11-26-2019, 04:37 PM
(11-26-2019, 02:53 PM)KevinT Wrote: So yesterday I dropped my car off at Waterloo Hyundai for 8:00 am and had to be back home in Doon South for 10:00 am, then back to Hyundai to pick-up the car in the mid afternoon. I thought this would be a great time to try the new 36 Thomas Slee route that I had lobbied so hard for in the past. (Not so much for car-owning me, but for the rest of my landlocked neighbours and particularly the teens with stuff to do but no way to get to it without a ride from mom or dad.) It didn't work out to be so great.
At Fairway Station I automatically transferred to the 110 Conestoga College express, thinking that would be the quickest way to get to the college for transfer on to the 36. It was quick, but it turns out that the 36 bus stops between the Rec Centre and main Doon Campus buildings, a whole 317 metres away from where the 110 (and every other bus save the 76) makes its stop. We passed a stopped 36 before heading down the hill to the bus bays, and I went up front to ask the driver if the 36 would be heading for the bays as well. I was told that it would not. What I should have done was ask the driver to radio the 36 and have it hold for me as I dashed back up the hill, but I wasn't that smart. I missed it, and to add insult to injury the 90 minute transfer window on my EasyGo card expired before the next 36 came around. Eventually I got home at 10:30 am, and fortunately the service person that I had to meet was later.
Immediately after missing the first 36 I called GRT to complain, and an attendant dutifully recorded my details, assigned me a request number, and helpfully told me when the next 36 was due to arrive. Just after I got home, GRT called me back to discuss the issue further: Apparently there's no room for any more bus bays in the doors 1-4 area, and there are times of the day when every single one of the newly built bays there are busy. Since the 36 bus is new and has the lowest ridership, it gets the short end of the stick and has to stop 300+ metres away at the Rec Centre. (As well as the 76 BusPlus, which is different than how it was this past summer when it served portions of the new 36 route and did stop by door 3.) They helpfully explained that had I taken anything other than the 110 College Express, there was a stop on Conestoga College Boulevard that all the other buses make where I could have transferred to the 36 directly. Apparently de-training at Block Line to take the 201 iXpress would have let me use this transfer point to the 36.
Lessons learned, I looked forward to a faster trip back to Waterloo in the afternoon. I caught the 36 in my neighbourhood and got off at the described Conestoga College Boulevard stop to transfer to the 201 iXpress, which the Transit app helpfully proclaimed would arrive in just 3 minutes. This trip was going great! 3 minutes later, I saw the outbound 201 iXpress come up the opposite side of the Boulevard, stop just before it's turn onto Homer Watson, and pick up a passenger that had actually been on the 36 with me. D'oh! It had never even occurred to me that there'd be a stop on the other side where I could catch an outbound 201, instead I had to wait another 10 minutes or so for the next inbound to pick me up. It of course proceeded into the college, stopped at the bus bays, then waited for what seemed like an eternity before setting off again. During this wait time I observed two 110's and a 10 arrive, wait, and depart while we sat there not moving in the 201. Argh!
Eventually we got going, and when the 201 turned onto Courtland I saw the crossing gates dropping in front of us for a southbound ION train. From my summer bike + ION rides I expected there to be a few more minutes before a northbound ION came through the crossing, so hopefully the 201 would make its U-turn and get me to Block Line station in time to board it. Nope. With the go slow orders in effect for ION through the hydro corridor, the crossing gates did not go back up after the southbound train passed, they stayed down for about a minute or so until the northbound ION trundled through. There was no way the 201 could catch up to it, but the train dwelled at Block Line just long enough to taunt me however, closing its doors and moving on just as the doors of the bus opened.
It took me two hours to get from Doon South back to Conestoga Mall, just 15 minutes less than the disastrous morning trip in the opposite direction. Overall a poor service experience, but an impressive customer service one. Such a mixed bag with GRT...
Having lived here and dealt with the 10/110 for a number of years I've learned the trick that inbound 10/10As leave as outbound 110s from 7:00 AM-ish to 6:30 PM-ish and inbound 110s leave as 10/10As so one could catch an inbound 10 from EasyGO Stop#1731: Conestoga College Doon Campus - Recreation Centre and leave on an outbound 110 if one so desired. When I first moved here inbound 110s used to stop there as well but unfortunately inbound 110s don't stop there anymore.