Going Postal is Out...GOing Commutal, is IN!

Lord, give me the strength to get through this entry. As a commuter, who has been traveling into Toronto for many years now, I am closeto loosing my mind. Why you ask? GO TRANSIT, I say.

For those who are familiar with the commuter life, it is a given that in the winter, draggin your ass outta bed to travel into the city is quite an uninspiring and painful task. But never, EVER have I ever expereinced the hell of commuting until I became a regular user of GO Transit. There is a problem EVERYDAY. For example, today my brother and I sat on the train for 43 mins, waiting for departure, becasue they could not get the doors closed on the train. Can you imagine??! I would be considerate if the delay was once in a while, but this is everyday.


The reasoning for these delays range from mechanical difficulties to....well, no explanation at all,! The sound of the Trini woman at Clarkson that annonces this exciting news to me each morning, haunts me in my dreams. I wake up shaking with fear that she is gonna pour hot sauce in my eye balls and make me into a Mini-Trini. Nooooooooooooooooo!


What plagues me the most, is the amount that these scoundrals charge us to ride the damn train! When I was a wee lesbian, I remember a return ride from Mississauga being close to $6. Now, a return trip from Clarkson runs you close to $10; a ten ride $50; and a monthly pass $160! Jesus, for that much I should be riding VIP in the "Pope Mobile." SHOOOTT!


Never, in Europe or most other places in North America can you get away with this shhhhyyt! The GO Transit serves more than five million commuters living in the range of 8, 000 square kilometres. This is an astonishing amount of people that are using the GO as their primary means of getting around the GTA. I am incapable of grasping how they suceed in charging their commuters, one-hundred-million dollars and still squeek by with providing dogey, unreliable service and generally, mentally tormenting their commuters with delay and unprofessionalism. The Tube in the UK puts us to shame!

Everything to do with GO Transit is a mess. I remember many mornings, close to 9am, that my sister and I woudl wander around Clarkson looking for a parking spot; only to not find one. Eventually, she gave up and came up with a solution (though many can't even do this)! My Dad drops us to the GO in the morning, and keep the car for the day. This is a evident problem, when a commuter can't find a space to park a vehicle prior to boarding transport. This should not be an issue. Many have complained about this issue to the GO peeps, but nothing has been done. The reasoning given is that apparently there is no area for them to expand the parking. I say...that is absolute BS. There is a huge empty lot that they could expand on the south side of the station. You, as a provider of transportation, must do what you need to do to accomodate the people who are pouring out thousands of dollars to utilize your transportation service. I don't care what they do, just make it happen. Hold cars on your head if needs be.

Now, to further make my blood boil, there is a threat of a possible GO Transit strike! CN union says it will do `everything in our power to try to keep GO out of this fight,' but service disruptions likely." Across the country, CN employs 3,000 conductors, 109 assigned to GO Transit trains. In a January 31st article, in the Toronto Star it states: "A strike would come at a difficult time for GO Transit, which has already gotten off to a bad start in 2007, with below-freezing temperatures causing switch problems and many train delays." http://www.thestar.com/News/article/176528

I am close to loosing it people! Ever so CLOSE! Beware, I might just have to slap some GO workers to make myslef feel a little better. The Trini might be first because of my pent-up past bad expereinces with "her-kind." Pray for me and every commuter that rides the GO. Let there be peace on my commuting earth. Amen.