Broward County Transit - Black Friday 2012

It's been a long while since I've written.  It's not because nothing has happened but because I get home so late and decide not to go to bed in a rage over the &#%* that Broward County Transit dishes out on any given day.  I keep track, though, so that when I write a scathing condemnation to the Broward County Commission, there will be no doubt that serious action must be taken in order to consider this bus system a "service".

Highlights of the last six weeks include:

Monday, October29, 2012 was the first commuting morning after Tropical Storm Sandy blew past South Florida.  It's understood that A1A was closed due to the amount of sand left from the storm, so buses had to be detoured.  These detours started over the weekend.  Knowing that this was going to be a problem, what was Broward County Transit's strategy to make sure their customers were "served"?  As far as any of us are concerned...NOTHING.  No strategy.  On the 29th, the morning 11 bus was 25 minutes late, and that was the first or second bus of the day.  Three 36 buses, that used the exact same detour drove by, but not the 11.  Why?  Well, I asked the driver, and he yelled at me that A1A was closed.  I countered that A1A had been closed for days and that three 36 buses came by before him.  He told me to sit down or get off the bus.  He then went on to say that the dispatcher sent him out to A1A not to the detour causing him to have to back up, turn around, and then proceed.  So what was the strategy??? Make a bad situation worse through total INCOMPETENCE??  What morons.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - The bus was closer to schedule, but when I got on, the same driver took off like a shot, before I was even done sliding my pass through, sending me flying.  Was that my punishment for asking a civilized, relevant, critical  question the day before?  Makes you wonder, right?  He already knows by my pass that I'm disabled. Is this the "service" BCT talks about??  Don't ask any questions of this tyrannical organization or you'll be punished.  Hmmm..

Thursday, November 1, 2012 - The buses are still running VERY late.  Why?  No strategy after an entire week??  If any other "service" carried on like this, they'd be out of business in a hurry.  The 11 bus due to arrive at Copans and Federal at 5:20pm arrives at 5:47pm.  Why??  Someone asked the bus driver of the 0136 bus, but the driver had turned belligerent, refusing to acknowledge that anyone spoke to him.

Thursday, November 8, 2012 - On the 83 route,  bus number 0216 had no operational lift for the people in wheelchairs.  A woman in a wheelchair, who rides the bus routinely was told she couldn't board.  Life isn't hard enough for the woman.  Broward County Transit, in their complete incompetence, sends out buses without essential equipment being operational.  What if that woman had been mugged or beaten as she waited at her somewhat unsavory stop because bus 0216 left the depot without an operational wheelchair lift.  I hope that woman complained to someone.

Tuesday, November  20, 2012 - (Morning commute) The 11 bus due to arrive at Copans and Federal at 6:50am was running late which threatened the clients needing to transfer to the 7:00am westbound 83 bus. , Desperate not to miss the bus entirely,  people got off at an earlier stop and ran down Copans Road to catch the bus.  It was threatening rain, so no one was happy about this.  These are commuters.  People hoping to get to work.  To work!!!

 Every morning a lady boards with her baby, and recently she's been talking about the probability that she will lose her job because of day care issues.  On that morning, it became obvious that the 83 was not coming so I called Broward County Transit customer "service".  The bus was not on its way; it broke down.  I asked what contingency plan was in place for situations like that.  He told me I could file a complaint and someone would call me back.  Don't make me laugh.  They NEVER have called, why would they start?  Anyway, the woman, already distraught about her job,  started running in the rain  to get her baby to day care so that she could be on the next bus which she normally caught.   The next bus arrived and picked up all the disgruntled, passengers.  She didn't make it.  Some of us worried about her job being lost that day.  Did anyone at Broward County Transit care??  Suffice to say that all of us were late to work that day by at least a half hour.

(Evening commute) - After arriving back to Copans and Federal at the appropriate time, the 11 bus due at the stop at 5:20pm, was nowhere to be found.  At about 5:40pm, I called...that's right...customer "service".  I asked where the bus was.  After a few moments went by, the agent came back and told me that he couldn't find any buses on the tracking system.  Really?!?  I was offered the option to file a complaint.... yeah, okay.   So, the next 11 bus was due at 5:50pm.  At 6:00pm, I called customer "service" again to find out where this bus was.   This guy said there is no tracking system.  I asked him how come other customer "service" agents access the tracking information.  He told me he was new.  New?...untrained?...lying?...who knows for sure. At 6:15 the bus finally arrived.  Fifty-five minutes late.  Who is responsible for buses being 55 minutes late?  Can anyone explain how or why buses are untrackable?  Can anyone explain why there are no contingency plans for anything?  50% of my buses did not show up that day.

Something has to be done about getting the commutation buses up to snuff.  Politicians want to brag about bringing jobs back all the while ignoring a situation that could help people keep jobs they already have.

The 10 and 11 buses have been consistently late for weeks.  Why?  Apparently, the drivers were given new, faulty schedules.  Knowing this, why not  make adjustments?  Have a meeting; make some copies of the unflawed schedule; distribute the unflawed schedules to drivers.  Who at Broward County Transit can't figure out what to do???  I guess no one there can figure it out since none of that's been done.   It's shocking how incompetent this organization is.

Broward County Transit October 3, 2012

I've been too busy to write, but that does not mean things are fabulous  on the buses. I won't go too far back, just two days.  On October 1, it was pouring rain most of the day which makes commuting of all kinds its own brand of misery, but waiting in the rain for the bus that may or may not arrive to pick you up on time or otherwise is uniquely miserable. I had been pretty fortunate with my connections that stormy day. My bus from work to the connection stop pulled in a couple of minutes early.  This happens on rainy days because people who don't have to be out are not out which means fewer stops.  Anyway, at the connection site, it was raining in torrents, and the connecting buses weren't there yet.  At this point, my fellow riders got off the bus. I was flabbergasted.  The bus we were on wasn't scheduled to depart for ten minutes or so and, optimistically, the connecting buses were not due for about five minutes.  Oh yes, it must be the wonderful new shelters that were built with the best interest of riders.  Well, no - not actually.  The new shelters are about one-third the size of the old ones; no one can be sheltered from anything in those.  The driver was out of his seat for a break from sitting making it obvious that he wasn't leaving imminently. Still, I was the only one left.  I had no intention of stepping out there until I absolutely had to.  When my bus arrived a couple of minutes later, I hopped out and ran the thirty feet to the bus and got drenched even with my rain gear.  Drenched.  That's how hard it was raining.  You can only imagine the others.
To my surprise, we had a new bus driver on my last bus home (bus number0741) .  In literature, lots of water is usually interpreted as a renewal, a rebirth, a new beginning.  Could it be that that ride would be a gentler, but still effective ride home?  I get crazy sometimes.  A cockeyed optimist, I guess.  The woman was so rude, I almost missed the old driver who pretends to be a deaf mute.  She yelled at a passenger for accidentally indicating a stop prematurely.  Hey, it's hard enough for us passengers to see out the bus windows with all the advertising wraps on the buses, not to mention the white muck (to be discussed in the future) that never gets cleaned, then add pouring rain in the dark.  Really, she scolded loudly a grown man who had already apologized for his error!  She was every bit as aggressive in her driving as the last guy, muttering to the drivers in front of her as if they could hear her barrage of complaints.  She arrived at the special junction, discussed in previous posts, six minutes early.  Again, the rain makes that easier...fewer stops...  The twist here is she didn't wait until her scheduled departure time.  She left six minutes early.  The joining bus wasn't even in yet??!!!!!  So, in torrential rain, the passengers expecting to transfer to my bus got to wait out in that pouring rain in an ineffective shelter for more than thirty minutes.  I can only hope they called often to complain about that situation.  The riders need to call in, clog the lines, but they also need to write to their Broward County Commissioners.  The county treats the riders of Broward County Transit without regard for service or wellbeing.  Maybe I'll start handing out addressed envelopes with letters of discontent addressed to the commissioners.  Hmmmm.  I'm percolating.

Until next time...

I remain Condemned to Broward County Transit

Broward County Transportation September 24, 2012

Why does Broward County Transit breed so much ill-will?  Well, this evening, the bus I was on (bus #0129) pulled up five minutes early to the corner where a transfer of passengers takes place; the connecting bus wasn't there yet.  It pulled up at 5:41pm, less than a minute before my bus was supposed to leave.  My bus driver took off as soon as the on-board clock clicked over to 5:42.  Passengers from the connecting bus were making their way over, one guy had a walker, and it was threatening to rain, but the driver didn't care.  I even asked, "Why not wait a second?"  The guy is a deaf mute or, at least, he pretends to be. (He doesn't hear anybody asking for assistance either.)

 What was that?!?  Was he mocking those people.  He waited five minutes just to take off when they arrive and try to catch the bus???  Really?!  To me that says, "In your faces, stupid passengers!" Is this guy on some kind of power trip?  I guess he had the power to ruin evenings, and he used it to do just that.  I was always taught that you represent the company you work for.  Broward County Transit, this is one of your representatives.  You all must be so proud.

I still haven't heard back from the supervisor of drivers regarding my complaint.  I guess I'll ramp it up and start copying in my Broward County Commissioner.

More to come...

Until then, I remain Condemned to Broward County Transit.