Saturday, April 11, 2009

Easter Saturday.

Hello! This morning I went for a nice little run using my new "Nike+ Sport" attachment, but that's not what I'm here to talk about.

First order of business: The Toronto Bus Terminal. This has got to be the most chaotic, poorly-run transportation system in a major North American city. I arrived there around 9pm on Friday night, got in line, and stepped up to a ticket booth around 9:07. Spent $22 and change on a bus ticket to St. Catharines, and asked ticket booth guy if I could still get on the 9:15 bus. He said, "Sure you can." I went outside to lineup #3, and assessed the situation by asking a number of people in line which bus they were waiting for - some said St. Catharines, some said Peterborough. One of the St. Catharines girls in line asked the bus driver if that was the St. Catharines bus, and he confirmed that it was, but it was full. Great.

So, me and the 4 other St. Catharines people in line went back inside, waited in the ticket line again, and exchanged our tickets for the 9:30 bus. Heading back outside to lineup #1, we saw at least 100 people already in this line. We joined the end of it and waited. Waited. Waited. W A I T E D. FINALLY a bus pulled up at 10, loaded half the people on, and then some genius figured out that there were WAY too many people waiting there, and another bus pulled up at 10:20 which the rest of us crowded onto. Keep in mind, that bus was supposed to leave at 9:30. So I did finally make it into St. Catharines at almost midnight that night, but in a bit of a sour mood, and freezing because the bus driver clearly thought that the 3-degree weather outside warranted blasting the air conditioning for the entire trip.





The annoying thing is this: WHY the heck did they sell so many tickets? I've come to the conclusion that there is NO logic going on here at all. The ticket guys inside are using these Apple II-E computers, circa 1985, where they just select the destination city and print out a ticket. I am absolutely convinced there is no correlation between how many tickets they sell and how many seats are available on a bus. They just keep taking the money and printing the tickets out, giving NO THOUGHT WHATSOEVER to how many people may be trying to get onto one bus. I mean, COME ON, you guys. There are over 100 people outside lined up for one bus, and you're STILL thinking it's a good idea to sell more tickets for that bus? Wouldn't that tiny customer service gland inside you make you want to actually inform someone that they may be better off coming back in an hour or two when they can actually buy a ticket and step onto the bus for which they bought the ticket? JUST A THOUGHT.

During the bus ride, I had the opportunity to listen to my ipod. I recently picked up two new albums that I'm thoroughly enjoying. Want to know which ones?




Those two. They are solid, solid albums that I'm loving right now. So if you like good music, you may like these. I was going to say a lot more about these two bands and how much I love their music, but I haven't got it in me. I'm going to go stuff myself with more Easter items such as paska (sweet bread covered in icing... mmmm.) Then I'll read a book and fall asleep on the couch. I know you envy me. You too could have an afternoon like this - just do it!

1 comment:

  1. I travelled to Cleveland by bus last fall (I can feel your envy now). I got to the stupid terminal early only to find out that my bus left more than an hour earlier. What kind of transportation company changes the departure time without letting anyone know?

    I then had to spend hours in Buffalo waiting for my next bus. Boo!

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