AMT tweaking its rail service updates on Twitter
AMT trains: a failure to communicate
Q. I am among thousands of passengers who start their downtown commutes at the Roxboro-Pierrefonds train station, also a major West Island bus terminus. The busiest parts of the rush-hour schedule are the 7:31, 7:50 and 8 a.m. trains.
At 7:45 a.m. on March 19, the Agence métropolitaine de transport’s public address system made two announcements: “The next train to Central Station will be delayed by 10 minutes” and “The next train to Central Station will depart from Track One.” There was no indication the real 8 o’clock train was cancelled. In other words, one could expect there would still be an 8 a.m. train, delayed or otherwise.
In fact, a Train-Alert message the AMT emailed at 7:45 a.m. simply said “08:00 train – Boarding at 1 platform” (meaning track one). To me, with no reference to the 7:50 a.m. departure, this message confirmed that there would be an 8 a.m. train.
One way or another, either the 7:50 or the 8:00 train was cancelled, with no notice whatsoever from the AMT. The end result was some 2,000 passengers were displaced, either having to cram themselves dangerously onto whatever impossibly overcrowded train stopped at their station, or left stranded on the platform, unable to climb aboard. AMT announcements seemed crafted to offer some information, but mostly to not admit they were cancelling a rush-hour train.
The AMT should be transparent, helpful, timely and accurate.
If my usual train will not show up, I need to know. If my commute will be altered to the point of dangerous overcrowding, I need to know. When will the AMT be honest enough to say they’re cancelling a train?
Sandy Weigens
A. AMT commuters’ most frequent complaints have to do with confusing or incorrect information about late and cancelled trains, whether over loudspeakers or in email alerts.
I asked AMT spokeswoman Claudia Martin for the AMT’s reaction to the reader’s experience and asked what the AMT is doing to improve communication.
“Our top priority is being transparent with our customers and providing accurate information,” Martin said. Information is given “to customers as soon as possible following the disruption of service,” she added. “Obviously, sometimes more difficult situations arise and, at that time, it may happen that some decisions on the operational side are not reflected” in information relayed to customers.
The AMT is “always working on new approaches to make communication with customers as accurate as possible. With the opening of a Twitter account for each of the five train lines, we have added a new way of communicating that we will also be tweaking.”
It’s little consolation if your train is late, but after very poor reliability in December and January, statistics compiled by the AMT indicate trains did better in February. Of the five lines, only one was under the AMT’s 95 per cent on-time target. Vaudreuil-Hudson came in at 94 per cent.
Update: Snow takes up valuable parking at train station
A lack of parking is a constant problem in packed lots at train stations on the Deux Montagnes line, the AMT’s most popular.
In the March 4 Squeaky Wheels, the AMT said it piles up snow in designated areas of parking lots, using up spots, but noted that it eventually trucks it away.
But that isn’t happening at the Du Ruisseau station parking lot. A reader submitted photos showing more than 50 spots taken up by mounds of snow last week (before Friday’s snowfall). In total, the lot has 1,100 parking spots.
“The AMT has permanent snow piles at Du Ruisseau because the lot isn’t fully occupied,” AMT spokeswoman Brigitte Léonard said. “We leave the snow there to reduce maintenance and snow-removal costs.”
Our reader begs to differ on parking availability. The station’s lot was full several days during the past two weeks, he said.
Squeaky Wheels mailbag
Re: Do you give up your transit seat (Poll, March 18)
Beatrice O’Donnell Beliveau (via Facebook): In your poll a few weeks ago, 67 per cent of people said they give up their seat for special needs. I’d like to know where the 67 per cent are! I use a cane and I am surprised how many people pretend not to see me. They close their eyes, look at their phone, etc. If I do get offered a seat, it is usually a younger female.