COTA CRIMES: Must Be the Full "Blood" Moon Total Eclipse and Mercury in Retrograde...

All Aboard COTA Crimes!

A veteran commuter, including almost two decades riding the coaches and rails of New York City's Metropolitan Transit Authority, I have been amazed at the lack of accountability on the part of the Central Ohio Transit Authority, particularly when it comes to the ineptitude and inconvenience of the system, and treatment of its customers. Unlike most metropolitan newspapers, The Columbus Dispatch barely covers this beat--I guess it's readers all are safely ensconced in their earth-killing machines and don't ever have to bother with riding the bus. Even now, most people look at me strange when I explain that I'm a bus rider and don't have a car. But even more astounding to me is the riding public's apparent willingness to endure rude drivers, bad service, nonexistent transfer procedures, and fare increases, just to name a few injustices. This blog will serve to document the abuses, highlight service lapses and shortcomings, and put the word out about discourteous drivers. Kudos will be provided when earned, and readers are encouraged to contribute accounts of their own experiences. It is hoped that the effort will result in the establishment of a commuter-advocacy organization like New York's Straphanger Campaign, to put the system's wheels to the fire. WE DESERVE BETTER!!!

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Must Be the Full "Blood" Moon Total Eclipse and Mercury in Retrograde...

No sooner than I had posted my previous post on the horrors of riding COTA on Game Day or during any other large public event occurring in Columbus, they did it again!

This time, I'm waiting for the Eastbound No. 2 to go grocery shopping at the East Main St. Kroger store, just on the border of the East Side and Bexley. It's scheduled to arrive at about 12:11 P.M., and I leave the apartment at 12:07. I notice someone else waiting at the stop--a pretty good sign the bus hasn't rolled by yet.

I like to go grocery shopping on Sunday because I pack my lunch everyday, and it doesn't make sense to shop earlier in the week so that things can have an extra day or two to sit in the refrigerator and spoil. I hate throwing out food. If I know what I'm going to get at the store, I can hustle through and actually make the return bus headed downtown, and the whole she-bang can be done in about 40 minutes. Of course, if I had a car, the time spent doing this chore would be cut by at least half.

I strike up a conversation with the other rider waiting at the stop, a pleasant woman in her 30s who was on her way to the WalMart in Whitehall. 12:15, 12:16, 12:17, no bus. We start to get worried; I suspect that the bus came early. "It didn't because I started walking down here from 17th and Main and I would have seen it if it had gone by," the woman assured me.

To pass the time, we trade war stories about riding COTA. We're getting pretty nervous now, so she calls COTA Customer Service (!) and inquires about the tardy bus.

Just then, it appears--way off schedule and 15 minutes late--at 12:25 P.M.!

We board, and I ask the driver, a blubber-faced, stringy-haired dude who wears nerd glasses and has never been particularly friendly to me or anyone else as far as I've noticed, why the bus was so late.

Instead of being kind and perhaps even offering an apology for the inconvenience his tardiness caused, he instead spat, "Call COTA and ask them!"

"We already did!" I retorted.

Maybe that total eclipse that is supposed to occur tonight is the problem. It's a "blood moon," a predictor of all kinds of calamity and chaos. And Mercury is in retrograde, too, which means missed appointments, meetings, miscommunication, and possibly MISSED BUSES....

That's it! Guess I'll blame it on the moon and the stars!