Because my son's school bus is scheduled to arrive at 5:24am which is RIDICULOUS, we take the same bus, the 6:03 up to the home of a friend of his whose mom drives them both to school. There is a small area that seems kind of dicey to me, and it's pitch black at that hour, so I go with him and then wait for the next bus on the same route.
The 6:03 is supposed to get to its last stop (destination) at 6:25am and then leave that location (origination) for the return route at exactly 6:30am. At 6:42am, it's due to arrive at the connection spot I discussed in last night's blog. (BCT September 24, 2012). I was waiting for my bus right across the street when that original bus arrived back at 6:33am! Did it fly?!?!? I wasn't waiting for that bus, but what about the commuters who showed up by 6:30am expecting to be taken to their jobs? (Jobs that are very hard to come by these days. Jobs where, if you are late too often, you can be easily replaced with someone who will be there on time. ) That driver left that origination point ten minutes early!! Why? He then sat in the bus at the connection spot from 6:33 until 6:39 before he drove away, still early. Couldn't he have done that at his origination point and kept people/citizens/riders condemned to Broward County Transit on their schedules??
Again, a driver who had the power to ruin someone's day, took the opportunity to do just that. Any consequence to the driver? Doubtful.
Continuing to my office on a different bus route, a lady came aboard at the same time as three or four other people. Her ticket was invalid, but the machine says that all the time even when tickets are valid. It turns out this lady's ticket really was invalid. Why? When her dollar bills didn't go into the machine right away, the driver on her previous route, told her to give him the money and he miraculously pulled a ticket out of his pocket for her. It had no date or time stamp, but she didn't realize it, so she paid three or four dollars for a ticket that was no good. These people transferred either from the 14 or the 18; with all the yelling from everyone who saw the lady pay the driver, it was hard to focus on where exactly we were.
I believe this is a scam. One day, a driver from another bus hopped on to my bus which was waiting to leave. He clicked some code into this thing drivers use to keep track of fares, and then took somewhere between five to ten tickets out and left the bus. I didn't know what to make of it at the time, but it was the first thing I thought of this morning listening to the hullabaloo going on.
So, again, a couple of drivers making Broward County Transit proud.
One last interesting observation about my final bus ride of the day. The driver of bus number 9918, the same driver as last night, chose to drive across 14th Street completely in the left lane. I'm scratching my head wondering how you can pick up citizens/riders/fares speeding down the left lane since the curb is to the right of the right lane. It's a head scratcher alright. Could it be he doesn't want to pick up riders? Could it be that he enjoys seeing people chasing after the bus as he leaves them high and dry just so he can get down to that connection spot five minutes early again? Is there a reward for getting to that particular spot early?? Really, is there? A bonus, perhaps??
The employees of Broward County Transit are supposed to be civil servants not uncivil sadists.
Still no reply from the central supervisor.
That's it for now. Sadly, there will be more to come. Until then, I remain...
Condemned to Broward County Transit
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