Don’t blame Calgary Transit for missed trains

There is a shared story that could be told a thousand times among regular C-Train users.

It’s the story beginning with train spotting from a block away and a jaywalking mad dash to the LRT platform to catch it.

Usually the inevitability of being a split-second late leaves you arms-up defeated and hopelessly perusing the empty platform, glaring at the operator as he smugly shrugs his shoulders and silently whisks away.

It’s not his fault, however.

And although easy to blame, the operator is unfairly getting eyefuls of bad vibes from fuming riders who are unclear about the technical side of C-Train door operation.

Ron Collins, the communication manager at Calgary Transit, says it shouldn’t even be an issue because the operators have absolutely no control over how long doors stay ajar.

“The doors are activated when the trains stop and are open for 18 seconds, if you’re late, too bad; it is what it is,” says Collins briskly.

But it is so easy to blame public servants, and jaded commuters like Michele Jacobson, who recently voiced her complaint to Transit officials in hopes of  retribution, on the C-Train operator’s inability to prolong the 18-second window of potential warmth and comfort.

She was, in her words, “curtly” brushed aside.

“How much more are we being asked to pay to be left behind in the cold, and to be treated with total indifference when we voice our concerns?” asked Jacobson.

Personally, I think this whole split-second late normality is commonly a fleeting frustration for most.

Simply, if you can’t mosey up to the ramp fast enough you’re going to be waiting and operators shouldn’t be made accountable for it.

While frustrating, for sure, there isn’t a light rail transit system in Canada that doesn’t adhere to some sort of schedule or safety issue; and whether a literal one-second or five-minutes late for a train, it’s all the same in the eyes and policies of Calgary Transit.

– Chris Phalen has contributed to Avenue magazine, the Prince Albert Daily Herald, the Globe and Mail and various magazines; calgaryletters@metronews.ca.