Yeah, not too happy with the TTC right now. I understand that from time to time there will be mechanical difficulties with subway trains. All the same, that fact doesn’t invalidate the frustration I have at the moment.

So, I left work a little past 5 to be able to make it to my Running Room Clinic by 7. The streetcar came and took me to the Bloor-Danforth subway line. No issues thus far. As I walked on the eastbound platform, I noticed that a lot of people were looking at the info screen. I looked up and read a notice saying that shuttle buses were currently being run between 3 or 4 subway stations right in the core of the system. As I looked to the end of the platform I saw a train waiting in the tunnel, but it wasn’t moving. In a split decision I ran over to the Yonge-University-Spadina line to try looping around. After hiking the distance I came to the realization that the route would have been horribly inefficient. So, I headed back to the other line to see if I could find more information. As I got back to the platform I saw the previously idle train start coming in. Nice.

If that was the only problem, then I would have been fine. However, that’s not where it ended. About midway to my destination, the train stopped at Pape station. It was taking longer than usual there but no one thought much of it thinking that maybe the delay was just due to a driver exchange or something. Another 5 minutes later there was an announcement that the train was having some mechanical issues and that crew was already dispatched and would arrive shortly. Fine. I could deal with that. So could the majority of people waiting on the packed train. After more minutes of waiting, an announcement was made at the platform level that shuttle buses were being run from a couple of stations west and east of where I was at. It figures that I’d be right in the middle. From the train itself I didn’t hear the announcement clearly. I had to take out my earbuds and strain hard to get the message being pumped elsewhere.

Now, when I think of shuttle buses I always think of the horror stories I often see on the news whenever there’s an issue with the subways. The shuttle buses are inevitably full with many irate people waiting out the cold trying to jockey for position. And usually, by the time you get on one the trains are usually working again making the whole process pointless. I’m quite sure that most people on the train felt the same way about shuttle buses because just about everyone that was sitting down remained seated. We were all willing to wait out the problem. Thing is, half an hour after arriving at the station with only one or two announcements keeping us informed, there was an announcement telling us that the train was now out of service and that we all had to get off. There was another train right behind, but it already had its own load of people, so we all had to cram in there.

In the end, I got back to my car about an hour later than when I wanted. It was late enough to make the commute up to the Running Room pointless. So, I missed my scheduled 6K run today. Yeah, I’m not happy about that. I guess, all I can say is that these things happen from time to time. I can’t hold it against the commission (as much as I want to) because it’s not like the driver wanted to delay us for that long period. Perhaps a little more information could have been disseminated to us, you know? Well, tomorrow is another day, and I’m sure the commute will be uneventful. That’s really how it should be, right?