Flashes of Panic

Some names and locations have been obscured in a futile attempt to limit the amount of personal information about me available to anyone who knows how to use a search box.

From: [me]
Subject: MBTA Bus Route 101
Date: December 19, 2005 7:02:54 PM EST
To: lwebster@mbta.com

This afternoon, [A] and I set out for Northeastern University. We live on [a street] in Medford, so we walked down to the bus stop at the end of our street, at [specific location], intending to catch a [route number] bus to the Sullivan Square Orange Line station.

According to mbta.com, that bus route passes [intermediate landmark] at 1:23 PM, and again at 1:53 PM, on its way to Sullivan Square. Not wanting to miss a bus running early, we made a point of getting to the stop at 1:23. There were three others waiting at the stop, so we knew we hadn’t just missed a bus.

So we waited. And waited. And waited. By 1:40, we knew the 1:23 bus just wasn’t coming. By 2:00, we’d pretty much given up on the 1:53 bus as well, and we were cold and miserable standing on a breezy street corner waiting for a bus which never came. We gave up, walked back home, and drove our car to Wellington Station, where we paid to park and caught an Orange Line train.

Now, today wasn’t a particularly cold day, as New England winters go. The sun was even out. I shudder to think what it would be like to wait at that stop on a below-zero day, or one of those wonderful days when it’s around 35 degrees and raining.

I recognize that bus shelters are expensive, and that it’s difficult to keep busses on a schedule. However, if there was some predictability to the busses, at least people could minimize the amount of time they spend waiting out of shelter.

Furthermore, even if the busses were off schedule, if they ran at the scheduled frequency, at least your customers could be assured of not waiting any longer than (in this case) half an hour, at worst. Instead, it appears that the bus which was supposed to be at [intermediate landmark] at 1:23 PM wasn’t running at all.

We will be filing On-Time Service Guarantee reply cards as described in your Customer’s Bill of Rights. But far more than a free fare, we’d rather have bus service we can count on to be there when it’s supposed to.

Thank you for your concern,

[pjm]

Sure, 1:30 in the afternoon isn’t exactly rush hour. But you can’t just not run a bus because there aren’t going to be enough people to make it worth it—you said it would be there, and if there’s one person out there counting on that bus showing up, it should show up. That’s what it means to offer a service.

Update, 20 December: We got an apology from the T:

“I apologize about the poor service. There is no excuse for this. An operator called in sick and we were unable to cover the work. The normal follower on that trip was late as a result of the overflow of passengers. We currently have 27 new hires in training and expect to see service improve as a result. I encourage you to seek reimbursement as it is your right and I hope you continue to ride with us in the future. I think you will see a improvement in service. Again, I apologize for the poor service and I hope to serve you better going forward.”

That’s nice of them.

Now Playing: Up All Night (Frankie Miller Goes To Hollywood) from Hard Candy by Counting Crows