Finally, the road improvements around the terminal at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport are done, and just in time for the busy holiday travel season. In addition to the new parking structures that have been around for a while now, the $188 million program adds lanes and the skywalk (it would help if you didn?t have to take the stairs up to get to that) and generally make the experience of flying into and out of Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport even better. I?m no big fan of airports in general, but I think that this airport is a real gem for this region.
Anna writes: “The MTA bus shelters that have the lovely lighted advertising and intact seating were erected with private companies at their expense. The dilapidated ramshackle shelters in disrepair are the MTA shelters.
“Some of the bus drivers are fantastic, but most are average and some are unbelievably thuggish. Worse yet, some are so petite that I worry whether, if they have an unruly passenger ? I have seen some rough and belligerent passengers ? if they will be able to handle them.”
As noted previously, the state is expanding its program with the private company, so more of the shelters should be of the nicer variety.
Ralph writes: “I need to know, who I should call about the service. I?m on the bus stop 6 a.m. Monday through Friday. The last two weeks, the bus is so crowded, the driver will not stop ? or it just won?t come. I?ve been using this bus line for the last three years. I have never seen the service so poor. I called MTA and spoke with [name withheld] at 410-454-7222 about the service. I was told she would forward my complaint to her manager and I would receive notice of my complaint in the mail. That never happened. She also told me if I know the bus doesn?t show on time some days, maybe I should consider another way to get to work. Is this the answer customer service for MTA have for this problem? Can you help?”
The MTA customer service department said that a new complaint-tracking system is being put into place. That means that every complaint on a given line or a driver or whatever will get put into the same file. When enough appear, managers know there is a problem.
What does this mean to you? You should file a complaint any time there is a problem.
Is it going to get you immediate results? Probably not, but I would imagine that eventually the problem will be resolved by either adding more buses to the line or by changing the schedules. However, if the response of a customer service person working for the MTA is that you should consider taking another way to work, then I would suggest that that person needs to find a new line of work.
Questions, comments, random musings? Write to [email protected].
