Be careful out there.

[lance_sibley]

I left work at 6:45, having finished work on adding a postal code lookup to one of our web pages. That's about 20 minutes earlier than usual - I figured that I'd still end up getting home around the same time, which is about 8:30, given the weather.

I just walked in the door at 10:01.

First, the Viva Blue bus I was on got stuck on ice about two blocks south of where I got on. The driver kicked us all off after about 20 minutes of spinning her wheels, so we started walking back to where I'd gotten on the bus in the first place. The snow was so heavy that I didn't realize for a full minute that I was actually walking on the road rather than the sidewalk. Fortunately, the first vehicle to come along was the next bus, which stopped to let us all on despite the fact that we were nowhere near the stop.

Then, the driver announced that Yonge Street was closed south of Highway 7 (which was BS, as there was northbound traffic when we got there - perhaps it was only closed for southbound traffic, but cars seemed to be using it anyway), so he kicked us all off at Richmond Hill Centre. Fortunately, there was a York Region bus #99 there waiting. The 99's route takes it from Finch (where I get on in the morning) to Bernard Terminal, which is about three quarters of the way to work.

However, becaue of Yonge being "closed", the driver had to find an alternate route. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to know any of the streets other than Yonge and had to get a passenger to tell her how to get over to Bayview (though she called it Bathurst, which is in the opposite direction). We then took Bayview down to Steeles, Steeles back to Yonge, and Yonge down to Finch.

All told, the entire trip took a little over three hours.

If you're in the path of this storm, and you don't have to go anywhere, don't.

Now I'm off to make dinner... then find out if Air Canada's seat sale is still going, and if I can get a cheap(ish) flight to Boston in a week and a half.

Comments

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Qu'est-ce que fuck???

What the heck happened to that bus on the right that's wrapped around the pole? When and where was this?

(The VIVA buses are those same articulated buses. I like to ride in the very back so that I can set my paper on the table there, though I think the ride would be smoother up front.)

[mencc1701.livejournal.com]

That's a collection of OC Transpo buses in downtown Gatineau, sadly enough.

And I don't think they're the same bus, actually. OC Transpo uses New Flyer D60LFs, while VIVA seems to use Van Hool newAG300s.

[crusherdisciple.livejournal.com]

Might be a good time to buy a pair of skis.

I'm just sayin'.

[mencc1701.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not like it would be reasonable to expect the transit authority in a city that gets an average of 235 cm of snow annually to buy buses that don't jackknife in snow and ice, after all. ;)

[crusherdisciple.livejournal.com]

Snow? In Canada? Surely ye jest!

[mencc1701.livejournal.com]

Aye, it's true! Most don't believe it at first, but nevertheless...

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I could have used them this morning. Nobody shovels their sidewalks in Aurora - just the entrances to their driveways.

(I think they're spoiled by the fact that Aurora has these mini-snowplows that clear the sidewalks; the problem is, they don't get around to it until after the roads have been cleared, and even then, not usually until after I've gotten to work and trekked through four feet of snow.)

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

Nobody shovels their sidewalks in Aurora - just the entrances to their driveways.

(I think they're spoiled by the fact that Aurora has these mini-snowplows that clear the sidewalks;

Well, sure. We have the same thing in Etobicoke, and yeah, I have absolutely zero incentive to wake up at 6:00 AM and shovel the sidewalk when I know that it will magically get done whether I do it or not.

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

Really? Then why don't we have them here at Yonge and Eglinton? Since amalgamation, we should be getting the same service, but there are portions of sidewalk along Eglinton which are next to impossible to walk on.

(And don't get me started about the walk from Hurontario over to Rob's place last night - Hazel McCallion goes on and on about how wonderful Mississauga is, but there were snowbanks in which you could lose a small child on one side of the street, and no sidewalk at all on the other side.)

[(Anonymous)]

Then why don't we have them here at Yonge and Eglinton?

No idea. I guess it existed before amalgamation and is still happening. I was thrilled to discover that I don't have to worry about shoveling the sidewalk. The driveway can be a huge pain, but at least I don't have to worry about being ticketed if I don't get to it quickly enough. I wonder what would happen if it snowed when someone is out of town or something, or if the snow was so back that they couldn't get home to shovel. Would they still get ticketed?

"Wonderful" means different things to different people, and having the sidewalks clear is wonderful only to people who walk there. People don't walk in Mississauga because there's rarely anything within walking distance. It's a suburban thing.

(not that I'm necessarily agreeing that Mississauga is wonderful)

[marahsk.livejournal.com]

That was me.

[gnumoose.livejournal.com]

Darryl Sittler?

[boywhocantsayno.livejournal.com]

I hadn't checked the model numbers, but you're right about VIVA using Van Hool buses.

I just meant that they also have the articulated buses (though most of the other routes appear to use conventional ones, judging by what I see at Richmond Hill Centre).

And yeah, as you said to crusherdisciple, one would think that Ottawa would be better at winter road management.

[mencc1701.livejournal.com]

Ahh, see you're talking to the wrong person if you want to generalize all 60' buses together into one group. ;)

The Van Hools are a significantly better make than the New Flyers, but OC Transpo went for what was cheap. And it costs us.