I am grateful for your services. As a student, I purchased a year bus pass for only $60. Because of the bus system, I am able to navigate the city on my own and not make car payments I cannot afford. Since I live in Provo but work in Springville, I am reliant on the bus every day. I usually also take the bus to and from BYU campus in the mornings. I appreciate this service especially at this time as I have foot problems and walking is often very painful.
Although I usually am able to take the 831 bus home after my 10:00 classes, it seems that I am consistently missing it lately. I often arrive at the bus stop as the 831 is pulling away. This is frustrating, but what is more frustrating is the fact that the bus is leaving early. The bus is scheduled to leave that stop at 11:00. The bus driver consistently leaves at 10:58. I understand that perhaps her watch is fast, but according to the clocks on BYU campus and my own clock---which is regulated by the Cingular phone network---she is leaving early. When I got home, I compared the time on my cell phone to the time listed on an official government site that indicates exact time. The time on my phone is exactly correct. Two minutes makes a huge difference to students who have to make it from one end of campus to the other in order to catch their bus.
Today was particularly frustrating. I arrived at the stop, again, two minutes early, as the bus driver was pulling away. I was able to catch up to the bus about 10 yards away from the stop, but the bus driver refused to open the door to me. I understand that there is a policy that bus drivers cannot stop the bus to let people on or off between stops---to my understanding, it causes insurance problems---but I believe that there should also be a policy of punctuality.
While late buses are a nuisance, early buses are unacceptable. The difference that these two minutes made to the bus driver is that she was able to sit at the end of her route for two extra minutes before turning around to complete the route again. The difference that the two minutes make to me is that I am unable to get home and change to my work clothes in time to make it to the bus that takes me to Springville. I will be a half hour late to work today because the bus driver left two minutes early.
And now for the Daltonboy Complaintive License Tally!
- It didn't actually hurt my feet at all to walk home today. But I do have a foot condition. It just wasn't painful today.
- But my legs hurt. Because I've been working out.
- By "consistently" I mean "three times."
- I'm not really able to navigate the city on my own. Or the different cities... case in point: The time Daltongirl came all the way to Provo to pick me up and you and Daltongirl drove all the way back to Provo to drop me off.
- My place of work is actually on the Provo side of the Provo-Springville border.
6 comments:
You make an excellent point in the complaintive license tally: the UTA bus system is NOT an effective way of getting around. It's hardly even an effective way of getting to campus and back.
My case in point: after I got married, I was living along the 831 route. It gets to campus on the hour and half hour, and it leaves campus six minutes before the hour and half hour. That meant that if I arrived on the hour, I was late to class, and if I arrived a half hour before that, I wasted at least twenty minutes.
Same problem with coming home. The bus left a mere four minutes after class ended. Sometimes I could make it if I really walked fast, and sometimes I'd get stuck at the crosswalk and watch it pull away. So frustrating.
So kudos to you, Cicada, for writing the reasonable yet still critical letter to UTA that I never did.
I'm glad you wrote to them. I think it's important that they realize how much harm they're doing to people when they leave early. That used to make me so mad about UTA.
It's so true! It's insanely ironic to me...you leave 120 seconds early, which means I either am 40 minutes late for work, or an hour away from walking in my front door.
120 seconds! Good on ya, Cic.
I think you need to take steps in order to feel that your letter was more honest. One of those steps would be riding the bus to my house this weekend. Of course, the 851 or whatever it is will probably leave early on the return route, so you're welcome to have a ride home.
Or, as your word verification suggests, "pavjms," meaning that we could have a sleepover.
I am glad that I will never patronize UTA again.
You should send UTA a link to your blog so they can see that at least seven people agree with you that a bus leaving early is a cardinal sin.
Pooh on you too, UTA!
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