My Transit Incident Log
For two years, I have kept a Transit Incident Log to track bus incidents such as lifts not working, pass-ups, or rude drivers. On November 22, I began keeping a log for bus incidents in Rochester, NY. I have reported each of the incidents to the Rochester Genesee Regional Transit Authority (RGRTA). I have also spoken of these incidents at the customer Town Hall Meetings.
I did receive a call back in November from the Director of Maintenance, who has since left. He verified each of my complaints, and told me that the 600 series buses are notorious for lift breakdowns, and will be discontinued. However, they are still out there on the street.
I have also had several incidences of pass-ups, which were recently verified by a street supervisor, who witnessed a pass-up. To date, I have had 20 incidents that I have been able to log, not counting about twelve incidents of pass-ups so swift that I was unable to get a bus number or other information.
Perhaps twenty incidents in 3 months is acceptable to some, but not to me. Something must be done about this, and “I’m sorry” is meaningless if nothing further is done.
I arrived in Rochester, NY on November 18, 2006, and rode the bus for the first time on November 22, 2006.
Transit Incident Log
November
11/22/06: 6:07 pm. State/Jay. Route 1 Park Avenue, Eastbound. I asked to be let off at St. Paul/Main, but when I reached the stop, I realized that it was the wrong stop, and asked the driver to let me off at Clinton/Main, which is 1 block East. The driver swore violently and at length at me, then, drove one-half of a block, and put me off, saying that he would go no further. I reported this to RGRTA, and to Mark Aesch, CEO of RGRTA.
11/29/06: 9:45 am. St. Paul/Main, Westbound. Route 10 Dewey. The lift would not work. I asked the driver to call it in, but he eventually got it to work.
11/29/06: 5:15 pm. State/Jay, Eastbound. Route 10 Portland, bus 683. The lift would not work. The driver said that he would call it in. I called, and made a complaint to RGRTA.
11/30/06: 8:45 am. St. Paul/Main, Westbound. Route 10 Dewey, bus 662. The lift would not work, and the driver was very rude. He did call this in, and eventually, got the lift to work. I called RGRTA to complain about the lift, and the general bad service.
December
12/13/06: 5:12 pm. State/Jay, Eastbound. Route 10 Portland, bus 672. The lift would not work. The driver says that he called it in.
12/19/06: 8:35 am. St. Paul/Main, Westbound. Route 10 Dewey, bus 651. The lift did not work.
January
1/25/07: 12:15 pm. State/Jay, Westbound. Driver would not let me on the bus. I called RGRTA.
1/31/07: 10:28 am. Clinton/Byron, Northbound. Route 11, bus 609. The lift would not work. The driver said that he would call RGRTA.
February
2/6/07: 5:39 pm. State/Jay, Westbound. Route 10 Dewey. Bus would not stop. RGRTA closed, so couldn’t make complaint that day. Followed up the next day.
2/8/06: 5:34 pm. State/Jay, Eastbound. Route 1 Park Avenue, bus 1126. The lift would not work. The driver said that he would call it in.
2/13/07: 5:33 pm. State/Jay, Eastbound. Route 1 Park Avenue, bus 605. The diver said that the lift would not work. He refused to try it. I called RGRTA Operations to let them know.
2/13/07: 5:52 pm. State/Jay, Eastbound. Route 10 Dewey, bus 663. The lift did not work. I called RGRTA Operations, and they sent a bus.
2/13/07: 9:10 pm. State/Church, Eastbound. Route 3, bus 126. The driver did not properly kneel the bus; therefore, the ramp was too steep. He refused to help me get on until I told him that I would call the police and request assistance from them. Meanwhile, all of the passengers on the bus were yelling at me because they did not want me on the bus. The driver did not put a stop to this. When I got off at my stop, they began yelling again because they did not want the driver to take the time to lower the ramp so that I could get off. I reported this to RGRTA, and also spoke of this incident to the customer Town Hall meeting at which Steve Hendershott, the COO was present.
2/22/07: 9:46 am. St. Paul/Main, Westbound. Route 10 Dewey. Driver passed me up. I called RGRTA to complain.
March
3/1/07: 8:54 am. St. Paul/Main, Westbound. Route 10, bus 682. The lift would not work. I called RGRTA.
3/1/07: 9:06 am. St. Paul/Main, Westbound. Route 10, bus 611. The lift would not work. I called in a complaint to RGRTA.
3/2/07: 10:54 am. State/Jay, Westbound. Route 10 Dewey, bus 609. The lift would not work when I tried to get off at my stop. Finally, the driver was able to get the lift to deploy, but once I was off of the bus, the lift would not stow.
3/2/07: 3:16 pm. State/Jay, Eastbound. Route 10 Portland ending at main/Clinton. Driver would not let me on the bus, saying that another 10 would be along shortly. This bus was a ramp bus, not a lift bus. I called this one in to RGRTA.
3/5/07: 9:03 am. St. Paul/Main, Westbound. Route 10 Dewey, bus 613. Lift would not work. I called in to RGRTA.
3/7/07: 9:04 am. St. Paul/Main, Westbound. Route 10 Dewey, bus 664. Lift would not work. I called in to RGRTA.
I am so disgusted with RGRTA and its culture of poor service and disrespect towards people with disabilities that I have filed an ADA complaint with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). I called first to see if my complains had any merit, and spoke with Michael Winter, Director of the Office of Civil Rights, and David Knight, Director of the ADA division. Both of them agreed that my complaints had merit, and instructed me to fax a copy of my log, which I did. I will keep you abreast of things, and update my log, as well.