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!!!

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Stop the Bus, I Want to Get Off!

I am furious. Thanks, COTA.

It seems ever since the massive overhaul of the bus route and schedule system occurred back in May, the authority has yet to get its shit together.

More on that later, but this episode today seems typical:

I was scheduled to attend a training session on the East Side near Easton this afternoon. I had signed up for it a month ago, after getting special permission to participate, and after not being able to attend a previous session in August. Well, I'll be signing up for the next session in October because it turns out I wouldn't have made it to the session today on time, and latecomers were not to be permitted past the 4:30 cut-off time.

I left the apartment just after 3, intending to take the No. 2 Eastbound to Downtown, which was scheduled to be at my stop at 3:09. I waited, and waited, and waited. Finally, about 3:20, a bus pulls up, its tardiness prevented me from making a connection downtown at 3:26 that would have had me not only on time but 20 minutes early. I still had a chance to make it though, so I continued onward.

After crawling through downtown at a snail's pace, finally got to North High and Gay streets, where I was told the No. 9 to Brentnell and Easton could be boarded. I boarded a No. 9, which indicated it was going to Brentnell, only to find that it was actually going to West Mound Street--the opposite way I wanted to go. The driver let me off at East Mound and South High streets, and the other 9 stop was just a block away near the Southern Theater. I briskly walked over only to see a few buses stop and move on--including the 9 I needed! Next bus not until 4:18, which would have made me at least 20 minutes late.

As I stood on East Main Street and fumed, I also attempted to send an email to my colleague in charge of the training to explain my dilemma. But that, too, was a wash: I activated a new phone over the weekend, and have yet to successfully send messages or retrieve phone mail. And as I composed the auto-word function somehow got turned on, which was driving me nuts, and I couldn't turn it off, and I said fuck it and decided to wait until I got home to tell him the bad news.

As soon as I stepped off the bus, the alarm for a car parked right in the front of the bus went off inexplicably as they are wont to do, deafening me with its annoying whine, and capping yet another unpleasant COTA experience.

I've had it with tech and buses today, to be sure!





Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)