11-13-2018, 10:57 PM
A couple times a week, I find myself in downtown Toronto for work. Generally I will drive to Aldershot and take the Lakeshore line in as I can get to the office by 7:30 to have a mostly full day before leaving at 3 to be home by 5:30. But occasionally, I don't have access to the car and have to take transit end to end from Forest Heights to the office. This involves leaving the house shortly after 5:30, walking to the nearest 204 stop, catching the bus, praying that it doesn't hit any red lights in order that I'll make the 6:04 express so I can be at the office by 8:30.
GRT's posted schedule has the 204 arriving at Charles St Terminal at 5:55 and departing at 5:56, with arrival at Weber/Victoria at 6:00. With a good run and skipping the official pedestrian routes, I can be on the train by one minute to door closing. But we know that red lights happen, and a surprising number of people are catching the first bus of the morning between The Boardwalk and Charles Street, so it easily turns a tight connection into a very tight connection with at least one time where I've stepped on the train seconds before the doors close.
When the bus drivers stop at Charles Street, allow passengers off and back on again, and leave immediately, it's OK. If I were to miss the train, I could rationalize it and then catch the later one and work from the station for 40 minutes. But twice in the past 3 weeks, the bus arrived at Charles Street late, and the bus driver pulled out the paper and spent the next few minutes reading. If it weren't for the train being late in pulling into the station or the fortune of getting all green lights through downtown, I would have missed the train. I don't like being the one who walks up to the front and gets into an argument with the driver over schedule adherence.
I know I'm an outlier in this scenario because it's only once a week at most and I'm the only passenger who gets off the bus at this stop, but it doesn't sit well with me that either (a) the bus driver can see the schedule and chooses to ignore it or (b) the posted schedule hasn't made it to the buses themselves. I've tweeted my story to GRT, so we'll see if anything comes of it.
Now that slippery weather is upon us, there is absolutely no way I'm going to run to the station, so I'll accept the later, bus, train and arrival time at work as part of the season.
GRT's posted schedule has the 204 arriving at Charles St Terminal at 5:55 and departing at 5:56, with arrival at Weber/Victoria at 6:00. With a good run and skipping the official pedestrian routes, I can be on the train by one minute to door closing. But we know that red lights happen, and a surprising number of people are catching the first bus of the morning between The Boardwalk and Charles Street, so it easily turns a tight connection into a very tight connection with at least one time where I've stepped on the train seconds before the doors close.
When the bus drivers stop at Charles Street, allow passengers off and back on again, and leave immediately, it's OK. If I were to miss the train, I could rationalize it and then catch the later one and work from the station for 40 minutes. But twice in the past 3 weeks, the bus arrived at Charles Street late, and the bus driver pulled out the paper and spent the next few minutes reading. If it weren't for the train being late in pulling into the station or the fortune of getting all green lights through downtown, I would have missed the train. I don't like being the one who walks up to the front and gets into an argument with the driver over schedule adherence.
I know I'm an outlier in this scenario because it's only once a week at most and I'm the only passenger who gets off the bus at this stop, but it doesn't sit well with me that either (a) the bus driver can see the schedule and chooses to ignore it or (b) the posted schedule hasn't made it to the buses themselves. I've tweeted my story to GRT, so we'll see if anything comes of it.
Now that slippery weather is upon us, there is absolutely no way I'm going to run to the station, so I'll accept the later, bus, train and arrival time at work as part of the season.