RedRocket191
Senior Member
Union Station more user-friendly
By BRIAN GRAY, SUN MEDIA
Last Updated: 26th September 2008, 2:44am
All signs point to change at Union Station.
GO commuters are going to see the first in a series of upgrades to the busiest transit hub in Canada starting Oct. 4 -- something designers hope will make rush hours less harried.
Introducing a more-logical system of numbering the platforms for GO's trains and buses just makes sense, said David Hopper, one of the top people at the Union Station improvement project.
"One of the biggest complaints we've received is passenger difficulty in finding their way around," Hopper said yesterday. "We've got passengers coming up to our staff asking for Track 58 when they're really looking for 5B."
For instance, gone will be the Track 5B and 6A designations. They'll be replaced by Platforms 10 and 11, he said.
"We're doing this cold turkey. The old numbers will disappear and you will need to find the new one."
Since commuters will generally depart from their usual tracks, Hopper said he doesn't expect much confusion with the regular users. And less-frequent riders are more likely to understand where they need to go and how to get there.
The numbering -- in combination with new signs introduced in August -- will bring the station up to international standards, Hopper said.
Platform upgrades are also in the works. The roof over the train shed will be replaced, incorporating a glass atrium to allow in more light and make Union Station more attractive, Hopper said. The project is to be completed by 2014.
Makes sense to me, although I never really found the A/B thing confusing. From my observations, the most confusing part for new riders was the meaning of "Wait for info." At Union Station, this means that the train isn't ready to board yet. At airports, this usually means that something is wrong. I've seen many people march over to the customer service desk when all they needed to do was wait 5 minutes. Any thoughts? Any thoughts on the fact that it's a useful sun article?