I went to the Marlies game (AHL hockey, one step below the NHL) yesterday afternoon. Instead of driving, which would of taken 20-30 minutes, I decided I would be responsible and take the TTC.What a mistake that was.
Let me just preface this by saying I am not a regular user of public transportation, and after yesterday shit show, I may never take it again.
The plan was simple, meet my buddy Tony in front of the arena at 2:30pm, in plenty of time for the 3pm start.
I started out on my journey at 1pm. Because of where I live, I had a brisk 30 minute walk to the streetcar stop, it was a beautiful day, I didn't mind the walk.
Unknown to me, there was construction on Queen street, and the streetcar wasn't running at this point on the line. I had to catch a bus at the streetcar stop, which took me to Greenwood, where I could catch an actual streetcar, which then took me to the subway at Queen and Yonge. Travel time to this point was 90 minutes.
When I got off the streetcar and entered the subway, I had a brief argument with the TTC collector because I tried to use the transfer the bus driver gave me, What?! After I explained to him that there was no streetcar service at the end of the line due to construction on Queen street, which he should of known, he allowed me to enter the subway and continue on my way.
I took the subway two stops to Union station to catch another streetcar which would take me to the Ricoh Coliseum for the game.
When I got to union station there was a long line of people also waiting for the streetcar to take them to the game.
When I finally got on a streetcar and looked at my watch, it was 2:45pm. I still had 15 minutes to make it to the game before it started, but for some reason the streetcar was moving literally only 5 mph on a dedicated line. It was at this point, that I started to lose my mind. The streetcar began to shudder and then stopped. The driver got up and left the streetcar for a minute or so, and then got back on board and started talking to the people at the front of the car.
It was now 2:50pm, I had been travelling for close to two hours and I had had enough of this fucking gong show. I made a break for the doors just as I heard the driver announce that the streetcar had broken down (no shit Sherlock!) and the car was now out of service.
I hailed the first cab I saw which just happened to be driving by and hopped in before anyone could figure out what was going on.
I was free! But then everyone started getting off the streetcar and my exit was blocked. I took pity on a mom and her two kids and made room for them in my cab. We managed to get past all the people who got off the streetcar and had moved to the next stop up the line to wait for another streetcar that would never come. How were they going to get on another streetcar when the one they got off of was blocking the tracks?
We made it to the arena right at 3pm for the puck drop, no thanks to the shit show that was the TTC.
Total time to get there? Two hours, using a bus, a streetcar, the subway, another streetcar and finally a cab for a total cost of $10.
Lesson of this story.
TAKE THE CAR.
No comments:
Post a Comment