An Open Letter to OC Transpo

Dear OC Transpo;

I'm writing on behalf of all the riders who sat on the corner of Bank and Queen today for forty five minutes, plus, waiting for their buses to arrive.

In light of the recent strike, the inevitable price hike and the general poor quality of drivers, customer service and well, anything resembling any sense of respect or gratitude that it is our hard earned money paying your wages, I have to admit that you are all useless wads of flesh.

No, really. I have seen strung out mdrug-users do more useful things with their burned out existence that your twisted sense of service in this town. You should be ashamed. Truly, deeply ashamed.

Not only was I one of the VERY few people who defended you during the strike, I was willing and eager to return to riding the bus so I could visit my friends, return to my normal work hours, shop for more then a two days worth of groceries, etc. You know, return to normal transit riding life. I even grinned and bore the rude, defensive behavior your drivers extended as a way to keep themselves from being skived by angry users who felt gipped by what you pulled over the holiday season.

(By the way, that was insanely tactless and you do know you'll all be rotting in the hot place for that.)

Heck I even defended a driver who was faced with a rude man who started to swear off at him, but mostly because I didn't want my peaceful morning disrupted by the so-called security task force you've enlisted to help keep the buses safe. I say 'so called' because more often then naught, I've been witness to their belligerence towards riders before the riders themselves returned belligerence with belligerence. Really, we're suppose to be friendly Canadians, not aggressive hate-monger's here. Get a hold of your inadequacy issues and try dealing with people in a civilized manner. You might get a better response and hey! Maybe even a genuine show of respect from us! I know, shocking, you lot actually earning respect...utterly shocking.

I digress.

This last few weeks I understand that service has been slowed along the Wellington St. routes because of the Tamil protesters (refraining from starting a rant about THAT lot...sheesh) but if you INSIST on rerouting traffic, PLEASE, PLEASE let the riders know! The first time, on April 7th when the protesters streamed on to Wellington, can be understood. It was unforeseeable. But today, when it was announced that the protest was going to reach well into the thousands, you could have at least shown an iota of intelligence and contacted the media about the buses being rerouted down Slater. Or even sending one of your many over paid under worked employee's driving around in their nice Dodge Chargers to place a 'Not In Service' sign on the stop. Foresight, again, clearly eludes you flesh-wads.

Here is why I think this would have been brilliant. 1) the elderly woman who was at the stop on Bank and Queen long before I arrived. 2) the mother with her child, 3) the fact that the Quebec buses were still streaming down Wellington, clearly showing that yes, Wellington was in fact clear and moving quite quickly.

Then, when I was graciously interrupted my reading by a very kind gentleman who asked me how long I was waiting, complained that he was late for work again because of OC Transpo, stormed off up Bank to see he could flag a cab and spied the buses turning off Albert on Bank.

Sonofabitch.

We kindly alerted the crowd of displeased riders to this fact and made our way to the stop where the buses were indeed picking up passengers.

When my bus came, I waited until everyone boarded and I asked the driver, politely, because you know civility gets you much further in life then most (ie. oc transpo employee's) would believe, if he could call his supervisor and have someone sent to the stop on Bank and Queen to alert the next crowd that the buses have been rerouted.
The driver, I kid you not, told me 'that wasn't his job and if I had a problem with the buses, I should contact customer service,'. Not his job! Can you believe that!? I nearly died. I was stunned. I'm doing him one better and calling him on his pig-ignorance and sheer laziness and writing this (which I do plan, on btw forwarding to OC Transpo after I reread and edit out the curses,) then I'm forwarding it onto all the media in Ottawa because frankly, this business needs to stop, its ridiculous.

Seriously.

So fed up with this crap.

Dedication...

to the fucks of the ATU and City of Ottawa

I found this article online while closing shop at work, (mostly killing time while working the desk this evening). It brought tears to my eyes.

For those of you who read my blog and don't live in the city of Ottawa, spend five minutes and google Ottawa's Bus Strike and prepare to be enraged. Especially if you rely on public transit.

Survivor

Lady Catalyst, and Ms. And Then Some, you know this makes you mad!

also...D. and G?! HI!!!!! -coughs- proof my blog isn't my online rantfest...I do occasionally post something other then my cah-rah-zhey family.

Why O.C. Transpo Sucks

I've been considering writing this blog for a few weeks now, I've been putting it off because one of the many things I said I would adjust about myself was my negative opinions on various subject but I find, day by day, bus trip by bus trip many reasons why public transportation in this city sucks.

I think it all came about when the Metro ( a free daily newspaper) put out an article that said that customer service complaints were on the rise, but oc transpo didn't know why because when ever they monitored drivers they always seemed to run on time and be pictures of civility. They don't know why customers complain about the service they recieve?

Well as a person who relies on the bus to get her anywhere in the city she can't bike in the summer, or anywhere at all in the winter, I can list MANY reasons why people complain.

Most commonly is the frequency of the buses, and how often they don't run on time. If a schedule says the bus is going to be there at 4:30 you can bet you frozen little tooshy it's already gone by, or you'll be waiting an extrat ten to fifteen minutes for it.

Today's reason why OC Transpo sucks-->

The infamous 2 Route.
It never runs on time. Even when it's running late, you can lay good odds that you'll be waiting a half hour at least for it, even though its a high-traffic route with scheduled stops every 10 to 15 minutes you KNOW not to bother running to the stop cause it WILL be late. When it does come, the first bus is JAM packed full of people, and the second bus that just breezes by is emptier then a zombie-crawled grave.

Whilst standing, waiting for the 2, it arrives, late and full of people, this time...no second empty bus and I'm freezing so I get on. I fight to the back of the bus through the ignorami standing at the doors and I get to a place where I can stand, when the bell rings and the people shuttling off the bus fight to the door. The bus goes on through, passing the requested stop with out even slowing down.

This incites irrate people who'd probably been waiting as long as I had for the bus to start yelling. The driver ignores them and carries on to the next stop, three blocks away, leaving little old ladies, mothers with kids to BACK-TRACK to their stop to carry on home. I shrug and figure new driver doesn't know the route. It happens.
Next stop. Same thing. MORE irrate people. I start to wonder. This happens every other stop, including ignoring the people WAITING at the stops for the bus, leaving them in the blustery cold day for another bus, which being the 2 route, WILL BE LATE.

Now, I'm pissed because this is just plain ignorance on the bus-drivers behave and I'm starting to wonder if it's gonna happen to me. SHOCK and AWE it didn't, but I couldn't believe the unbelievable actions of the driver. WHO DOES THAT.

It is your job to STOP the BUS at the BUSSTOP when the STOP IS REQUESTED. Not carry on through to the next stop. You get OVERPAID to stop at peoples requests. And Its not like they waited to the very last second to ring the bell, no they gave AMPLE time for the bus driver to pull aside to the curb and let them off. Like they are OVERPAID to do.

What slayed me, is not two days after it was reported a car driver was killed for driving on the roads because talking on cell phone, the 2 route in the opposite direction goes FLYING by, ignoring the people at the stop, and the bus driver is on his cell, looking for the life of him like he was having the time of his life. Guess what...his bus was nearly empty and there was no bus behind him in sight.

Yah. Way to fucking go OCT and not knowing why you have so many customer complaints. TRY OPENING YOUR EYES AND ACTUALLY WATCHING WHAT YOUR DRIVERS ARE DOING!!!

idiots.