I had originally posted this on my Facebook, but there have been several requests to have me post this outside of Facebook so others can also read it.
Thursday night, January 21st, 2010. I was at Kipling station making my way back home, going east on the Bloor line, then North up the University line to Wilson Subway Station, as I normally do. After all my years of taking the subway, I was never really caught in TTC holdups where I was forced to have to take a shuttle bus to continue down the line. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of you out there who have gone through that, and I suppose it was only a matter of time until I had to...
So, on my way up North up the University line, we get told to get off at Glencairn because the "train is no longer in service and will be heading back southbound." "Okay. Sure," I thought, "This is quite normal. The next train will come up and take us Northbound." And sure enough, it did.
We all got onto the next subway train that pulled up into the station and continued on North to the next station: Lawrence West. After that, it's just Yorkdale station and then Wilson station, which was where I was to get off.
But lo and behold, the dreaded voice came back onto the speaker system and announced that the train was no longer in service and will be heading back Southbound. "Oooookay," I thought. Everyone on the train got off and onto the Lawrence West subway station platform.
Now, is it just me or whenever an announcement regarding a technical-problem is made on the TTC speaker system, it's never loud enough to hear what the problem is and what the details are about the problem. o___o Tilting my head to get my ear pointed directly up at the speaker as much as possible, I was able to discern that there was a "switch problem" AT Wilson station (where my stop was) and that repair crews have been dispatched. Great.
After waiting on the Lawrence West platform for about 10 minutes, we hear another announcement saying that they do not know how long the problem is going to be, so shuttle buses will be taking commuters from Lawrence West Station up to Wilson Station and then Downsview Station. Now if you noticed that I didn't mention Yorkdale Station in there, good eye. There IS NO shuttle bus to Yorkdale station. What you would have to do is take the shuttle bus to Wilson, then take a bus back down south to Yorkdale. And what's terrible is that the TTC guys there didn't even tell the passengers any of this information. We had to figure this out on our own.
"Lawrence West Station."
A TTC worker confirmed what I thought I heard on the less than quiet announcement on the speaker system and told us to head upstairs to take the shuttle bus. So, the 200 or so of us on the subway platform, shuffled our way up the stairs and onto the bus platform. At this point, I was thinking that of all the years I've taken the subway and heard about shuttle buses helping stranded passengers continue moving along the subway line, I was finally one of them.
So, yet again, we all shuffle ourselves like cattle to a slaughter, back into the subway station, through the turnstiles, down the escalator, and as if on cue the subway train going North arrives on the platform. "Finally," I thought.
I thought too soon.
The all too familiar voice boomed back on the speaker system, "This train is no longer in service. Do not board this train. DO NOT BOARD THIS TRAIN! (Apparently someone went in as the announcement was being made. LoL.) This train is now going Southbound!" At this point, people were already yelling and swearing in frustration. The TTC lady on the subway stuck her head out the window and told us that there are shuttle buses up on the street that will take us up to Wilson and Downsview. "But, they wouldn't let us on the shuttle bus! They told us the subways are now running Northbound and to come down here!" someone exclaimed. The TTC lady told us that they were not told that the way was clear to go North, and promptly went back southbound. The guy who yelled at her in frustration flashed his middle finger at her.
So, we all go back up the stairs to look for the shuttle bus. Yup, it's gone. The guy in the booth told us to back down because the subways should be clearing "shortly". Jeebus.
Back down we go. After about another 15 minutes of waiting, a subway train shows up and we all get on. No announcement over speakers. Train doors close. Train heads Northbound. Sigh of relief. Awesome.
Train arrives at Yorkdale. One stop away from Wilson.
And, yup... You guessed it.
"This train is now out of service. Passengers please leave the train. It is now heading Southbound."
ARE. YOU. KIDDING ME? O__O
At this point, I'm actually laughing to myself. I figure anyone on the outside looking in at this situation would find the ridiculous continuous slew of predicaments rather funny. But as I took notice to the rest of the crowd around me, there was nothing but upset faces and angry chatter. I was afraid someone was going to snap any second.
I suppose me chuckling at the situation I was finding myself in also hit a few others, because I managed to crack a smile out of a few of them. Ten minutes go by and another subway pulls in going Northbound. An announcement states that the problem at Wilson station has been cleared and all subway trains have resumed back to normal operation. Thank goodness. It was already 12:30am and I just wanted to get home.
On the bus platform, when my bus pulled in and everyone there piled on, one of the commuters started ranting at the bus driver as the bus pulled out of the station. He was complaining about the bad TTC service and how no one was telling the passengers what was going on. The bus driver then slammed on the brakes and asked him, "Do you want to take another bus? ... Then sit down!" LoL, dry. o__o
I finally get home, and my plans to get some work done before getting picked up by my dad to take me to Brampton, were foiled. What should have been a mere 10-minute subway ride from Glencairn to Wilson, became an over 2 hour ordeal of shuffling around. =P
With all the confusion going on, no TTC worker was able to tell us exactly what was going on and what to do. No one really directed us exactly where to go and where to stand/wait for the shuttle bus. It also seemed that the lack of communication between the bus drivers and the subway operators were just as terrible -- the bus operators were saying that the subways were clear, and the subway operators were saying that they were not. And for crying out loud, if you're going to make an announcement about a problem with the subway line, make it loud enough for us to hear! Gosh Dangit! We're on a noisy subway train!
Well, after experiencing all of that, and with the above statement I had just made, it has occurred to me that the TTC raised their prices and yet their service has not improved at all.
Just my two cents.
/end rant
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P.S.: Who here is tired of Yonge Station looking the way it is right now? Like HOW LONG have the walls of some of the columns looked like that? Seriously, where are all the commuters' money going?? When is the TTC going to own up to their problems and fix them??
- The Temporal Guardian -
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