Last Updated on: 21st April 2015, 05:47 pm
Excuse me for a second while I rant about Guelph Transit. Yes, again.
Listen, guys. I understand that you have a tough job. Pleasing everybody in a city of 100 some thousand people many of whom have different wishes, wants and needs cannot be an easy task. I’ll even be up front and admit that I’m glad that task isn’t mine. But a job being tough is no excuse for you being kind of terrible at it.
Routes change. Sometimes circumstances make that a necessary evil. I get that. But when you can’t make even the smallest of changes without screwing senior citizens and the disabled out of stops they need, that’s bad. Not only is it bad, it’s stupid. What’s even more stupid is telling the very people you just hosed that these changes will make things better for everybody. Oh really? Try telling that to the old woman in the walker who can barely get around but now has to walk several blocks instead of getting on the bus right outside her door, or the guy fresh off the knee surgery who now has to cross at an unsafe location and be quick about it to get to his therapy when he used to be able to go a few feet across a parking lot. It’ll save us lots of time, you say. Sometimes upwards of 5 minutes. First of all, I ride the route near the hospital you messed up. It only took like 30 seconds to go through there. And if that 5 minutes needed saving so badly, why do I sometimes find myself on buses that need to sit on the side of the road doing nothing for almost that long so that they don’t get in too early?
Yes, some of those issues have been fixed, but it’s going to take me a while to get over it because I don’t understand how a logical person could allow that to happen. Even worse, I assume that there’s more than one person drawing these things up and approving them. How is it possible to be so out of touch with your audience? Have any of you ever taken a bus? That’s a serious question, because I really do wonder. If you ever happen to saunter onto one, take a look around. I’ll bet you’ll see a few old/disabled people if you wait a few minutes.
And logic. That brings me to my new problem. Like I said, I get that routes sometimes need modification. But do they really need wholesale modification…at the beginning of January? Did nobody see the problem with this? Since I assume from past experience that the answer is no, I’ll spell it out for you.
In which country is Guelph located? Did you say Canada? Very good.
January in Canada is usually…? I heard somebody say cold. Well done!
Along with the cold in Canada in January, there is usually a lot of what on the ground? Snow is correct. Gosh, you’re good at this. Probably too good. Don’t ever apply for a planning job with Transit, you’re over qualified.
When the route a person needs to take to reach a destination is suddenly no longer the same, that person can and likely will become…? That’s right, lost.
Getting lost in below freezing temperatures when you need to be somewhere on a schedule is…? Frustrating is a good answer. the judges would have also accepted a rather poor customer experience.
Therefore, changing everything there is to change in the middle of winter rather than in the nicer weather when the new terminal is supposed to open and some stuff will have to change anyway is…? I heard pretty goddan retarded. Yes, we’ll take that.
Forgive me for being so angry, but frozen lost late blind guy marooned in a snow drift that used to be a sidewalk and some grass in an unfamiliar area is not how I’d like to spend an afternoon or 15. Again I must ask, how do things like this happen? Better yet, how and why are they allowed to happen? If the aim is to grow ridership by getting people out of their cars and onto the bus, shouldn’t you be trying to make transit more convenient rather than even less so than it is now?
I don’t think I’m over simplifying anything, because this part of things really isn’t that complicated…is it? All it takes is a little thought and a few sets of open eyes and ears so you can see and hear what people expect from their bus system. Maybe that’s the problem. Rather than taking your time, you’d much rather ram things through and hope nobody will notice. But believe me, we notice. and we’re going to have a lot of time to keep noticing while we’re busy not getting places on time in the cold. Thanks again for that, by the way.
