What is going on at Southland Ctrain

[Robbob]

Just finished the commute from hell as ctrains were stopping at Anderson and shuttle buses were taking people to chinook. The driver in the morning mentioned a fire, but all the tweets have been about electrical issues. I thought there would be something about it on the web but there really isn't anything.

Probably the poorest execution of setting up shuttle buses I have ever seen. Pretty much from 7:20 to 7:50 only a couple shuttle buses had gone through. It was kind of funny watching a hundred people run back and forth to where they thought the bus would stop. Kind of felt sorry for the two transit cops as for every bus that would show up and take a load of angry people a full train dropped off more angry people.

I don't understand why it took so long to get some buses there considering the garage is right there.

I really hope what is wrong is fixed by home time.

[Hockeyguy15]

Twitter says electrical issue.

[Kybosh]

I had heard that the freezing rain caused some sort of fire somewhere between Southland and Heritage (maybe a transformer or something shorted). I walked to the station, saw the trains weren't running, and went home to drive downtown instead.

[mrkajz44]

660 News said it was an electrical fire, but it since has been put out. I'd think the commute home should be fine.

[Southside]

It was apparently an electrical fire at or near Southland.

The response was typical chaos. Calgary Transit can never seem to deal with these type of issues very effectively. Part of it is communication, they say shuttles are coming, but they aren't. That's just the plan. Hundreds of people assemble, not knowing where and there is nobody around to provide instructions. I was on one of the first trains unloaded at Anderson, probably around 7am. Like 30 minutes later CT tweeted that 8 buses were incoming. 20 minutes later Peace Officers arrived and said those buses were 15-20 minutes away.

Like I said chaos. I'm usually in the office at 7:30.Today it was nearly 9.

[Huntingwhale]

Originally Posted by Robbob

Just finished the commute from hell as ctrains were stopping at Anderson and shuttle buses were taking people to chinook. The driver in the morning mentioned a fire, but all the tweets have been about electrical issues. I thought there would be something about it on the web but there really isn't anything.

Probably the poorest execution of setting up shuttle buses I have ever seen. Pretty much from 7:20 to 7:50 only a couple shuttle buses had gone through. It was kind of funny watching a hundred people run back and forth to where they thought the bus would stop. Kind of felt sorry for the two transit cops as for every bus that would show up and take a load of angry people a full train dropped off more angry people.

I don't understand why it took so long to get some buses there considering the garage is right there.

I really hope what is wrong is fixed by home time.

Is this your first time being involved in something like this? This is what happens literally every time some kind of failure happens and everyone gets kicked off. 2 buses show up, then no more for a while. Then you get waves of people wandering Mcleod trail, angry and cold.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Southside

It was apparently an electrical fire at or near Southland.

The response was typical chaos. Calgary Transit can never seem to deal with these type of issues very effectively. Part of it is communication, they say shuttles are coming, but they aren't. That's just the plan. Hundreds of people assemble, not knowing where and there is nobody around to provide instructions. I was on one of the first trains unloaded at Anderson, probably around 7am. Like 30 minutes later CT tweeted that 8 buses were incoming. 20 minutes later Peace Officers arrived and said those buses were 15-20 minutes away.

Like I said chaos. I'm usually in the office at 7:30.Today it was nearly 9.

I ended up taking the MRU bus to heritage and transferred to the 3. Anderson was a complete gong show.

[Resolute 14]

The garage may be right there, but that doesn't mean they have drivers available for them just sitting around. Though you would hope their response planning would be a little more efficient.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Is this your first time being involved in something like this? This is what happens literally every time some kind of failure happens and everyone gets kicked off. 2 buses show up, then no more for a while. Then you get waves of people wandering Mcleod trail, angry and cold.

The respond when it happens downtown is a lot better then this. Probably took over an hour to get one of the bigger buses to Anderson. It just seems like it would be easier with the buses already there.

[Southside]

My experience with these type of issues is that CT don't keep expectations in check. IT'S A COMMUNICATION ISSUE. When you start dumping people by the hundreds telling them shuttle buses will take them downtown, you sort of expect that those buses are waiting, or on their way. But, that is never the case, the response takes an hour. If that's what it takes to pull drivers off regular routes, etc, that's fine but leave the hundreds of customers with realistic expectations to alert their employers, family, etc.

Perhaps the messaging should be more like "We are implementing a plan to get you on your way, please be patient and we should have buses out to pick you up within an hour." Might sound shocking at first, but experience tells me that's realistic.

[GirlySports]

could they just stop picking people up at somerset? delay all trains?

if you were standing at somerset or shawnessey and there was announcement that there would be no trains for the next 30, could you make other plans?

ie. if this happened at 69th station, i could go home, or take the 94/93 to the 2 (or walk to the 2)

[Robbob]

I think they were delaying the trains because they definitely were not arriving every 5 minutes. When they did arrive they were completely full. I think part of the problem, south of Anderson there really aren't that many other options other then driving.

[Russic]

I've seen the shuttle bus situation enough that I just took it as an opportunity to enjoy a walk to Chinook. Took an hour, but at least I didn't have to throw any elbows to get on a bus.

I guess they could have drivers on call for such an event, but despite popular opinion I don't think it happens enough to warrant the cost.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

could they just stop picking people up at somerset? delay all trains?

if you were standing at somerset or shawnessey and there was announcement that there would be no trains for the next 30, could you make other plans?

ie. if this happened at 69th station, i could go home, or take the 94/93 to the 2 (or walk to the 2)

They announce issues like this all the way down the line. So you will already know before you board that your train is only going as far as Anderson and can plan accordingly. The shuttle busses tend to be the fastest option in these scenarios - once they are up and running.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Russic

I've seen the shuttle bus situation enough that I just took it as an opportunity to enjoy a walk to Chinook. Took an hour, but at least I didn't have to throw any elbows to get on a bus.

I guess they could have drivers on call for such an event, but despite popular opinion I don't think it happens enough to warrant the cost.

This is where the communication part was lacking as Southside was saying. The announcement implied that the shuttle buses were already running. I had the same thought of walking but stayed because I was told 8 buses were on route. After 30 minutes and the crowd getting exponentially bigger I bailed and came up with my own plan.

[GirlySports]

could they get rid of a train and use that driver for the shuttle bus? i don't see the need for the train that only got to anderson to turn back and pick up more people.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

could they get rid of a train and use that driver for the shuttle bus? i don't see the need for the train that only got to anderson to turn back and pick up more people.

There are several stops between Shawnessey and Anderson, and the train can traverse that much faster than any bus could.

[Kolbe31]

When I got to Anderson and saw a thousand people waiting for the shuttle buses, I let the train take me right back to Somerset and now I'm working from home!

[Locke]

Its probably terrorists.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Locke

Its probably terrorists.

Possible. My first thought went to that Mumps monster. Yours is probably more plausible.