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Grand River Transit
I heard that the decision might be that the 7 northbound will simply not stop at King/William at all. No turning right on William towards Regina. Simply skipping that intersection. Terrible decision, imo.

And re: the stop close to King/Erb for the 7/200/5. Currently a huge mess... cars parked on the bus bay are a daily occurrence. But this could be fixed with better, bigger signs and also when the bus shelter is installed in the spring and the streetscape is completed.
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And re: Victoria/King northbound, I heard that Grandlinq still has work to do there so that's why it's not in service. Ugh.
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GRT piloting buses with driver shields
Posted on Monday January 08, 2018 

Starting this week, customers may see buses equipped with driver shields on different routes in Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge.

GRT is pilot testing three different styles of driver barrier on eight different buses:

Three buses will be equipped with a sliding glass barrier.
Three buses will be equipped with a sliding glass barrier with an extending slider.
Two buses will be equipped with a fixed system barrier.
The pilot testing period will be approximately three months. After the pilot period ends, GRT will evaluate the different shield types.

The shields are the latest in a series of tools ensuring the safety of drivers, customers and the community.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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Did GRT get a new contractor to remove the snow this year?

I have found that snow removal has been worse than usual this year.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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(01-09-2018, 10:34 PM)Pheidippides Wrote: Did GRT get a new contractor to remove the snow this year?

I have found that snow removal has been worse than usual this year.

I believe so.

Definitely worth calling them about it.
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A terrible side effect just now is many stops have inches of snow on them still, and we're due for a good amount of rain in the coming days.

Slush city, everyone. :/
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Snow clearing at bus stops has been really bad this year... lots of people complaining to GRT on Twitter and they're responding that it may take their contractors "a day or two" after a heavy snowfall to clear the stops. But even this morning, a full 48 hours after our major snowfall ended, most of the stops I use on King St or the 200 iXpress line are still several inches of snow and ice, and drivers are asking riders to use the front doors as it's dangerous to exit out the back.
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The saddest of many, many complaints to the GRT today about all the uncleared bus stops:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/GRT_ROW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GRT_ROW</a> how long should we be waiting for bus stops to be cleared? poor man was sitting on side of the road with his walker........ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Notok?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Notok</a> <a href="https://t.co/1Eji0lwDOy">pic.twitter.com/1Eji0lwDOy</a></p>&mdash; theresa (@JDaTforever) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDaTforever/status/951192469466730496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2018</a></blockquote>
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(01-10-2018, 07:23 PM)goggolor Wrote: The saddest of many, many complaints to the GRT today about all the uncleared bus stops:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/GRT_ROW?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@GRT_ROW</a> how long should we be waiting for bus stops to be cleared? poor man was sitting on side of the road with his walker........ <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Notok?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Notok</a> <a href="https://t.co/1Eji0lwDOy">pic.twitter.com/1Eji0lwDOy</a></p>&mdash; theresa (@JDaTforever) <a href="https://twitter.com/JDaTforever/status/951192469466730496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 10, 2018</a></blockquote>

I just got off the phone with the CSR.  They've told me in no uncertain terms that three days after the storm, we can keep waiting.  Not till 72 hours has passed can we expect bus stops to be cleared.

Nearly 100% of the 7 bus stops on King between Columbia and Downtown are blocked.  

I'm pretty jaded, and I'm still shocked by how bad this is.
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In fairness, several stops in my neighbourhood were cleared by this morning.

But not all of them. And they probably should have been done by last night.

We need a better standard.
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In this article from when GRT changed snow clearing contractors a couple years ago (https://www.therecord.com/news-story/608...-waterloo/) it says: "About 100 bus stops have been identified as priorities with help from the Grand River Accessibility Advisory Committee. Those stops need to be cleared immediately and monitored for 72 hours. They might be near seniors' residences or community centres that offer day programs."

One of the stops I reported to GRT yesterday was right in front of the senior's center at King & Allen, and it still wasn't clear today. I wonder if that accessibility program is still in place?
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The CSR said it was.
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Part of the problem is the definition of “cleared”. All the #8 stops along Belmont between Highland and Union did have snow removed but it was not even remotely down to the pavement and nothing around the shelters themselves had been cleared. Basically, wherever the small bobcat the contractor is using could fit, which is not many places when you factor in the geometry of the bus stop pole, shelter, hydro poles etc., some snow had been pushed aside usually blocking the shelter access or access to the bus itself worse than before. Then there are other stops like Patricia and Highland and Highland at Ruby that have had nothing done.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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Talked to GRT this morning, I am now read the policy by the CSR, 72 hours to start, 48 hours to clear...5 days clear bus stops, next storm is forecast by then, 0 days with cleared bus stops.

We're spending half a million dollars to pretend that bus stops will be clear.
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Was there a rider in the policy for what happens if the snow starts again before they're finished? Do they just get a pass for another 72 hours, or do they have to show they've cleared all stops of the previous storm's snow within the original 72+48 period?
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