What do you do when you encounter problems when riding the bus? And yeah, if you ride there will be problems... some big, some small. Most of the passengers I meet bitch and complain to other riders. "Typical," they say. And they tell me about similar situations they've encountered. But do they complain to anybody who can do something about the problem? Not usually, from what I've seen.
Some passengers call DART when they're mad about something, especially if a bus hasn't shown up and they want to know why. I'm not sure whether calls help or not. I have only called once, and that about a driver on a route 33 bus who was chronically taking off from Rodney Square one to three minutes early. When the bus took off early just as I was 15 feet from the door, and I realized that if it had departed on time I would not have missed my connection... again... I was irate. I called right then from my cell phone and I have to say that the DART customer service representative was polite and sympathetic. We checked my watch time to be sure it was accurate (it was) and she said she would bring it to the attention of a supervisor.
Usually, though, I've sent my complaints in e-mail. I suspect that may be more effective. One reason is that in an e-mail you can be very specific and provide accurate details: bus route, date, time, location. I generally save my complaints for things I think are fairly serious, and I have to say I've seen changes to mitigate the situations I complained about. Maybe a coincidence, but other riders are probably complaining about the same things, and it DOES seem like DART is listening.
For example, I complained in the past about the serious overcrowding on route 6 buses between rush hours. Drivers were declaring "bus full" and passing riders (like me) by, leaving them to wait 30-45 minutes for the next bus. I know others were complaining, including drivers, and sure enough, at the next service change the intervals between buses on route 6, during non-rush daytime hours, had been decreased to 20 minutes between Rodney Square and Prices Corner.
Some drivers display incredibly bad judgement, and when this happens you really should let DART know. Either by e-mail (probably most effective) or phone. You need to be specific about the date, time, location, and bus route if you expect any results. One Saturday morning I had a route 6 driver almost fail to pick me up from a stop on Union Street. She had been far over the speed limit, but did manage to stop about a half a block farther on, so I had to run down the street to board. When I politely (really!) suggested that she needed to drive a little slower in this area (it is residential with a 25 MPH limit), she informed me that there were too many parked cars along Union, so she couldn't see passengers at the stop. Therefore she needed me to stand "way out" so she could see me. I told her that this was a dangerous corner, with a lot of traffic turning right, and there was no way I would be standing in the street to wait. She said in that case, then, maybe next time she just wouldn't stop for me.
Now that was a driver who needed discipline. I e-mailed DART, related the story, and asked whether I was actually required to stand in the street. I eventually got a reply saying, no, DART does not recommend that passengers stand in the street to wait for buses, and that my information would be passed on to the driver's supervisor. I don't know if any action was taken, but I never had that particular problem again.
DART supervision of drivers seems pretty lax, to me. Maybe it's a training problem, too. The old-timers are generally professional, but behavior of a few of the newer drivers is amazingly bad. It seems to me that it is important for riders to pass on information about significantly bad driver comportment to the management. Because they will have no clue if we don't.
Some passengers call DART when they're mad about something, especially if a bus hasn't shown up and they want to know why. I'm not sure whether calls help or not. I have only called once, and that about a driver on a route 33 bus who was chronically taking off from Rodney Square one to three minutes early. When the bus took off early just as I was 15 feet from the door, and I realized that if it had departed on time I would not have missed my connection... again... I was irate. I called right then from my cell phone and I have to say that the DART customer service representative was polite and sympathetic. We checked my watch time to be sure it was accurate (it was) and she said she would bring it to the attention of a supervisor.
Usually, though, I've sent my complaints in e-mail. I suspect that may be more effective. One reason is that in an e-mail you can be very specific and provide accurate details: bus route, date, time, location. I generally save my complaints for things I think are fairly serious, and I have to say I've seen changes to mitigate the situations I complained about. Maybe a coincidence, but other riders are probably complaining about the same things, and it DOES seem like DART is listening.
For example, I complained in the past about the serious overcrowding on route 6 buses between rush hours. Drivers were declaring "bus full" and passing riders (like me) by, leaving them to wait 30-45 minutes for the next bus. I know others were complaining, including drivers, and sure enough, at the next service change the intervals between buses on route 6, during non-rush daytime hours, had been decreased to 20 minutes between Rodney Square and Prices Corner.
Some drivers display incredibly bad judgement, and when this happens you really should let DART know. Either by e-mail (probably most effective) or phone. You need to be specific about the date, time, location, and bus route if you expect any results. One Saturday morning I had a route 6 driver almost fail to pick me up from a stop on Union Street. She had been far over the speed limit, but did manage to stop about a half a block farther on, so I had to run down the street to board. When I politely (really!) suggested that she needed to drive a little slower in this area (it is residential with a 25 MPH limit), she informed me that there were too many parked cars along Union, so she couldn't see passengers at the stop. Therefore she needed me to stand "way out" so she could see me. I told her that this was a dangerous corner, with a lot of traffic turning right, and there was no way I would be standing in the street to wait. She said in that case, then, maybe next time she just wouldn't stop for me.
Now that was a driver who needed discipline. I e-mailed DART, related the story, and asked whether I was actually required to stand in the street. I eventually got a reply saying, no, DART does not recommend that passengers stand in the street to wait for buses, and that my information would be passed on to the driver's supervisor. I don't know if any action was taken, but I never had that particular problem again.
DART supervision of drivers seems pretty lax, to me. Maybe it's a training problem, too. The old-timers are generally professional, but behavior of a few of the newer drivers is amazingly bad. It seems to me that it is important for riders to pass on information about significantly bad driver comportment to the management. Because they will have no clue if we don't.
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