Planning to use transit for shopping trips in the next few weeks? What
about getting around on Christmas and New Year’s Eve? More than a few
weekday commuters get in their cars on weekends and holidays, either
because transit service doesn’t go where they need it to, or it’s a hassle
getting the proper schedules. I took a spin around the internet to find
holiday schedules from various GTA transit authorities, and the results
were mixed.
Most riders must have other ways of getting the information
they need -- some of the suburban transit services have very basic web
sites. That leaves more traditional methods -- by phone or from schedules
and flyers distributed in buses and terminals. Flyers may be fine for
seasoned suburban commuters, but if we’re going to convince more people to
use transit, there has to be an easier way to get fast, timely
information. Not just to find out when the next bus is coming, but to plan
a trip downtown on December 31st.
Readers occasionally contact me for suggestions on how to
get around unfamiliar areas of the GTA, and I’d like to give them a
a central phone number for region-wide transit information,
but there isn’t one. Until a body is created to oversee all the GTA’s
transit authorities, one-stop shopping for schedules will remain a dream.
Despite calls for better transit coordination over the
years, all we have is www.findtheway.ca, a website with links to each
transit provider. We’re a long way from getting custom transit information
over the internet. In quite a few places in the U.S and elsewhere, you can
get good directions simply by typing in your starting point, your
destination and the date and time of travel. Out pops a choice of routes
and scheduled times, and improved technology means the information is
actually correct. Of course, American mass transit systems receive
substantial funding from both state and federal governments. Here we rely
on the intricate knowledge of the people who staff the telephones at each
of the transit providers.
While the TTC has remarkable customer service operators who
steer riders around the city, the hours of service have been reduced over
the last decade. Printed bus schedules are a thing of the past on the
country’s largest transit service, and when its aging TimeLine computer
system was shut down just before the year 2000, the TTC stopped offering
recorded schedules over the phone. To make up for this, general transit
information became more available in the Yellow Pages, at 416-393-INFO and
at www.ttc.ca. That site is one the most consulted of all the pages
available from the City of Toronto government.
It has a lot of information on it, but try looking up
“holiday service.” To get online details of subway closing hours over
Christmas and New Year’s, I had to download a copy of the TTC’s current
flyer - the same thing hanging from hooks in subway cars and buses.
Mississauga Transit’s website has a huge file that lists
many seasonal schedule changes - but the city’s site has been experiencing
technical problems, and some pages are unavailable. One good piece of news
is that on New Year’s Eve, Mississauga Transit service is free. But for
the straight facts, you’re better off finding a flyer or calling
905-615-INFO.
Using www.findtheway.ca, which bills itself as “Your first
stop for transit info,” I sampled some of the other GTA transit sites.
“Holiday Service” schedules were located in a different part of each site,
if at all. Until governments become more serious about promoting transit,
new and existing riders will not have access to consistent, simple
information at one internet site and one phone number.
Send e-mail to transit@eddrass.com. Include address and phone
number.