RED ALERT ; RED ALERT these IDIOTS are rolling the computers over on sat to ' TEST ' for Y2K! here in TORONTO, CANADA !! 1 section ( 180 000 ) will be affected.

1 - THANKS ontario hydro for the ADVANCE NOTICE - a letter I had to peek into on MAR 2 - and NO media reports ( radio )

2 - TORONTO hydro is STILL on strike last I heard IF there are any problems , they are short staffed to fix it.

3 - I cannot recall Ontario Hydro saying that DEC 31,1998 they finished with code fixing and are ready for testing and WHY in MARCH they should have been testing since January !

I personally feel they DIDN'T finish the code and are TESTING without finishing the remediation !! - OH SHIT !!

QUESTION - if they are only testing a small area that theoretically will be operation in the year 2000 - what happens when that area ( which is interconneceted with the real time GTA ( greater toronto area) comes into data connect or contact with the REAL or CURRENT time - isn't there a potential for there to be wide spread blackouts ?! - remember a substation outside of sanfranciso took that whole city power down for 8 hours last year!!

I would appreciate some answers - maybe I am OVERREACTING !! - NOT

Subway to stop for hydro Y2K test

By Mike Funston Toronto Star Staff Reporter

Ontario Hydro will stage the Y2K version of an air raid drill this Saturday in Toronto.

And the TTC says it will bring all subway and streetcar service to a standstill until the test is done, in case anything goes wrong. The drill is to last only a few minutes.

Trains and streetcars will stop at the nearest station or transit stop for 10 minutes, beginning at 11:55 p.m., TTC spokesperson Anne McLaughlin said yesterday.

At midnight, Hydro will set its computer system to mimic the switch to Jan. 1, 2000, at its Manby Transformer Station on Kipling Ave. at Bloor St., which feeds power to Toronto Hydro.

About 180,000 Toronto Hydro residential and commercial customers could be affected, said Ontario Hydro official Bill Imms.

These customers are in the area of Etobicoke Creek to the west, Highway 401 to the north, and east down Avenue Rd.-University Ave. to Queen St. W., east to Yonge St., and south to the lake, including the Toronto Islands.

The TTC, as well as residential and business clients, have been advised that the test is unlikely to cause any power loss.

Just in case, the TTC will stop service to avoid potential passenger panic if trains are stuck in tunnels, or danger from streetcars stopping dead in intersections, McLaughlin said.

Bus service will run as usual, she added.

Hospitals on University Ave. and the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry are excluded from the test, but other hospitals within the boundaries, as well as traffic lights, could be affected, said Toronto Hydro spokesperson Blair Peberdy.

-- sean (venturer@interlog.com), March 04, 1999

Answers

Believe what you want, but Ontario Hydro have indeed announced fixing most of their y2k issues. Check out their web site. To me, this test is a *good* thing. And it is a clear indication of the seriousness with which they are taking their task.

I personally feel that Y2k will hit very hard. But it looks to me like Ontario will have power.

-- David Binder (dbinder@sympatico.ca), March 04, 1999.

Ontario Hydro status report says that 1856 of 1879 critical systems had been certified as Y2K-ready by year-end 1998.

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 04, 1999.

Testing now is better than waiting for the rollover...if there are prolonged outages resulting from the test, help will be available and the resources to find and fix the problems will be there. Waiting to fix on failure after the rollover is not smart (I'm being polite). Congratulate your area powers that be for having some intelligence.

-- Shelia (shelia@active-stream.com), March 04, 1999.

well, decidedly Canadian...they obviously believe that they have the problems all taken care of, but do any of our Candian posters recall seeing any announcements concerning drawing individual generating facillities off line for a week or two at a time for final testing?

could be an interesting day - whether or not anything goes wrong.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 04, 1999.

Test appears to be only in a small controlled area.

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 04, 1999.

I just wish TransAlta were saying the same things!

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), March 04, 1999.