Mi-Way or the Highway

photo credit: Matthew Dudman - AdThoughtz.com

If for some reason a subway (or any TTC vehicle) did not stop at a designated station/stop failing to pick up the one or two passengers waiting simply because they were staring down or away, the entire city would be up in arms. Radio stations would be having heated debates, newspapers writing, TV reporters chasing municipal administrators for comment.

It seems to me that leaving passengers stranded is becoming regular practice on Mississauga Transit. Drivers seem to think they have the authority to decide if a person at a designated waiting area (transit pole) is paying enough attention to warrant their stopping the vehicle and picking up the waiting passenger.

This has happened to me almost twice this week. The first time the bus I was waiting for was driving behind another, one of those super long doubles. Route 35 behind it was in the middle of the intersection across Clissold Road (just outside Islington subway station). Rather than waiting for the first bus to board, the driver of route 35 just drove around the bus in front, into the middle lane and kept going, leaving myself and another passenger. Neither of us realized we were supposed to run into the middle of the intersection to board the bus at the driver’s convenience.

On Thursday, a similar incident. At the same bus stop just outside Islington subway station, waiting on Mississauga route 35, I looked down at my Blackberry for a few seconds and as I looked up the bus was driving past me in the middle lane of the road. This time I was able to wave him down, and he pulled into the bus (right) lane. As I boarded the bus several meters past the designated stop, the driver decided to lecture me about not paying attention. I firmly stated that “It is [his] duty to stop at a bus stop with waiting passengers, and I shouldn’t have to do monkey tricks to get [his] attention”. He argued, but rather than engage him further, I asked for a transfer and sat down. Just a few short blocks later, again the bus not in a pick-up lane. In the right lane was a tractor trailer blocking the bus stop. A would-be passenger walked into the middle of the road about 5 meters past the bus stop, at a red light. He knocked on the door to get the drivers attention. The driver refused him entry, yelling through the closed door. I could hear the passenger screaming that the bus drove passed him while the truck was blocking, but that didn’t matter to the bus driver, and without any regard for the pedestrian’s safety the bus just drove away as the light turned green, leaving the guy standing in the middle of the road.

I am appalled! This transit system has to be one of the worst per-capita services in Ontario.  The city is has the sixth largest population in Canada, and its transit system resembles that of a small town.  Buses are always late, and if for some reason you miss a bus, there is the minimum half hour wait for the next one, no overnight buses. That is the weekday service! Good luck getting anywhere on a Sunday. Stretches of road that span multiple kilometres, in industrial areas that employ thousands, have no bus service at all (and in many cases not even a sidewalk). All this is bad enough, but then passengers are being handed a huge dis-service when bus drivers are picking and choosing when they stop depending on whether a waiting passenger is doing the adequate wave usually reserved for stadium cheering.

I cannot believe that I’m treated like a second class citizen because I choose to live my life without an automobile. In fact that was one of the reasons I moved out of Mississauga. I earn enough and will probably be forced into a buying vehicle for the purposes of commuting to work, but I can’t imagine what it is like for someone who has no choice but to use this horrible service, all the while being treated like sh!t by its front line officers (bus drivers).

For now I’ll spring for the GTA pass just so I can gain access to the Islington subway terminal and board the bus where (I’m hoping) it must stop without fail. Of course there’s always the chance the bus will take off a minute early, but that will be the passengers’ fault also because I should have been there five minutes before scheduled departure. I could rant for hours here. The lack of call stops, the ignorance passengers are met with when asking directions, and let’s not talk about the time a driver tried starting a fist fight with me, and I wasn’t even a passenger! (I won’t engage because in the eyes of the law I’d always be in the wrong).

In Toronto, we complain about the ticket takers asleep in the booth. Mississauga Transit administrators have been asleep for decades. Remember the Youtube video of the one TTC driver who took a coffee break? I know from experience this practice was once (and probably still is) rampant in Mississauga. Drive-thru coffee shops in that city should be adjusted to accommodate a bus. For that matter, equip them with bus stops, as the bus is more likely to stop there.

Thank you for the new fancy website with the mobile capability but if I happen to be checking the schedule on my device while waiting for a bus… that prick is driving right past me.

Posted by BrokeRadioGuy via WordPress for BlackBerry.