What can we do about Translink's "Trip Planner" website and phone line?
Have you used the Internet to plan you bus/Seabus/Skytrain? The GVRD's public transportation's "Trip Planner" web site and phone line? On their phone line, saying "agent" is suppossed to provide a live person.
During the holiday season, my experience was that there was essentially 'no service'.
I found similar complaints in the Discover Vancouver Forum, too.
OK, I wrote the newspapers about it But, is there anything else we, as citizens, can do? Even cyclists who use public transportation can be affected. Apparently, this has been going on for years, according to allegations I've read and heard. How can we even debate Sustainable Transportation when our public transportation's info lines aren't 24/7 reliable? Who are the people responsible for this?
Please post what you've done about this, so perhaps we can do same. Thanks.
Comments
Translink's service for the
Translink's service for the demographic of Lower Mainland is left incredibly lacking. Not only is it a challenge to make the first ferry sailing in Tsawassen by public transit, there's always the issue with cyclists who need to make transit connections unable to load their bike because the two slots are full.
The website plain and simple is only a guide and if you dont knwo the city it may make you take needless routes adding 20 minutes or more depending on where you're going. Nothing replaces a real person.
Until real living human agents can use the trans-link site effectively (and this also demands they know the city and the routes to really assist people, can people on their own make real use of it.
Of course in a world where we pay inordinate amount of taxes AND have to pay for private enterprise on necessities of life, I personally dont expect anything from anyone, especially not translink, who gets funding from the government( ie us) and then refuses to really serve us.
Give transcops guns, pay for that and the pseudo training their probably going to get instead of investing in making the system safer and friendlier.
We should have a free transit system, paid for by our taxes. I don't mind paying tax if i know i'm getting services. Im not receiving much atm from so called public transit.
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Arrrggghhh!!! I haven't been
Arrrggghhh!!! I haven't been able to even access Translink's website to plan my trips for weeks-its USELESS!
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Route Info on Platforms The
Route Info on Platforms
The thing that really bothers me is the lack of even the most basic information on the Skytrain platforms. Strangely, the routes for the Expo and Millenium lines are not posted until you actually board the train! If you're not familiar with the transit system it's ridiculous how easily you can end up in Surrey while trying to travel to Coquitlam. It would be highly useful and simple to have local bus routes and schedules posted on the Skytrain platforms along with the maps of the two Skytrain lines.
I cringe when I think of all the visitors we're supposed to have in 2010 trying to navigate our transit system. It's so incredibly unfriendly to new and infrequent users that I almost think it must be some kind of conspiracy to keep auto manufacturers in business. Just kidding, I think...
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Route Info on Platforms The
Route Info on Platforms
The thing that really bothers me is the lack of even the most basic information on the Skytrain platforms. Strangely, the routes for the Expo and Millenium lines are not posted until you actually board the train! If you're not familiar with the transit system it's ridiculous how easily you can end up in Surrey while trying to travel to Coquitlam. It would be highly useful and simple to have local bus routes and schedules posted on the Skytrain platforms along with the maps of the two Skytrain lines.
I cringe when I think of all the visitors we're supposed to have in 2010 trying to navigate our transit system. It's so incredibly unfriendly to new and infrequent users that I almost think it must be some kind of conspiracy to keep auto manufacturers in business. Just kidding, I think...
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Oh boy -- I soooo want to be
Oh boy -- I soooo want to be an advocate of public transit. In many ways Translink is doing stuff right, but their site SUCKS as does the telephone service provided by fake person "Chris". What irritates me most is being on a sidewalk with cars roaring by, using my cel phone, and Chris can't interpret me through the noise. It's one of those things in life that drives me to extreme frustration. I will watch other responses to your post; if anyone else has suggestions, I am IN.