An open letter to PSTA

Lately I have been having some pretty serious issues with my bus service. I have written a letter to the bus company, but I decided to make it public as well.

For starters, the express buses that go across the bay only runs Monday - Friday. I work on the other side of the bay on the weekends. So I wind up taking a bus as close as I can get to the bridge, then biking over the bridge. Finally I take a bus when I get over to the other side or just bike the rest of the way. An express bus on weekends would be great.

To save money on my commute to work, I bought a passport. I think it's a good deal. However I ordered it back on September 25th through the online store and I have not seen it as of yet. I called about it Friday afternoon (October 4th), but the people that handle internet purchases were gone for the day and would not be returning until Monday. I don't have a lot of money and $85 is a lot to me. I cannot afford to lose it. The online store needs to be more reliable in getting items to the customers and support needs to be more available.

There has been many occasions where I have been waiting a considerable about of time for a bus only to have a bus pull up that has a full bike rack. This means that I either have to ride my bike to where I'm going or wait for the next bus. Leaving the bike at the stop is generally not an option. Part because I usually need it to get to where I'm going. Part because if you think I'm just going to leave a bike that cost me $1500 chained to a bench, you are crazier than me.

Finally, many of the routes I take run every hour. My bad timing usually puts me at the bus stop about 10 or so minutes after the bus has left. This leaves me to wait nearly an hour for the next bus. Buses that run every half hour would be really nice. Many of us in today's world work all hours of the day and night, even on weekends. Running the bus less frequently complicates things for those of us that need the bus to get to and from work.

PSTA has recently raised it's fares and with the service I have been receiving, I do not feel that it is quite worth it. Along with the increase in fares, many routes were revised. These revisions as far as I have seen do not do much in the way of improving service. 5 routes were eliminated, 1 route was added, many routes had trips and stops removed. Was the fare increase even necessary? In recent years the number of people riding the bus has been increasing. What improvement in service do the customers get for the rate increase?

UPDATE!