30 Days of Plight. Stephen Dare goes JTA every day.

[thelakelander]

Perhaps this is one of the reasons our bus system is not seeing significant increases in ridership, due to higher gas prices, like most systems in major cities are enjoying.  Sounds like another reason that makes rail more desirable and another point to exposing the foolishness of moving forward with bus rapid transit here. 

[stephendare]

Day T-2 (the saturday before the official 30 days)

The JTA shenanigans are a little too egregious to deal with.

There are only two conclusions to be drawn from today's first experience.  Either something is seriously wrong with me, or JTA is hiring their bus drivers solely from a pool of ex corrections officers, who largely need psychiatric attention.

From the shady corner of 6th and Main, I caught the E5.

After brutally offending the bus driver with a question so insulting that I felt lucky to have escaped a public flogging----, i.e. "How close do you get to Forsythe and Main?", I fumbled for the newfound wonder of my 40 dollar Month Pass.

"Here is my pass" I flashed it at him, hoping perhaps to curry back the favor I had already lost with my first question. 

"You have to swipe it." he said rolling his eyes.

This was a bit of a surprise.  No one had really mentioned swiping the damned thing.  I looked around for somewhere to do the swiping.  There is a little hotel door key looking slot thing on the pay tower.   

"There?"

The Busdriver, and it was not my imagination, began staring holes through me, in an attempt to drill straight through my heathen soul.  He waited until I got the card completely out of its little plastic protector and was about to attempt my first swipe.

"Is it July 1?" he asked venomously.

"No?" I responded wondering what the combination of venom and date question was about.

"Then why are you trying to use that pass?"

"Well I picked up the pass yesterday and they said it would be good for the busses"  Looking down at the pass, I did notice that the word 'July' was printed on it large as life.

"You cannot use that pass and they didnt tell you it would be good."

This last line was delivered in such a way as to question either my competence or manhood.  I decided to ignore it.

"Well what do I do?"

Apparently cash was the only option.  I grubbed around in pocket, produced bills, managed about 70 bucks in 10s and 20s.

"All I have is 10s and 20s, do you have change?"

"No."

I looked around imploringly at the, by now riveted, passengers.  With no disrespect, none of the people on the bus were likely to have change for a 10, except one pleasant woman near the front.  She didnt.

The bus slammed to a wrenching sudden stop, nearly catapulting me into the windshield and causing the pleasant looking woman to grab a panic bar to keep in her seat.

"Sir you will have to get off the bus."

This seemed a little unreasonable to me, and I interjected.  Look, I obviously have a 40 dollar month pass and plenty of cash, its clear Im not trying to defraud the JTA of a hard earned dollar.  Cant I just stay on until we get to the station?

Silence.  The driver opened the bus door.

By now the bus had travelled to the east side of springfield down 1st street.   On a Saturday Morning, there isnt an open business to get change for what seems like miles.  The bus driver knew this.  Dropping me off so far from civilization was a deliberate fuck you.

So I asked him his name.

"What do you need my name for?!"

Just curious.

"You don't need my name.!"

"Actually you are supposed to give me your name"  I peered around to look at his badge.  He manuevered his body so that I would have had to climb into his lap to see it.

"What do you need it for, then I'll tell you my name"

"Well actually Im going to make a voodoo doll for the JTA, and it helps during the burning ceremony if I can chant your name over it."

Clearly he knew a smartass when he saw one.  (By now the pleasant looking woman was shaking her head ruefully)

"You tell whoever you want to.  My name is (unintelligible) Brinson."

I got off and walked the additional 12 or so blocks, cursing the name of JTA to the skies.

I wonder how many people have had a similar experience where the customer loyalty or positive experience was tossed to the maws of the transit hellhounds for the sake of that stupid dollar?

Yeah, how easy would it have been to have accommodated a passenger?

And the guy was really gruff and mean.

[gatorback]

Oh god.  That's horrible.  I have no response to that other then  "Damn".

[Lunican]

The Green Line in Boston will let you ride free if you don't have your money ready just so they can stay on schedule.

If they are running late they don't collect fare from anyone. I'm not sure if that's their official policy but it happens every time I'm there.

[second_pancake]

Holy crap!  This makes so much sense now.  Those JTA drivers really ARE buttwipes.  And to think, I was giving them the benefit of the doubt everytime they drove their buses up my arse when riding my bike...not to mention when they drive in the bike lane 300 yards before their designated stop. 

Maybe I'm just a trouble maker, but I wouldn't have gotten off the bus.  Just think, if it got bad then it would've been all over the news and JTA's complete incompetence would've been exposed for the whole city to see.

[stephendare]

Day 1

Getting to San Marco from Downtown.

Step 1.  Call JTA.  630-3100.
Talked to an extremely friendly and intelligent customer service agent named Justin.

This was a real highlight.

My question to Justin was how could I get from Downtown to San Marco.
Apparently there isnt a quick way to see all of that information at once on JTA's computers.

Instead he had an address of a boutique in San Marco, Anthony's I believe.

He asked me exactly where I was looking to go, and then he ran all of the possible busses.

SS-2, SS-3, L-9 and B-7 (which I already knew from a prior fellow passenger).

Finally, he let me know exactly where each of the stops would let me off and how far I would have to walk to my destination.

The Skyway, incidentally is a smooth piece of work for downtown.  I hopped on the skyway at Hemming Plaza using the 40 dollar monthly pass (there is a swiper at the turnstyle.) and was able to make the turnstyle work for the first time in months.

I was so intrigued by this, that I stepped back out and dropped 50 cents in to see if that worked as well.

It didnt.   Strange. 

Anyways, hopped onto the skyway, made it to the B-7 bus within 4 minutes and was in San Marco 10 minutes later.

Whoever this kid Justin is, they need to promote his ass and let him teach others how to deal with the public.

[mikemiller]

We at the JTA are very interested in following Stephen's "adventure." In fact, we have talked about getting together during this period and after its conclusion to discuss some of his discoveries and observations. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our service and having someone like Stephen ride the system for a mointh straight and log his observations can be very beneficial for everyone. By the way, to Lunican's posting, I don't know where he got that! The JTA does not [b] stop the bus and charge an additional fare to cross the intracoastal. Think about it logically for a moment. Could you imagine how long it would take to stop a bus, walk up and down the aisle, and require everyone to pay again? Not only that, but it is our policy that operators not handle or carry any cash (security reasons, of course). That's why we require exact change. One note to Stephen's first day, if you recall, you said that you were going to pick up your pass on Monday. That was July 1st! You asked about a monthly pass for the month of JULY. That doesn't mean June 30th. C'mon, Stephen, be fair here!

[thebrokenforum]

Wow...kudos for not flipping out. I wish I could say that it's uncommon behavior for JTA drivers but it's not. Are you planning on calling and filing a compliant?

Perhaps this is one of the reasons our bus system is not seeing significant increases in ridership...

I think so. I think that people would rather carpool, walk, bike etc. than have to deal with stuff like that. All it takes is once to leave a sour taste in your mouth and then bam, no one wants to ride. It's not bad enough that the buses run late or even at all or that it's hot out or even that you have to ride in some shady areas but the driver should be the least of one's worries. I know they have to put up with a lot of stuff from passengers but this is ridiculous. Him being difficult about giving his name proves he knew he was in the wrong. he probably didn't expect you to challenge him.

Again, with the problems so varied and numerous, if anyone from the city is reading this: take a surprise ride on your own public transportation. See what you're missing.

This kind of stuff should be on the news. I wish you had a video log of the incident. Morgan Spurlock would eat this stuff up.   

[David]

Steph: if you are riding JTA you will first want to invest in a good pair of walkers. And not having to be on time might be a good thing to work out with you boss, family friends and your church trust me.

as the saying goes...."what time does the 3 o'clock bus show up?....3:15, duh!"

[stephendare]

We at the JTA are very interested in following Stephen's "adventure." In fact, we have talked about getting together during this period and after its conclusion to discuss some of his discoveries and observations. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our service and having someone like Stephen ride the system for a mointh straight and log his observations can be very beneficial for everyone. By the way, to Lunican's posting, I don't know where he got that! The JTA does not [b] stop the bus and charge an additional fare to cross the intracoastal. Think about it logically for a moment. Could you imagine how long it would take to stop a bus, walk up and down the aisle, and require everyone to pay again? Not only that, but it is our policy that operators not handle or carry any cash (security reasons, of course). That's why we require exact change. One note to Stephen's first day, if you recall, you said that you were going to pick up your pass on Monday. That was July 1st! You asked about a monthly pass for the month of JULY. That doesn't mean June 30th. C'mon, Stephen, be fair here!

Hey Mike!
Just learning how to get around on the system, as well as use the tools.
And it wouldnt have killed the bus driver to let a passenger go to the FCCJ station and let a supervisor sort it out.
There is a reason why so few people ride the bus, and the customer service is among them.
I have good stories to tell as well, but that experience was bad.

This is kind of fun, btw.  If I had a real job, I think Id be screwed though.

Ill find out next week as I attempt the commuter routes to the southside.

Mike.   Find out who trained  your boy Justin.  He gave the experience that EVERYONE should be having.

[stephendare]

Wow...kudos for not flipping out. I wish I could say that it's uncommon behavior for JTA drivers but it's not. Are you planning on calling and filing a compliant?

Perhaps this is one of the reasons our bus system is not seeing significant increases in ridership...

I think so. I think that people would rather carpool, walk, bike etc. than have to deal with stuff like that. All it takes is once to leave a sour taste in your mouth and then bam, no one wants to ride. It's not bad enough that the buses run late or even at all or that it's hot out or even that you have to ride in some shady areas but the driver should be the least of one's worries. I know they have to put up with a lot of stuff from passengers but this is ridiculous. Him being difficult about giving his name proves he knew he was in the wrong. he probably didn't expect you to challenge him.

Again, with the problems so varied and numerous, if anyone from the city is reading this: take a surprise ride on your own public transportation. See what you're missing.

This kind of stuff should be on the news. I wish you had a video log of the incident. Morgan Spurlock would eat this stuff up.   

See MikeMiller, BF.  Hes one of the big Kahunas over at JTA (and a very likable fellow)

[Lunican]

Thanks for clearing up the process for additional fare collection over the intracoastal Mike. I did think about it logically and that's why I was concerned about what I had heard. Glad to hear it's not true.

[David]

from my experience in cities like NY & Chicago the bus drivers are a bit strict on the exact change rule. In New York of course, they kicked me off the bus and told me to get correct change and wait for the next.

In Seattle the particular bus I rode was a bit more forgiving, he just took the extra .50.

I've never quite understood the exact change rule either, if i'm willing to pay an extra .50 just so I can keep the flow going, what's the problem?

[stephendare]

All of those cities also issue transfers though, whereas JTA doesnt.  If you have to take two busses to get to your destination and you only ride one of the buses 8 blocks, you still have to pay the full fare.

Boston, San Francisco, Atlanta, Seattle and Vancouver all have a 'don't piss off the customer' philosophy.  I dont know if its the chicken or the egg, but their routes are also packed all the time.

In my particular instance the smallest bill I had was a 10.  That and the attitude.

[BridgeTroll]

We at the JTA are very interested in following Stephen's "adventure." In fact, we have talked about getting together during this period and after its conclusion to discuss some of his discoveries and observations. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our service and having someone like Stephen ride the system for a mointh straight and log his observations can be very beneficial for everyone. By the way, to Lunican's posting, I don't know where he got that! The JTA does not [b] stop the bus and charge an additional fare to cross the intracoastal. Think about it logically for a moment. Could you imagine how long it would take to stop a bus, walk up and down the aisle, and require everyone to pay again? Not only that, but it is our policy that operators not handle or carry any cash (security reasons, of course). That's why we require exact change. One note to Stephen's first day, if you recall, you said that you were going to pick up your pass on Monday. That was July 1st! You asked about a monthly pass for the month of JULY. That doesn't mean June 30th. C'mon, Stephen, be fair here!

Welcome to the forum!  Glad to see you will be following along.  Though it may be hard to see at times... most folks here are interested in improving the system rather than bashing it.