ShonTron
Moderator
So the lady who called me from GO after my comment lied to me. Nice.
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And for those wanting the official spin, the press release is here:Increase approved....got my email on GO Alerts at 11:18....apparantly, though, the elevator at Bramalea is still out of service.....stay tuned
In all fairness, why is more notice needed?So we know that:
c) There's not even enough respect for the public for proper notice (less than one day's official notice).
True, and I assume that there is a reason for the change in practice, even if it hasn't been announced. But is there a real impact on users, other than the hoarding issue? After all, if I go to the station Monday to take a ride, I'll be informed of the correct fare - either by staff or the Ticket Vending Machine.It has been GO's previous practice to provide a few weeks notice. Less than 24 hours notice is rather skimpy. The midday Friday notice is a little unfair because that's typically a time when companies and governments like announcing bad news as it minimizes media coverage.
This may have been someone with incorrect information, though. Without understanding the full story, we don't know whether it was a deliberate attempt to mislead (which seems unlikely) or simple organizational confusion.I was also told by GO this week that if a fare increase was approved, it likely wouldn't happen without more notice because of negative public feedback.
For what it's worth, the fare calculator on the GO site now shows both the current and new fares.
I've been told that there is a single master fare table in a database, and I'm presuming that they had a new version of this prepared in advance with the expectation of board approval. They would have had to, given the short timeline here. Then, once they got word, they would simply have had to load the new version. Alternatively, they might just have had to change a flag value (e.g. from inactive to active) on the new set of fare values.They got that up in a hurry!!! IT must have cancelled all Friday lunches as soon as the board approved the fare increase (just stirring it up a bit!)
Again, I would prefer more notice, but I have a hard time seeing an ethical problem here. The service station on the corner doesn't provide me with advance notice of their price changes, and neither does the grocery store.
This may have been someone with incorrect information, though. Without understanding the full story, we don't know whether it was a deliberate attempt to mislead (which seems unlikely) or simple organizational confusion.
I wasn't quoting you; "unethical" was my word.I never said it was unethical, I thought it was implemented so quickly, without public input. (compare secretive GO with the TTC, which holds public meetings, posts meeting agendas and staff reports, and at least has better public relations.) This is very poor public relations.
So what happens to the currently issued 10-trip ride tickets with the fare increase - never had one before when they increased fares.
Good grief, it's a 6.5% increase for my station! And passes are up 7.9%!
Increase approved....got my email on GO Alerts at 11:18....apparantly, though, the elevator at Bramalea is still out of service.....stay tuned