT didn't give any refund for monthly pass holder who are securing their service by taking ride everyday and help their operation on daily basis. This also benefits environmentally and this is what you get as response from GO TRANSIT.

Beyond all this government and every one of us trying to avoid driving and taking public transit for many reasons and public transits are not even appreciating passengers that we are taking public transit everyday to reduce the pollution and other stuff.

I appeal to the entire media broadcasters to bring this issue in light as we have been facing lots of issue with GO TRANSIT lately and seem that they really don't care about the passengers at all.

Thank you...
Go Commuter

[funkyfr3sh_]

If you are planning to send this out to anyone important, you have a ton of grammar to fix or no one will take you seriously.

[danfromwaterloo]

All your tokens are belong to us.

[kitbor]

OP, I encourage you to persuade whatever you plan to do. Having less than perfect grammar should not be interpreted that you are not deserved to receive the same service or taken seriously as any customers out there.

I'm sick of people that have nothing to add, no intelligent comment, and just put people down because they have bad grammar. This is not a class room that your teacher embarrass you to death when you display your lack of writing skill. So, you pass your bad day to your class mate. If you are so good, fix his writing. Only then that you can comment on his grammar. Otherwise, ...

[nadeemhasan]

I agree with you but I would suggest you send that message to all the major newspapers, TV stations, etc. to get more exposure but like funkyfr3sh pointed out, if you do so, ensure to fix all grammar issues. As for kitbor, in a forum such as this, the kind of grammar used is fine but when you are dealing with the media, it is important to use proper English, otherwise a serious issue will not be taken as seriously (that and the fact that everyone should be using proper English anyway!) :P

[kitbor]

I agree with you but I would suggest you send that message to all the major newspapers, TV stations, etc. to get more exposure but like funkyfr3sh pointed out, if you do so, ensure to fix all grammar issues. As for kitbor, in a forum such as this, the kind of grammar used is fine but when you are dealing with the media, it is important to use proper English, otherwise a serious issue will not be taken as seriously (that and the fact that everyone should be using proper English anyway!) :P

That was exactly my point. This is not a place to comment on writing skill. If you find OP being unreasonable on his complaints then talk about it, not his grammar, period.

[nadeemhasan]

That was exactly my point. This is not a place to comment on writing skill. If you find OP being unreasonable on his complaints then talk about it, not his grammar, period.

I think you may have missed the point. We are giving a piece of advice that IF he decides to take his complaints to higher levels, that he should not do so in the current form. He should edit it to look more professional so that it will have more effect. We were not saying he has bad grammar, just to change it IF he takes it further. Otherwise, who are we to judge?

[ji2o0k]

Having less than perfect grammar should not be interpreted that you are not deserved to receive the same service or taken seriously as any customers out there.

I'm sick of people that have nothing to add, no intelligent comment, and just put people down because they have bad grammar. This is not a class room that your teacher embarrass you to death when you display your lack of writing skill.
This is a forum for communication. To be understood correctly, you should articulate your thoughts in the proper fashion.

Yes this isn't a classroom but that isn't an excuse not to practice proper grammar. For people to understand you, whether it is speaking in person, typing on an internet forum or drafting a report, I think it is always good to practice proper grammar. Is my grammar perfect? No but I do appreciate when people point out my mistakes.

I think Funky's intent of her post was that if you wanted mass media to take your dilemma seriously, make sure your grammar is cleaned up as it is hard to understand your post.

Kitbor, you are right too in that the OP does deserve to be treated seriously as a customer by GO transit regardless of grammar. However, from the OP's post, I don't think OP was mistreated.

Not sure if GO Transit would issue a refund. There are many others that have faced delayed or cancelled train rides (i.e. the Lakeshore line) and to compensate one person, they would have to compensate for all. Delays do happen, even on the TTC and the TTC hasn't issued refunds for delayed trains except when they did the wildcat strike.

[Starkicker]

OP,

I was on the same train, leaving from Richmond Hill. They canceled the early morning train (6:58am - which I usually take) and then departed at 7:28am. They announced that they wouldn't stop at Old Cummer and Oriole Stations, but they did.

I didn't mind however, I had a seat, and enjoyable company. I actually thought that it was nice that they stopped at the other 2 stations; I wouldn't want to be standing there in the rain waiting for a non-existent train.

All things considering, GO Transit is excellent. The train conductor apologized about the delay, and generally everyone else was in a good mood. GO Transit is leaps and bounds better than the TTC. The GO Transit crew are jovial and actually make the trip entertaining - which is something I can't say about the TTC.

Things don't always go according to plan. So what if you had to take the TTC one day to get to work, is your time and health really worth all the aggravation? Had you just taken the delayed train, you would have made it to downtown on the service you paid for, albeit a little late. It was your choice to take the TTC, they didn't force it on you.

Also, when I check my e-mails, I have notifications from GO Transit saying that only the 6:28am train will be delayed.

[funkyfr3sh_]

That was exactly my point. This is not a place to comment on writing skill. If you find OP being unreasonable on his complaints then talk about it, not his grammar, period.


Useless posts like mine commenting on his grammar, well hurray for you – you clearly had nothing to useful to add either.

Was I rude in anyway in posting my suggestion on fixing his grammar before sending it out. Clearly the OP wants to send this out to the media & I made a suggestion that could help if he does. I simply stated S/HE should FIX IT IF THEY SEND IT TO MORE IMPORTANT PEOPLE. Don’t even tell me you don’t agree with that. Also, I didn’t see where I posted that I was better than the OP either.

Did I say that he should be taken less seriously than any other customer? But sorry to tell you, the original post will be taken less seriously than if it was polished. The content may be there, but it's hard to understand.

[Praetorian]

:confused: :confused: :confused:

wow, op's post was really difficult to read...either that or my reading comprehension is *****.

i'm just glad i don't need to take the go trains anymore after landing a new job. i just don't know how they can justify annual increases in fares without an increase in their reliability and quality of service.

for example in the winter, trains get cancelled or delayed due to "frozen switches." well guess what, go transit brass? last time i checked we had ice and snow 40 years ago when service first ran in 1967. after 40 years, we still haven't fixed the problem of "frozen switches?" what a load of bs.

as for their >90% on-time rate? ha ha, what a skewed statistic. that's most-likely based on a full day where you have near-empty trains running during non-peak hours. using the 80/20 rule, i'd love to see what their service level is in the 20% of the day where 80% of their riders ride the train. no where close to 90%, i would bet.

op, good luck with your quest to bring to light your situation with go transit; you're not alone!

p.s. you should really, really, really look into writing your rant that's comprehensible to the average reader, like myself.

[Corinthein]

Plain and simple GO Transit is an archaic unreliable service. If I was reimbursed my hourly wage for every minute I had to sit and endure frozen switch delays, "Still waiting for a signal folks" setbacks, via rail cars passing us and forcing us to stop waits....heck I could retire. After 40 years you'd figure they would have made some improvements. At least get our own freakin rail tracks instead of renting from CN $$$
OP I hope it is as easy as writing a letter to someone who will make a difference, however I am sure it has been done before and what has Gordan Chung done? Not a damn thing. No wonder we have so much gridlock on our major routes.
Good luck on being heard.

[gei]

THAT's your problem? Geez... I've heard much worse.

[Corinthein]

THAT's your problem? Geez... I've heard much worse.

Perhaps your time isn't as valuable as those with places to go and things to do.

[surfer123]

thanks for everyone's reply bad or good. I just wanted to make sure when the issue has been reaised one or two here and there its hard to highlight authority like Go Transit and provincial goverment. If we are all togather makes a difference. makes us canadian or torontian or ontarian...

This is the only reason I put quickly the whole incident on forum so response to this thread and can be used as support and other incidents that people are facing with GO.

Anyway, thank you all and I would request moderator to close this thread so space could be utilize for more better issues (with correct grammer) than fighting 2 RFDers on my writing. Thanks!

[Shaner]

As for whether the OP's post would be taken seriously if he sent it to the media and/or GO executives, all I can say is that if I started reading that, I would throw it in the garbage after the first few lines. I wouldn't even bother reading it if I was working for the Sun or the Star.

Those without proper grammar and spelling won't be taken as seriously as those with good grammar and spelling, it's a fact of life.