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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

On the topic of signage, has anyone else noticed how poor the station name signage is at platform-level? When I'm travelling from Aldershot to Union there is often very limited signage telling you what station you have arrived at. Station names are often affixed to lighting fixtures but there are sections of the platform that have nothing. This is bad enough for a distracted passenger like myself, but could be a real issue for the hearing impaired who can't hear the station announcements on the PA.
 
nfitz said:
I was on the eastbound Exhibition platform. The signage didn't seem too clear to me. Perhaps it would make more sense if there weren't hundreds of people standing in front of it.

I walked down to the platform and turned left, to discover to my surprise much of the platform was gone. I idly walked up to the end to take a look at the construction, and there were to GO security there, who did kindly point out that the train would be stopping further down. As the train was approaching, I did walk about 40 feet further down. To my surprise the train went about another 150 feet further down!

Perhaps if the GO stafff standing on the platform were more actively directing pedestrians, rather than simply idly standing at the end of the platform, they could load faster. Though we arrived on-time at Union (was the 7 pm train ... I was quite disgusted by how the game was going, and didn't feel like waiting a whole hour for an eastbound train).
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This, exactly. The signage is awful. And honestly, like I said before, when you have big crowds, you really need to hold their hands and talk to them. Even with clear signage, because the crowd often blocks the signage from a lot of people.

There were easily a half dozen or more safety officers on the platforms and they didn't say anything at all.

There should be special customer representatives on site for big events. You used to see people at Union doing this in the Bay Concourse, so it's not like they don't understand that having staff on hand to direct customers is a good idea.

Also, and maybe this isn't feasible, but at similar events in the UK, the railways often setup crowd-control fencing to direct the flow of customers. You could setup the fencing in a way that forces them to go to the end of the platform, and then come backwards.
 
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I think we should draw a line under Sunday.

Hopefully two things will happen for the next weekend home match (doubt there will be 30k at this wednesday's cup game).......

1) GO will have observed/heard about the mistakes and made some operational changes
2) I think a big part of the confusion was from many people who had not used GO (or at least this station) since the last home TFC match in October (before the temporary platform changes happened) and there will be an adjustment in rider/consumer behaviour.

Frankly, the main problem is how long this construction (platform and tunnel) is taking and it is compounded when a 10 car train shows up and is further compounded by the "newness" of the whole thing.
 
FWIW, I tweeted links:
https://twitter.com/mdrejhon/status/598132248404176896
Regarding the Exhibition GO station; disastorous experiences by many people (complaint, complaint, complaint)

If you want, you might want to retweet, to make sure it stays on the Metrolinx radar. I think they are already trying their best (at some level) but hasn't been able to come up with unified clarity of a "package solution" for Exhibition (e.g. carefully vetted signage words, carefully vetted sentences to say, carefully vetted authoritative uniforms) rather than unsuccessfully trying things piecemeal as they have been doing for Exhibition. The wonderful Metrolinx improvements elsewhere appear to be causing areas of unwitting neglect such as the confusing chaos of Exhibition that actually repel people from GO. Don't get me wrong, I'll continue to use GO, just concerned about the state of Exhibition this so close to PanAm. It is going to be bad advertising for Metrolinx that can outweigh other system successes. A simultaneous "package solution" is urgently required well before event surges / PanAm.
- better signs (the signs that were posted are a good
- better boilerplate sentences for wayfinding staff to bark
- more platform staff (at least two to three staff per side of platform, AND waving some sort of flag or baton)
- better authoritative uniform (even "school cross guard" may be an improvement) to make people listen to staff directions better.
- pylons (with message) or fencing to block platform section not in use.

Yes, I know Metrolinx is trying to do their job. The existing signs were a good thoughtful attempt by perhaps a single employee or two, but they failed because of several reasons as the choice of words are easily misinterpreted since perhaps there wasn't time to properly vet the words to international standard. Also, people have a "herd mentality" where people are reluctant to move down platform because they are sticking to the herd they think is more experienced (but is not). Super-selectively careful use of words, simultaneous negatory words in the first line, followed by simultaneous positive words in the second line. This may catch attention of the widest possible range of people, including people who aren't as good English readers, and people who have difficulty resisting "crowd herd mentality" (a common issue with stadium size crowds).


IMPORTANT
Ø ... TRAIN DOES NOT STOP HERE ... Ø

---> TRAIN STOP THIS WAY 150m --->

(include text color code. And also include yellow caution triangle logo next to word "IMPORTANT")

This might not be a perfect sign, and others can do better than me... A carefully designed and professionally vetted sign, possibly with color and/or caution symbol. It would make a major difference during the temporary Exhibition mess. Maybe a rich UrbanTorontoer could purchase $200 worth of signage manufacture and serreptituously secretly install them at Exhibition during a quiet 6am morning or non-sports 11pm evening, out-doing Metrolinx? (and then call Toronto Star and make it a "citizen hero" style event; causing Metrolinx to catch attention!). Either way, even so, this can't really be the only solution. Still need extra staff (with uniforms and crowd flow flags/baton), to provide better wayfinding. Plus also temporary platform-edge fencing to goad people further down-platform, or at least orange traffic pylons with label "TRAIN DOES NOT STOP IN THIS SECTION" or even "TRAIN STOPS OVER THERE -->"). This is needed to prevent Exhibition GO Station from becoming a public-relations disaster during Pan-Am.

During Pan-Am, a surge of foreigners will mean an even more confused crowd herd mentality than the Exhibition GO disaster we witnessed recently. Doesn't Metrolinx want to show off?

This is PanAm, people -- and this is Exhibition next to some PanAm venues in Exhibition.
 
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^not sure I would have tweeted a link to my first post (well, I guess since I did not tweet it I am sure I would not have tweeted it :) )....you see, invariably, what can/will get focused on is the laughing driver....and, honestly, he did not cause the situation he just exacerbated it with a bit of bad judgement......if I had intended to publicly shame him I could have tweeted it myself....rather, I limited it to a discussion here between people with a transit interest and, since we know some folks at ML do read these boards, they would get the information in a less "public shaming fashion".

so, just as you recommended (boldly) to me to retweet it, I would recommend to you (less boldly) to delete your tweet.
 
Hmmm. The laughing driver might accidentally be a focus of concern, but there's enough information in this thread to show that this is a multi-faceted problem -- I made sure to tweet 3 links to 3 complaints for reasonable diversification.

Hopefully somebody at Metrolinx'll hopefully scroll through the thread and escalate it to somebody in charge of public relations, and realize they need to run a cheap crashplan (print better signs and assign a few PanAm volunteers) to make sure Exhibition GO isn't a combined public relations disaster due to any of the multiple facets of problems there. Even if not all the suggestions are followed, a mere one or two followed cheap or no-cost suggestions would help a lot -- and I think it really is a canary in a coal mine they may overlook during the enthusiac UPX hoopla & Union hoopla (however well deserved; I am excited about UPX too; but let's attend to a figurative burning house literally occuring one station over). I have not too long ago, been through the post-sports-event Exhbition GO disaster too, and it scares me that they may have decided to leave it as-is as a de-prioritized station to focus on catching up on the rest of the late projects (rightfully so, but...). Even so, a new sporting events crashplan (new signage+volunteers) urgently needs execution for Exhibition GO.
 
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Forgotten said:
Within a few years, no one will be going to TFC games so the issue at Exhibition will cease being an issue.
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BMO Field is still accessed from Exhibition, and it's running quite a number of PanAm events (which inexperienced foreigners will also visit, and mingle within frustrated Torontoians at Exhbition GO). There's many sports venue near Exhibition GO. Don't forget Honda Indy, too -- it's our flagship auto race in GTA and wildly popular by auto racing nuts who otherwise go to Indy 500 or Daytona for their racing fix.

And there's other very surge-prone events such as the airshow day at Ex, which I witnessed still even makes Exhibition GO a nightmare worse than TTC Bloor-Yonge subway interchange at the peakest of the peak hour. Especially when it rains, and I can't move forward, backwards, left, or right in the semi-umbrella-filled crush crowd that accumulates at one end of the platform between trains, and I'm far from my desired berth of my favourite transit train.

I don't go to TFC, yet in the last two years, I've been repeatedly mauled by Exhibition GO crowds that were there for other reasons, and it's gotten much worse. It's far more miserable now during bad weather, as you now have to move further (sometimes while carrying stuff, souveniers, umbrella, etc) being a more bulky commuter on construction-narrowed platforms that's further downfield from the platform entrance. At this stage, you walked so far, you really often don't feel like walking further down the platform after you finally arrive to the beginning of the platform, and the crowd intensifies. The crowd herd mentality takes over. The crowd now needs more prodding along to spread further down platform, such as my earlier above suggestions. When you think this through, you now realize how frustrated post-event Exhibition GO commuters are nowadays. The experience is so dreadful during a rainy post-event crowd surge, only to miss a crowded train, that sometime many months ago ago I read one person has likened Exhibition GO dread to walking through the gates of Auschwitz, which is a rather bad thing to say, considering the rest of the GO network is relatively wonderful in comparison. Even pre-revitalization Union peak hour is preferable, and the TTC Bloor-Yonge interchange is preferable over the rainy crowd surge.

GO is 100% free to PanAm ticket holders, your PanAm ticket is a full unlimited-travel daypass to the entire GO network on the date stamped on your PanAm ticket. I love GO, but is the "Exhibition GO Station disaster" status quo the Metrolinx official plan for Pan Am events occuring at BMO Field??

Need I go on?
 
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Forgotten said:
Within a few years, no one will be going to TFC games so the issue at Exhibition will cease being an issue.
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Have you been saying that for all 9 years or is there new information that has arisen lately....perhaps the fact they just had their largest crowd in BMO Field history is leading to this conclusion?
 
Forgotten said:
Within a few years, no one will be going to TFC games so the issue at Exhibition will cease being an issue.
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TOareaFan said:
Have you been saying that for all 9 years or is there new information that has arisen lately....perhaps the fact they just had their largest crowd in BMO Field history is leading to this conclusion?
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This month, BMO Field expansion finished and added 8,400 more new permanent seats.
Those aren't even the temporary PanAm seats, which will be added above-and-beyond that!
And there is a large suite of scheduled events this year, not just TFC, many of which sells out to bigger than BMO Field's previous size.
The canary in the coal mine is in distress.

Need I say more?
 
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mdrejhon said:
This month, BMO Field expansion finished and added 8,400 more new permanent seats. There is a large suite of scheduled events this year, not just TFC, many of which sells out to bigger than BMO Field's previous size. Need I say more?
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No need to say more....I was responding to someone who suggested this is a short term issue because, soon, no one would be attending TFC matches....I was asking him if he always thought that (because it had not come true yet) or whether there was new information available to him that made him think that (perhaps that record setting crowd on Sunday or them selling 20k season tickets this year....more than they ever have and, in fact, more season tickets than any other professional sports organisation in Toronto).

Not sure what in my post made you think I was not aware of the new stadium expansion....and really not sure what this fetish you have with really big letters and multi-coloured posts is about.
 
I'll bring up what I think I have brought up previously. Why hasn't a secondary entrance been built on the West side of the Food Building. The Western Edge of the platforms ends just East of this location, a tunnel or bridge could connect to Jefferson Ave in Liberty Village, or even just a connection to the East bound platform. That would relieve some of the crush load.

With BMO's expansion and the expectation of up to 30 000 people per event, the crowding issue will only be getting worse
 
Woodbridge_Heights said:
I'll bring up what I think I have brought up previously. Why hasn't a secondary entrance been built on the West side of the Food Building. The Western Edge of the platforms ends just East of this location, a tunnel or bridge could connect to Jefferson Ave in Liberty Village, or even just a connection to the East bound platform. That would relieve some of the crush load.

With BMO's expansion and the expectation of up to 30 000 people per event, the crowding issue will only be getting worse
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When that pre-made link on the path over the gardiner ramp in downtown was installed I immediately dreamt of one of those going in right where you suggest.
 
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