Trip Planner - the Long Way Around

Today is Friday; tomorrow I am to meet my friend Fred at Finch Station. (See! I already know not to call it “Finch SUBWAY station”).

I live at 4340 Bloor Street West, on the corner of Bloor and Mill Road. There is a bus stop on the diagonally-opposite corner.

TTC Trip Planner understands my request as:

From: 4340 BLOOR ST W, ETOBICOKE
To: FINCH STATION, YONGE ST

TTC Trip Planner suggests:

Leaving at 7:19am from MARKLAND DRIVE AT BLOOR STREET WEST FARSIDE 
Using these routes 49 BLOOR WEST towards KIPLING STATION
BLOOR-DANFORTH SUBWAY 
YONGE-UNIVERSITY-SPADINA SUBWAY 
Arriving at 8:24am at FINCH STATION - SUBWAY PLATFORM

Which seems to jive with my memory - I’ve caught the 7:20 a.m. bus on a Saturday before.

But Wait!!

What’s this bit about “Markland Drive”?

Markland Drive is a circle that surrounds me. I live dead-centre of the clock-dial, and why would I walk to the circumference when the bus travels right through the centre of the dial, right past where I live?

The TTC Trip Planner suggests that I:

Walk to the first stop:
Depart and head Southwest on BLOOR ST W (245 metres),
turn right at MARKLAND DR (50 metres).
Total walking distance: 296 metres. 
Total walking time: 4 minutes.

That’s right!

I should walk AWAY from my closest stop out westwards to the 9 o’clock position, and catch a bus that will, a few minutes later, drive right past my building and stop at my closest stop, just across the intersection!

Visit www.ChrisGreaves.com for this image! TripPlanner_001.png

Trip Planner would send me off on a wild goose chase.

I’ll have to leave that much earlier to account for the walking distance.

I’ll have to leave that much earlier to account for the bus’s extra travel around the houses.

Or I could just walk across the street and ignore Trip Planner!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Switch and Bait

Today I went canoeing. I met my friend Fred at Finch Station, and when we were done he dropped me off at Finch Station. Subway to Bloor & Yonge; subway to Kipling. Up the stairs to the bus terminus, recall that the 49 Bloor bus no longer parks HERE; it parks THERE about 3 buses further along. No bus present, so I sit on a bench and wait. Head in book. Bus rolls up; I climb aboard. Head in book. Bus starts off, up Auckland Drive. I become aware of pressure in my bum as we turn sharply to the right. Why are we turning to the right? Well, the 49 Bloor West now shares a bus bay with the 30 Lambton donchaknow. And yes, I probably should have known that and checked the bus. But in my 30th year of climbing aboard the 49 Bloor West, when it’s been the only bus in the bay, comes naturally to me now. So the driver lets me off on Dundas Street to catch the next bus back to the subway station. Which 30 Lambton Westbound bus does arrive. I present my transfer ticket stamped “F
Read more

15 Minutes from Wilson to Downsview

Having given up on the Trip Planner for now ( Can’t Get the Trip Planner to Work ) I reckon on taking an hour, door-to-door, and elect to leap on the bus that leaves here at 9:22 a.m. That’s actually when it leaves Markland at Bloor , but since it makes three or four stops before it gets to me, I reckon on walking out my door at 9:22. The bus is late 7 times out of 10 anyway. I catch the bus, the subway train to St George subway station, and hop aboard the next northbound train to Downsview subway station. As we roll into Wilson I catch a glance at the overhead clock display. 10:16 a.m. I am early, which is how I like to be. I don’t like to keep friends and colleagues waiting. As I climb out of Downsview station I catch a glimpse of the time from the transfer machine. 10:31 a.m. Allowing one minute for me to climb two sets of escalators, it has taken us a quarter of an hour to travel between two subway stations! Where did the time go? Well, immediately we arrived at
Read more

Information Line Open Only from 8:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M.

Image
Following on from Can’t Get the Trip Planner to Work I think I’ll ask for help. No! Customer Information is not open at 6:15 a.m. on a weekday morning. I find that odd. Now straight up, Toronto is not a world-class city, and the TTC doesn’t claim to be a world-class public transportation system, but still and all, it makes sense to me that people trying to get to work (car won’t start, spouse took child to hospital, spouse late home from job etc.) might want to enquire about getting to work before regular work hours. Or might want to enquire about getting home after stopping off for a few beers after work. But no. Since it is only 6:15 a.m. I can’t ask for help from the TTC. Disclaimer: See “not world-class” above. I’m not asking that the line be staffed 24 hours a day, but given that the buses leave my neck of the (Markland) Wood between 5:40 a.m. and 1:31 a.m. it might seem reasonable that someone planning to catch an early or a late bus might want to ask about it
Read more