From the Toronto Star:
Pat Eales, who rallied 11,000 angry GO riders to sign a petition last winter, quit her job and has given up on commuting.
The woman who rallied 11,000 angry GO commuters to sign a petition last winter has quit the customer service advisory committee inspired by her efforts.
Saying she couldn’t handle another winter of long, frustrating commutes on the GO train, Pat Eales found a new job about 15 minutes from her Oakville home – ironically overlooking the GO station.
On days like Wednesday, when thousands of commuters were left in the deep freeze because of train delays, Eales says she thanks her lucky stars she no longer suffers the commute to downtown Toronto.
She started an online GO petition after being late for work repeatedly last winter. It demanded a freeze on fare hikes and a 50 per cent refund on fares when trains are delayed 20 minutes or more.
The petition tapped enormous customer outrage – 11,000 disgruntled commuters signed on – but wasn’t enough to persuade GO to cancel a 15-cent-a-ride fare hike. GO also argued that since it relies heavily on fares, a late-train refund would have come out of commuters’ pockets anyway.
GO did, however, set up a committee of seven train riders and one bus passenger to advise the board and staff on how to improve service.
Eales quit after the first committee meeting, in September, when she found her new job – something she says probably would have happened anyway.
At that meeting, Eales said members were given a free lunch, a return fare to GO’s downtown office and a model double-decker bus. But most members of the committee – composed of riders from each of GO’s lines and a student – remain anonymous.
“After all I did and the things I wanted to accomplish, I didn’t feel that was the venue for it,” she said.
“How are we supposed to be a liaison between (GO Transit) and the GO transit riders if no one knows who we are and no one knows we even exist?” asked Eales, who said she was required to sign a confidentiality agreement when she joined the committee.
“GO assembled these representatives to be a confidential sounding board for their policies and plans,” said GO spokesperson Vanessa Thomas. “It’s not so much that they are anonymous, but their role is specific and related to providing advice to GO.”
Committee members were solicited on the GO website and, so far, have focused on learning about the GO system. They did support the move to put defibrillators on trains.
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