From the Op/Ed pages of the Calgary Herald (couldn't resist)

This sounds like one very pissed off lady.


Hey, Mr. Transit person, I want my money back

For The Calgary Herald November 26, 2010 Dear Calgary Transit Authority Person (Your website does not list an actual person to address so there you are),



I wanted to take this opportunity to give you an update on how this city's fine public transit system is doing in its first week of winter this year.



On your website, it states: "If you wish to make us aware of a concern or suggestion, or leave a commendation for an individual or something you like in general, please click on one of the links below and fill out the form that appears." I'm going to forgo this suggestion as I'm not convinced that the forms you provide will have adequate space for my "concerns."



Before I begin, I'd like to mention that I have had the privilege of participating in Calgary's transit system, on and off for the last 15 years. There have been various low points and disappointments over that time period but after mulling over several of them in my head, I believe I would like to focus on Tuesday's experience. You know . . . while it is still fresh in my memory.



It began at 7:30 a.m. I don't know if you are aware, sir (or ma'am), but Tuesday morning was a particularly chilly one. Approximately -32 C and I don't know what with wind-chill. Actually, according to our own Calgary Herald, we had the unfortunate distinction of being the second coldest place on Earth . . . THE SECOND COLDEST PLACE ON EARTH.



I know this is hard for you to imagine from your plush downtown office with your heated underground parking spot, paid for by all those whiny taxpayers, but it was freezing outside on Tuesday. So freezing, in fact, that if you were holding, say, a scalding hot drink in your hand while waiting on the train platform for an hour for a non-existent train, the drink would actually begin to freeze solid. Much like the limbs holding onto it, and the miserable eyeballs looking down at it. Because that is what happened.



Within 10 minutes of being on that platform, a soft polite announcement came over the intercom to inform us that there would be a 20-minute delay in service and to thank us for our patience. I never quite know how to take these. Twenty minutes from the time that the train should have been there? Or 20 minutes from the time of the announcement?



These are the thoughts you think when you are stuck outside with no hope of shelter in the second coldest place on Earth. Minutes and seconds count a great deal. A few minutes can make the difference between finally calling a cab or calling an ambulance for yourself and the four piled-up frozen bodies around you.



A train pulled up at one point. This new development did no one any good. Do you know what happens, Mr. Transit Authority Person, when there have been NO trains for a longish amount of time during rush hour and then one pulls up? That's right. NOTHING. Between the platform and the train, the size of the angry crowd has reached Asian proportions and the train is already full. Oh sure, maybe two or three people manage to stuff themselves on board, but the rest of us watch it pull away like the last lifeboat from the Titanic and wonder not if we will make it to work that day, but if we will in fact make it to a hospital.



It was at this point that one of your helpful bus drivers yelled from across the street that we were standing on the wrong platform. Yes, all 200 of us. She told us to cross over to the other platform and that a train would pull up shortly. And like so many scenes in Dr. Zhivago, all of us shuffled our deadened limbs over to the other side of the tracks to the soundtrack of another "20-minute delay" announcement only to watch a train pull up at the platform we had just come from. I'm not going to lie. Things got messy at this point. I don't think anyone died, but there was much jumping onto tracks and various manoeuvres to get back to the platform that we had just been told to leave. Only about 20 people made it on time to throw themselves on board but it turns out the joke was on them. Because as the train pulled out, it was hard to not notice that it was going in the wrong direction. The people on board noticed too. You could tell by the look on their faces. I don't know where these people ended up. They are probably still on the train. At least they are warm.



The "20-minute delay" announcement came on yet again. Now I'm no expert, but I think you need to get a new template announcement for the "over 20-minute delay" category. Something along the lines of "Listen up everyone. We hired a new guy and he ran a bus onto the tracks and we can't get it off and apparently tow trucks are hard to come by in this weather. We also, after years and years of this sort of thing happening, have absolutely NO backup system to deal with this kind of emergency so will you all just sod off and go home and we will have Wendy in Human Resources give you a call when it's safe to come back outside?"



I think this would be highly effective. More effective than your current system of jack all.



When someone fails to pay to use the transit system, they are fined for not holding up their end of the bargain. But what happens when you fail to uphold yours? When we pay $2.75 for a service that is worth nothing, who is held accountable? I want my $2.75 back. I also would like a response to this letter. Call me sensitive, but the irritation from all this hasn't quite worn off yet. I'd like to say I will never again use this grotesque excuse for a public service that we pay scads of money for, but the truth is I will probably be on the train again tomorrow and the next day. Or until I get a car.



Until then, I invite someone from your office to research the transit systems of other major cities around the world and write down some tips. I suggest that you specifically look up what other cities do when a bus or train line fails. Then, after you have fired the genius who decided that doing nothing is better than doing something, you can all sit in a circle and discuss ways of lessening the chances of having the townspeople storm city hall the next time this will undoubtedly happen. I will even provide the doughnuts for your meeting. Free of charge.



Tara Remington is a Calgary writer who has just thawed out from Tuesday's Calgary Transit ordeal.



© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald



Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/Transit+person+want+money+back/3887239/story.html#ixzz16PO8LxeM