Light Rail Passes Me By

6am and I'm waiting at Japantown-Ayer station. Right rails pulls up to the stop, slows down, then keeps going. Unless the driver was drunk there is no way he could have missed me standing there in the well-lit station.

So as usual I take my only recourse and call to make a complaint. I tell the operator what happened and that I want to lodge complaint, and I get something to the effect of: "Ok the next train in coming at ... bye." I stop her with a "Wait! I wanted to file a complaint!" Oh well sir, you'll need to wait on hold because my computer is not ready. So I sit on hold for ten minutes. Shouldn't the computer be ready? After finishing, I ask for a supervisor to call me back and explain what happened. I get a: "We don't do that." So I ask to speak to her supervisor.

I knew this, and confirmed it with the supervisor "Paula", operators are supposed to ALWAYS offer a reference number (a reference number is proof that a complaint was filed) when a complaint is lodged, or get the complainant's number and call them back with a number. So the first operator I spoke to was blowing me off. If I'd let it go, no complaint would have been filed.

No-Show 9/19, 3 Days In A Row

For three days in a row now, route 59 7:30am at 1st and Karina was a no-show. I called again to lodge a complaint and got customer service rep "Tony", engaging him in a fruitless 15 minute conversation. He promised to get back to me by 3pm that day and let me know what the problem was.

Surprise, 3 weeks later, and no returned call. Nice customer service Tony.

Why People Don't Take the Bus

Answer: terrible service.

I take light rail + a bus every week day. On average, every 7 days the bus is a no-show. For the average person, the first time this happens, they are back in their car. The bus made them late for a meeting, late clocking in, or otherwise made them miss an important appointment.

VTA obviously doesn't take this problem seriously. I lodge a complaint with them, and nothing changes.

No-shows 9-17 and 9-18, Route 59

On Monday, September 17 Route 59 Westbound at Karina was a no-show for the 7:30 pickup. When I called to find out what happened, I was told that the driver was out that day. I asked the representative if they had on-call drivers, and was rewarded with a canned speech asking me if i wanted rates to increase. Well VTA, if the bus doesn't come, it doesn't matter how much the rates are now does it?

Further, the representative recommended that I call then at 6am to see if my bus would be running that day. First of all, if I call at 6am, it's already too late to catch an earlier bus. That means I need to get 1/2 hour earlier each day, just to call, so I can catch an earlier bus if mine isn't running. What a great suggestion.

On Tuesday September 18, the same bus was again a no-show. This day, the representative at VTA had no idea where the bus was or why it was missing ... "the transponder isn't working". Whatever that means.