Many years ago I decided NEVER to ride VIA bus again, the reason: at the last minute my vehicle would not start, I had no choice but to catch the bus to my children father's funeral. I was on time, I was sitting at the bus stop looking down crying wiping away my tears, the bus driver decided to pass me up. I missed his funeral, this is unforgivable. Tonight, it is freezing, 25 degrees, my daughter caught the wrong bus. When she asked the bus driver for guidance to get on the right path he told her to get off the bus. He dropped her off in the middle of an unfamiliar neighborhood.
It is dark outside, nighttime. She has no idea on how to get back to at least one of the VIA Transit Centers where she will be safe and get back on track. These bus drivers are rude, don't care and suffer from an attitude that they are above riders. They treat riders as second class. VIA gets funding to get citizens to ride the bus, they fail at that. To get people to ride the bus is the reason VIA uses to get federal money. Riding the bus is a full time job, to get to and from one place, for instance go to the doctor, it will be an hour and a half each way at least (2 hours is not unheard of).
Take into consideration that's 3 hours round trip, a doctor's visit is about an hour. We are now at 4 hours, include walking to and from the bus stop, that is another 40 minutes (20 minutes each way), add at least 20 minutes each for waiting for the bus (to and from), we are now up to 5 hours. This is a lenient time frame. This is not an exaggeration. VIA staffers ride the bus once a week to work. That is not going to give them a clear picture. If they were to ride the bus on a Saturday to run an errand or to go to church on Sunday but do so undercover they would see the dysfunctional company they work for.
They'd be calling Uber. Admin do know the problems, riders send complaints. Admin don't HAVE to ride the bus so they too are like the bus drivers who don't HAVE to care and they don't. We need better leadership. VIA does not care about riders. I could go on about the bus shelters, the routes, the bus stop locations, VIA needs a major overhaul. In the meantime do what most citizens do, do whatever it takes NOT to ride the bus, your health, mental state and soul will benefit better.
VIA Metropolitan Transit Reviews
Many years ago I decided NEVER to ride VIA bus again, the reason: at the last minute my vehicle would not start, I had no choice but to catch the bus to my children father's funeral. I was on time, I was sitting at the bus stop looking down crying wiping away my tears, the bus driver decided to pass me up. I missed his funeral, this is unforgivable. Tonight, it is freezing, 25 degrees, my daughter caught the wrong bus. When she asked the bus driver for guidance to get on the right path he told her to get off the bus. He dropped her off in the middle of an unfamiliar neighborhood.
It is dark outside, nighttime. She has no idea on how to get back to at least one of the VIA Transit Centers where she will be safe and get back on track. These bus drivers are rude, don't care and suffer from an attitude that they are above riders. They treat riders as second class. VIA gets funding to get citizens to ride the bus, they fail at that. To get people to ride the bus is the reason VIA uses to get federal money. Riding the bus is a full time job, to get to and from one place, for instance go to the doctor, it will be an hour and a half each way at least (2 hours is not unheard of).
Take into consideration that's 3 hours round trip, a doctor's visit is about an hour. We are now at 4 hours, include walking to and from the bus stop, that is another 40 minutes (20 minutes each way), add at least 20 minutes each for waiting for the bus (to and from), we are now up to 5 hours. This is a lenient time frame. This is not an exaggeration. VIA staffers ride the bus once a week to work. That is not going to give them a clear picture. If they were to ride the bus on a Saturday to run an errand or to go to church on Sunday but do so undercover they would see the dysfunctional company they work for.
They'd be calling Uber. Admin do know the problems, riders send complaints. Admin don't HAVE to ride the bus so they too are like the bus drivers who don't HAVE to care and they don't. We need better leadership. VIA does not care about riders. I could go on about the bus shelters, the routes, the bus stop locations, VIA needs a major overhaul. In the meantime do what most citizens do, do whatever it takes NOT to ride the bus, your health, mental state and soul will benefit better.