There have been a few glitches with the shuttle bus service set up by the Maryland Transit Administration between the Owings Mills and Old Court stations.
This was set up as a work-around for the track work that is being done. From time to time, passengers have shown up and there were no buses to get them to the next station where they could resume their trip.
I have to say, though, that more often than not, things appear to be going rather well, and I have received very few complaints from passengers.
The only thing I would suggest is that every effort be made to make sure there are enough buses to keep people moving during the morning rush hours. It doesn?t matter if we are a couple of minutes late getting home in the afternoon, but the boss generally isn?t too happy about us showing up late to work regardless of the excuse.
BUS DRIVERS STILL USING CELL PHONES
Leslie, who always has kind things to say, writes with two thoughts:
“One, there are still buses out on MTA routes with broken fare boxes. I don?t know why I am so upset about that, but I suppose it is simply symptomatic of a system that is broken. You have published my letter regarding this issue before, and with it, the MTA response that they are not losing ?that much revenue, because most people have daily or weekly/monthly bus passes already.? That seems to me such distorted reasoning!
“Secondly, MTA BUS DRIVERS ARE STILL USING CELL PHONES AS THEY DRIVE! This is insane, and the first bus accident due to cell phone usage will be regretful. Why can?t MTA get their drivers to comply? I take the No. 8 bus from Ridgley Road/Lutherville and have seen drivers make the right turn onto York Road with one hand. It is dumbfounding to me.”
The only way we?re going to stop these drivers from talking on their phones while driving and putting everyone?s lives at risk is to report them each and every time we see it happening. As we have noted, it is only through riders? complaints that the MTA will send a supervisor to monitor the driver at work. The supervisors are the only ones who can effect change, but they will not go out and ride the bus with the offending drivers unless we notify them of the problem.
