So I took ION to work this morning. Two buses and a train from stop 2047 in Doon South (the extreme southwest of Kitchener service) to the R&T Park Station (in north Waterloo) took just an hour and ten minutes, almost the exact time it takes me by bike. (I would have biked to Fairway to meet up with ION but I'm a fair weather biker and there was that threat of rain today.)
Observations:
Just as I'd experienced last night, there were no 'next stop' announcements northbound anywhere from Fairway through Grand River Hospital, they only started at Allen station. I do however love that they announce the connecting bus routes!
There was not a single graphic I spotted inside the train to explain what the 'door open' buttons were, and lots of people were confused when it came time to get off. The operator stepped out of the cab at Block Line to explain to everyone (since the internal PA was tinny sounding and constantly fed back, making it next to useless) that you had to push the button on the door when it turned green to get off the train, but a lot of people didn't pay attention. A high school student that was literally right beside the operator during the speech started to freak out and knock on the glass when the train pulled away with them still on it, then expected the operator to immediately stop and let them out on the tracks! Two of us calmed them down and explained that they could get off at Mill and re-board a southbound train, and that they had to push the button when it turned green both to get off and back on to the other train. Sadly the southbound train just pulled out of Mill as we pulled in, so they had a 10 minute wait ahead of them. We demonstrated the door opening process when the train stopped at Mill.
Confusion continued at every stop and by Central Station I got out of my seat and babysat the nearest door, since so many people didn't know what to do and couldn't get on or off. Some vinyl icons above the button on both the inside and outside of every door, as well as announcements on both the platform and in-train PA system every 3 to 4 minutes would go a long way towards resolving the issue. I hope it doesn't become like the TTC where they just give up on the buttons and open all doors at every stop, which will be awful on cold or hot muggy days as the HVAC struggles to keep up.
Even after a door button was pushed, the doors seemed to close too quickly. One, maybe two, people would make it in or out but then the chimes would sound and the next person would get caught unless they were quick to push the button again. It was quite distressing for the kid guillotined in their stroller! I wonder if they could just have a door stay open after activation for 60 seconds or until the train were ready to depart again (whichever came sooner)?
Everyone remained as friendly and talkative as they were during the weekend demo service, which was nice to see as my train seemed to be 90% commuters compared to the 90% tourists on my weekend trips.
In all I'm really digging this service, but there's still a few unfortunate glitches to be worked out. I hope they're lightning quick to get them tuned before people start getting turned off of the system.
Observations:
Just as I'd experienced last night, there were no 'next stop' announcements northbound anywhere from Fairway through Grand River Hospital, they only started at Allen station. I do however love that they announce the connecting bus routes!
There was not a single graphic I spotted inside the train to explain what the 'door open' buttons were, and lots of people were confused when it came time to get off. The operator stepped out of the cab at Block Line to explain to everyone (since the internal PA was tinny sounding and constantly fed back, making it next to useless) that you had to push the button on the door when it turned green to get off the train, but a lot of people didn't pay attention. A high school student that was literally right beside the operator during the speech started to freak out and knock on the glass when the train pulled away with them still on it, then expected the operator to immediately stop and let them out on the tracks! Two of us calmed them down and explained that they could get off at Mill and re-board a southbound train, and that they had to push the button when it turned green both to get off and back on to the other train. Sadly the southbound train just pulled out of Mill as we pulled in, so they had a 10 minute wait ahead of them. We demonstrated the door opening process when the train stopped at Mill.
Confusion continued at every stop and by Central Station I got out of my seat and babysat the nearest door, since so many people didn't know what to do and couldn't get on or off. Some vinyl icons above the button on both the inside and outside of every door, as well as announcements on both the platform and in-train PA system every 3 to 4 minutes would go a long way towards resolving the issue. I hope it doesn't become like the TTC where they just give up on the buttons and open all doors at every stop, which will be awful on cold or hot muggy days as the HVAC struggles to keep up.
Even after a door button was pushed, the doors seemed to close too quickly. One, maybe two, people would make it in or out but then the chimes would sound and the next person would get caught unless they were quick to push the button again. It was quite distressing for the kid guillotined in their stroller! I wonder if they could just have a door stay open after activation for 60 seconds or until the train were ready to depart again (whichever came sooner)?
Everyone remained as friendly and talkative as they were during the weekend demo service, which was nice to see as my train seemed to be 90% commuters compared to the 90% tourists on my weekend trips.
In all I'm really digging this service, but there's still a few unfortunate glitches to be worked out. I hope they're lightning quick to get them tuned before people start getting turned off of the system.
...K