While Tuesday's GO Transit's service interruption was an enormous inconvenience for commuters all over the GTA, its timing couldn't have been worse for the agency, coming just two days before a big PR stunt that is, as a result, not going over well with the public.

Residents needing to catch a train to or from Oshawa, Whitby, Milton, Richmond Hill, Stouffville, the airport, or a handful of other destinations around Toronto were left stranded or, even worse, stuck on a train for hours as CN rail systems experienced a network-wide failure.

Then, the app that GO instructed people to use to find alternative modes of transport crashed in the middle of rush hour due to the increased demand, further enraging customers.

So, as could have been expected, GO's Thursday announcement that it was collaborating with Drake ahead of the artist's Toronto concerts was not the most well-received news.

you have the money for this but not for providing riders a reliable service? embarrassing. https://t.co/5OffJ5vun6

— miami heat wentz (@honeythrone) October 5, 2023

As part of the new "Drake x GO takeover," the transportation authority shared a picture of signage at Bloor GO Station decked out in the rapper's signature colours of black and gold, reading "It's All A Bloor Station" in homage to the It's All A Blur Tour that Drizzy is currently on.

Also included in their promotional tweet was a snap of a GO train wrapped in the same colour scheme, and the slogan "riding through the 6ix on the GO," all to welcome the celeb back home.

Given that Drake's T.O. shows take place Friday, October 6 and Saturday, October 7 at Scotiabank Arena, GO unfortunately couldn't just sit on the campaign until the angst about this week's snafu died down.

Embarrassing, but not surprising

— Liam (@liamtakesaphoto) October 5, 2023

Replies to the cheeky (and clearly phony) rebrand include lines like "GO is truly that man who will do everything to look good, except actually work on himself" and "Figure out your software upgrades first (though another commenter was quick to point out that it was CN's upgrade that caused the incident, not GO's).

Some are even suggesting that whoever came up with the marketing idea should be fired, and one person, along with being disappointed in GO's priorities, said they're now embarrassed to take the GO train to work.

Quite a few are also chiming in to bitterly inquire about the initiative's pricetag, though it is quite evident that the publicity move consisted only of a few very photoshopped photos, not any actual changes to stations or vehicles.