Darkness makes GO station parking lot a scary place
After three months, intervention needed to get Rouge Hill lot lit up
A long walk to a parked car can be a foreboding experience when there’s more darkness than light.
Nightfall arrives about 5 p.m. at this time of year. And with the sun shining for no more than a few hours a week, the post-holidays period is a dark and gloomy time.
Since we spend so much time in darkness, it helps if lights that are meant to illuminate our way are working, not just so we can see where we’re going, but to add a sense of security to our travels.
It is particularly important that public transit systems are well-lit, which extends beyond stations and waiting areas to the suburban parking lots they provide for riders to park their vehicles before jumping on a train or bus.
At the Rouge Hill GO Transit station, on Lawrence Ave., east of Port Union Rd., some lights in the north parking lot have not worked in months, creating long dark stretches that people must traverse to get to their vehicles.
Richard Lake emailed to say he has asked GO to fix the lights for nearly three months. His note included a string of emails with its customer service staff that have so far not made a difference.
In a Nov. 20 reply to one of his requests, a customer service staffer says: “I was advised by supervisory personnel that the lights were checked and all were found operational.”
At one point, he provided GO with a Google Earth image of the lot, circling four sets of lights in the southwest corner that consistently are out of service. He noted that “people (are) having to cross dark stretches of the lot to get to the cars late at night.
“Despite the passage of almost three months, and their indication that safety and security are their number one priority, the lights, as of last evening, were non-functional.”
We went there after dark on Wednesday and found that the same four lights as circled in the photo he sent to GO were still not working.
STATUS: Anne Marie Aikins, a spokesperson for Metrolinx, which operates GO, sent us a note saying electricians looked into it Thursday and determined there’s a “programming issue” involving the timers for the lights. “So the lights will be on bypass for this evening and will remain energized.” She added that if the programming issue can’t be resolved, the lights and electrical units will be replaced.
What’s broken in your neighbourhood? Wherever you are in Greater Toronto, we want to know. Email jlakey@thestar.ca or follow @TOStarFixer on Twitter