Thursday, February 15, 2007

I Think I've Been Fairly Tolerant...

... with the TTC, until now. I'm usually very logical and lenient with the flaws of the TTC, and I normally blame the other TTC riders for how miserable the ride can be now and then. However, this morning, I couldn't believe how bad the service was!

Bex and I arrived at the stop at our normal time, around 8:30am. Just as we were walking to the stop, a car went by. I had a sinking feeling that we should've run to catch the car, but alas. A few minutes later (more minutes than usual), another streetcar came along, but it was out of service.

A couple minutes later, another car came, with another car behind it. The first car was PACKED, but the second car was also out of service, so we tried to squeeze onto the back of the car in front. A tinny voice via intercom said, "Young lady, please step away from the back door of the streetcar." Apparently, I wasn't allowed on! Not sure why- it better have been because the car was already too full, because there are signs clearly posted saying the King car runs on a P.O.P. system- you can mount the car through the rear doors if you've got a valid pass or transfer.

The next car pulled up to the light, and everyone started to de-board. Apparently, this car was out of service as well. I asked the driver why and he pointed to some control panel that was opened up, and said it was too cold for it to operate. What??

Anyways- long story short, Bex and I scrambled around, trying to decide if we should just hop in a cab (except we couldn't find one available), or if we should just hop on one of the SIX streetcars piled up at King and Dufferin now. It was 8:54am by the time we finally got onto a streetcar, and 9:30 by the time we got to Church Street. The car we were on announced they were short turning on Church, too.

So- all in all, I saw FOUR streetcars this morning that were out of service! We live in Canada folks! It gets cold! Why do I pay $100 a month to ride on streetcars that break down as soon as it gets cold? And why were only some of the cars out of order? Don't they have like, a huge block heater or something?!?!?

Anyways- it was frustrating, to say the least. I was a half-hour late for work again today. Good thing no one keeps track!

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