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GO Transit: Service thread (including extensions)

gweed123 said:
RE People from other lines using Lakeshore: Anecdotally, I can say that this is true, especially for stations like Clarkson and Port Credit. Just last weekend I met up with some friends at the Jays game, all of whom are from Brampton, who drove to Port Credit and took the train from there instead of taking the GO bus from Brampton, because the drive + train was both faster and cheaper.
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On weekends it really works. We attend all the TFC matches and this season decided to drive to Long Branch (which we find to be the best mix of speed and cost) and take the train in and out. For the first 7 years of TFC we have simply driven and parked in Liberty Village......we now get home about a half hour faster than driving would allow.

We never consider the GO bus as an option.

I think if there was any way to measure it, you would find even more people from within the catchment area of the Milton line but, yes, I suspect a lot of people better served by the KW line make the trip down on weekends for games/concerts/events.
 
Jonny5 said:
I was on a Toronto bound trip on Lakeshore West on Thursday, so I was surprised anyone was even in there. The man was talking on his cellphone to someone complaining about other staff at what I guess is the dispatch office. "F***" was about 50% of his vocabulary.

He also mentioned he was recently asked to move a train with a fuel leak, which he thought was extremely dangerous, and he said his concerns were ignored. He then joked there was a 1 in 10 chance the train would have exploded and vapourized a platform of passengers.

Probably hyperbole, but I don't think that's something passengers want to hear.
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You cannot be serious. Do you need to get out in public more or something? My experience is that you can encounter excessive swearing at any time & any place and not just while sitting around the cab car area of GO train :rolleyes:

And what exactly is wrong about him voicing his concerns about moving a train with a fuel leak? That's quite a legitimate concern and its fully his right to note them. Perhaps if you don't want to hear it maybe you shouldn't be eavesdropping in on peoples conversations? I can hear passengers talking loudly and clearly behind me all the time when I'm operating from the cab. Yet somehow I'm able to magically not pay any attention to what it is they're going on about. I don't suppose that's something that I alone am capable of. Or better yet, don't sit by the cab area if the conversations going on in there disturb you that much - because we frequently have those kinds of safety related discussions.
 
vegeta_skyline said:
You cannot be serious. Do you need to get out in public more or something? My experience is that you can encounter excessive swearing at any time & any place and not just while sitting around the cab car area of GO train :rolleyes:

And what exactly is wrong about him voicing his concerns about moving a train with a fuel leak? That's quite a legitimate concern and its fully his right to note them. Perhaps if you don't want to hear it maybe you shouldn't be eavesdropping in on peoples conversations? I can hear passengers talking loudly and clearly behind me all the time when I'm operating from the cab. Yet somehow I'm able to magically not pay any attention to what it is they're going on about. I don't suppose that's something that I alone am capable of. Or better yet, don't sit by the cab area if the conversations going on in there disturb you that much - because we frequently have those kinds of safety related discussions.
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Fair enough. But hang on - talking on a cellphone while operating a train?

Or do they have two people in the cab?
 
vegeta_skyline said:
You cannot be serious. Do you need to get out in public more or something? My experience is that you can encounter excessive swearing at any time & any place and not just while sitting around the cab car area of GO train :rolleyes:
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None of us other than Jonny5 can actually know how much swearing there was .....but are you suggesting that this is appropriate behaviour for any employee while on the job? If you walked up to the counter at Starbucks and heard two employees in a conversation where they were cursing and swearing repeatedly within hearing range of the customer....you think that would be ok? I can tell you that if we had customers waiting in the lobby of our building and one of our receptionists was cursing on the phone with her friend....we would be firing them (after appropriate warnings of course).
 
Jonny5 said:
Do GO Train engineers/staff not understand that the operations booth in the cab car is not soundproof?

I was on a Toronto bound trip on Lakeshore West on Thursday, so I was surprised anyone was even in there. The man was talking on his cellphone to someone complaining about other staff at what I guess is the dispatch office. "F***" was about 50% of his vocabulary. He also mentioned he was recently asked to move a train with a fuel leak, which he thought was extremely dangerous, and he said his concerns were ignored. He then joked there was a 1 in 10 chance the train would have exploded and vapourized a platform of passengers.

Probably hyperbole, but I don't think that's something passengers want to hear.
Click to expand...

Toronto bound movements on the lakeshore west line operate with the locomotive leading, and cab car trailing. Which means that whoever in there wasn't directly operating the train. Very likely could have been a third crew member, lots of trainee conductors on the radios these days.

I agree with vegeta, if there was a safety issue it's a serious concern and needs to be addressed. I'm not saying that there should be excessive swearing tho, too much of that and it becomes unexceptable, especially when that cab area is not completely isolated from the rest of the car with paying passengers.
 
gweed123 said:
The UI on the ticket vending machines is absolutely awful. Even if you know exactly what you want, it takes probably a minute to go through the entire sequence, when it should be about 15-20 seconds. It really needs a redesign.
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Definitely agree that the ticket machines need to be improved. It's always a frustrating experience, especially when a dozen or so people are waiting behind you.
 
Jag202 said:
Toronto bound movements on the lakeshore west line operate with the locomotive leading, and cab car trailing. Which means that whoever in there wasn't directly operating the train. Very likely could have been a third crew member, lots of trainee conductors on the radios these days.
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Mountain out of a mole-hill then. Someone should have simply knocked on the door and complained about the noise, if it bothered them ... if they didn't do that, it couldn't have been that serious.
 
nfitz said:
Fair enough. But hang on - talking on a cellphone while operating a train?

Or do they have two people in the cab?
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Cell phone use while on duty is strictly prohibited. In fact, it must be turned of and cannot even be on our person. All that is allowed is to keep in in our grip(work bag) or in case of radio failure it can be used once the movement is brought to a stop. They take that rule extremely seriously(post Metrolink Chatsworth), in fact people have been terminated for violating it. I can assure you he most certainly was not a member of that crew never mind having anything to do with the operation of that train and was most likely deadheading(not on duty or part of a crew) home after a tour of duty. Especially considering all conversions with the crew office(the dispatchers) is recorded and they would be able to figure out in seconds that you were using your phone while on duty.

nfitz said:
Mountain out of a mole-hill then. Someone should have simply knocked on the door and complained about the noise, if it bothered them ... if they didn't do that, it couldn't have been that serious.
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That I would agree with, if he was that offended then he's in his right to do so.

TOareaFan said:
None of us other than Jonny5 can actually know how much swearing there was .....but are you suggesting that this is appropriate behaviour for any employee while on the job? If you walked up to the counter at Starbucks and heard two employees in a conversation where they were cursing and swearing repeatedly within hearing range of the customer....you think that would be ok? I can tell you that if we had customers waiting in the lobby of our building and one of our receptionists was cursing on the phone with her friend....we would be firing them (after appropriate warnings of course).
Click to expand...

As per response to nfitz there's no way he was actually on duty, basically at that point he's just another passenger on the train and in fact he could have been sitting anywhere on the train but most likely chose to sit in the cab area as it offers some privacy as he very clearly needed to blow off some steam.

I don't necessarily agree with your comparisons either. Those examples you mention are of people who's jobs involve direct contact with the public and while they are actually on the job. This does correlate to the CSA in the center of the train and most certainly he would be reprimanded if he swore excessively and to operating crews when we are dealing with the public. However when we are operating we are actually in fact prohibited from having any contact with the public. The fact that the public can even overhear what is being said in the cab is merely happenstance. Deadheading is a different matter altogether of course. He's no different then anyone else using a cell phone on the train at that point - hey at least he wasn't in the quite zone! Here's a more apt comparison, would you be reprimanded if someone you don't know overheard you using coarse language in a conversation after you finished work, while in your building?

If Jonny was really so offended he has the option to either relocated or asked the person to tone it down. The fact that he didn't do either of those things, lest one would assume that he would of mentioned it if he did, leads one to agree with nfitz assessment of this situation being akin to making a Mountain out of a mole-hill.
 
vegeta_skyline said:
You cannot be serious. Do you need to get out in public more or something? My experience is that you can encounter excessive swearing at any time & any place and not just while sitting around the cab car area of GO train :rolleyes:

And what exactly is wrong about him voicing his concerns about moving a train with a fuel leak? That's quite a legitimate concern and its fully his right to note them. Perhaps if you don't want to hear it maybe you shouldn't be eavesdropping in on peoples conversations? I can hear passengers talking loudly and clearly behind me all the time when I'm operating from the cab. Yet somehow I'm able to magically not pay any attention to what it is they're going on about. I don't suppose that's something that I alone am capable of. Or better yet, don't sit by the cab area if the conversations going on in there disturb you that much - because we frequently have those kinds of safety related discussions.
Click to expand...



You can't be serious, can you? Swearing like that and bad mouthing your coworkers publicaly in earshot of your customers is unprofessional and ignorant. You can hear talk like that in many places. You also can't hear it in many places because you would just be fired on site.The guy was an idiot for doing it.
 
Jonny5 said:
You can't be serious, can you? Swearing like that and bad mouthing your coworkers publicaly in earshot of your customers is unprofessional and ignorant. You can hear talk like that in many places. You also can't hear it in many places because you would just be fired on site.The guy was an idiot for doing it.
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I'm sure the crew dispatcher can decide for himself or herself if any further action need be taken. We have a work place harassment policy in place and the phone line is recorded. If the crew dispatcher feels the situation needs to be reported they will do so and the matter will be dealt with accordingly. It does not require your assistance or input to be resolved. If you were offended by the conversation then you have better options available then complaining about it on an unrelated internet forum. Either switch seats or knock on the door and complain about the noise if he was talking that loudly - conversation carried on in a normal tone of voice are not easy to hear unless you are eavesdropping.

Edit* I will say this, I overlooked the part where you noted that he was swearing in regards to other staff in my first reply to you. Yes that's is an issue, but as I said above its one that will be dealt with accordingly. But you seem to be separating the swearing and bad mouthing into two separate problems. If your complaining about swearing in and of itself, in the course of a normal cordial conversation when its not used in a hostile manner(obviously not referring to this incident) and that doesn't involve any interaction with the general public i.e. being close doors, well sorry to say mate but that happens every day and that was the point of my reply, as well as the safety related issue.
 
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vegeta_skyline said:
I'm sure the crew dispatcher can decide for himself or herself if any further action need be taken.
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Oh, come on. If a barista were sitting in the coffee shop they work in and loudly complaining about it, it would be unprofessional and quite possibly grounds for termination. This doesn't sound any different.

It also isn't really worth much discussion.
 
Thanks for that ehlow

I'm thrilled to see that they'll be adding "infill" stations and working with municipalities to provide effective service to RER stations. Other than frequent service, those are the two greatest hurdels to an effective RER system. This is the first time I've seen those two issues addressed in official documentation.
 
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