I haven't been taking Broward County Transit routinely for a while.  Recently, though, I found that I had to go into my office.  True to form,  Broward County Transit delivered the usual poor service.  Much of which leads me to ask why Broward County Transit has no discernible contingency plan for when things go wrong.

      Several weeks ago, the Oakland Park Blvd. drawbridge got stuck in the up position.  The bus I was on was sitting before the turn to go under the bridge in order to go back where the bus could have gone up Bayview and over to A1A over the Commercial Blvd. bridge.  The driver called his supervisor who told him to wait.  When I suggested going under the bridge, he called the supervisor back who again told him to wait where he was.  Why?  Very close to an hour later, the supervisor came in his little supervisor car, talked to the police officer for less than a minute, came back to tell the driver....guess what?!?...go under the bridge to go back the other way!!!  REALLLY???????  As a person who is condemned to Broward County Transit, how much of a day is it necessary to donate to their inefficiency, lack of forethought, and lack of contingency plans.  Why aren't there contingency plans?  I think back to the nonsense that was going on after Tropical Storm Sandy.  There was no plan in place for getting commuters to work which should be a priority in this economic time.  Why not have extra buses to go out during business rush hours?  Or maybe starting the routes earlier to assure people got to work or school on time?  No.  There was nothing done to accommodate the riders trying to be on time to work or school.  There was a detoured route, but that seemed to add time to the route without any compensation in the schedule.  For up to six weeks, buses were extremely late, and employers were extremely impatient with these issues.    Broward County Transit is deficient, defective, and ineffectual.

Last week, another lack of contingency issue took place.  Apparently, an 83 bus was stuck on Copans Road/Royal Palm.  So the bus I needed to get to work never showed up and I was with three other people who also needed to get to work.  Two "Not in Service" buses went by us, but neither stopped to get us out of the situation their organization put us in.  A third "Not in Service" bus pulled up to drop off people who were stranded on the stuck bus, but he would NOT take us to where we needed to be, which was en route to our workplaces.  WHY NOT??????  Empty buses were driving around but weren't getting stranded riders to work!  Appalling.  When I called "customer service" they told me that the next bus would be there at it's scheduled time.  No accommodations were offered, nothing done to right a wrong...just the usual "too bad for you" attitude.  I filed a complaint...still waiting to hear from someone.  The next bus that was due arrived fifteen minutes after the time it was supposed to have left from our location.  Thanks for the "service."  Almost an hour late to work.  People get fired for things like that.

This morning was a prize!  My 7:55am bus where I'd connect to the 8:30am 83 Bus was fifteen minutes late.  When I stepped on, I asked the driver what my chances were of actually making that all important connection?  He said, "Ask the trainer."  Brilliant move, Broward County Transit; train drivers during prime commuting time.  So I sat right across from the trainer and this was our conversation:

Me:          What are my chances of making my 8:30 connection at Copans?
Trainer:   Good.
Me:          Really?  This bus is running 15 minutes late!
Trainer :  No, we're not that late.
Me:          This bus was due to my stop at 7:55, and it's 8:10.
Trainer:  What time is the connection again?
Me:          8:30  (He knows nothing about this route)
     (After checking some of his stuff...)
Trainer:   Well, you can always get the 48.
Me:          It's not the 48; it's the 42 and since we're nowhere near it, that will also be gone by the
                 time we get there.
Trainer:  Really?
Me:          Do you or anyone at Broward County Transit realize that people need to get to work on
                time and that people get fired for routinely being late?  Do you realize this or care?
Trainer:  We care.
Me:         No you don't. 
Trainer:  Maybe we can get you to where you can run down Copans to catch the 83.
I'm thinking, "Yeah, that's what I should do- run down Copans road to make up for Broward
  County Transit's failures."

 (Meanwhile, the driver made two stops that were in error.  The first one, he stopped to let someone off in front of a thick hedge that could not be negotiated and had to wait to get back into traffic to get to a place where the woman could actually exit the bus, and then he stopped when no one requested a stop and no one boarded the bus.  Two waste's of time for a bus running 15 minutes late.

Me:            Why don't you take over and drive? Maybe we can make up some time?
Trainer:      No.  He's doing a fine job.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

At some point he went on to say that driving buses is like being a cop; you only hear about the bad ones.  I promise, when I experience a good bus driver, I'll write about it.  Don't hold your breath, though; they are few and far between.

So, the trainer is oblivious to schedules; to me that doesn't bode well for the "trained."  It looks like the idiocracy, which is my new word...sort of like an autocracy only with idiots, at Broward County Transit will continue with its new recruits.  Hey, what are the standards for recruits, anyway?

 I leave you now,
Still Condemned to Broward County Transit