Madison Metro – Where’s My Bus?
Friday, December 19th, 2008I had an interesting bus trip down to campus today. For those of you out of the loop, Madison got hit with a pretty big snowstorm overnight and into this morning. Word on the street is that we got 9 to 12 inches of blowing, awful snow (can’t wait to go skiing this weekend!). Because of the timing, those of us with morning commutes had to struggle with roads waiting to be plowed. But I had an exam to proctor! I wasn’t about to be derailed by a little snow!
I walked to the bus stop at 9:10 and got there a little before 9:15. According to the Madison Metro website, busses were running 10-20 minutes behind. Fine, I said, I can wait. But 9:35 came and went. Before you knew it, it was 9:45. I got a hold of Tony who said the Metro website now reported that busses were running on time. Finally, at 10:10, the 14 bus going west came by. The driver graciously gestured me (and the other person waiting, who had gotten to the stop before I had!) over to the bus. She said she was going up to Westfield and then turning around (and becoming the 10:17, I would have taken had I known the 9:15 wasn’t going to show up).
That bus showed up just in time, as my feet were covered in snow from tromping through the unshoveled sidewalks and stairs of my apartment building. I really needed to warm up. I’m proud to say that I was able to wait 55 minutes, in the cold and blowing snow, but I wish I had just stayed in until the 10:17.
So, come on, Madison Metro – what is your problem? Even 30 minutes late, I would have understood. Things happen, the roads weren’t great. But to not come at all and to have no means of informing waiting passengers that the busses wouldn’t be arriving? Tony had the same problem last year, when I went to pick him up from the West Transfer Point. Busses weren’t coming, dozens stood waiting, and NO ONE WAS THERE TO GIVE THEM ANY NEW INFORMATION!
If you do raise bus fares to $2.00, thus jeopardizing the ASM bus pass, can you at least use the additional money to not leave passengers freezing in the foot deep snow?