I seriously hope someone that's in charge of PSTA gets raped, twice, this is getting ridiculous

I'm getting really sick of this. Seriously, WTF? Does riding the bus make me a second class citizen or something? Another problem tonight on my way to work. Here's a copy of the complaint I sent them-

I was waiting for the 18 at the bench near Missouri & Rosary and the bus went past me at a rather high rate of speed. I tried to chase after the bus as I needed it to get to work and I believe the only reason it stopped was not because I was chasing it, but because of the light at the intersection turning red. That's where it stopped, I ran to it. when I got on the bus, I was greeted by attitude from your driver. I'll admit, I was upset, but his attitude only added to it as did him telling me to get off the bus. Which I refused to do as I was going to work. If I at my job treated a customer the way this driver treated me, I would be out of a job. He was completely out of line.

Is it standard practice for drivers to upset someone and then tell them they can leave the bus? Is being left at a stop something I can expect? What exactly am I getting out of the $10 more I pas a month for my monthly pass? How about hiring some drivers that can do their job right? How about putting lights at the stops? How about not being such an epic failure?

I'm pissed. That driver was an asshole. I would have slugged him if it wasn't a felony. He needed it. I also sent a comment to Pinellas County's Transportation Task Force about this and I'm looking into what else I can do. PSTA need to know they suck. Pinellas County needs to know PSTA sucks. People need to know PSTA sucks.

I was right, PSTA still sucks after jacking up the price

Customer service fail tonight on my way to work, I'll just let the copy of the comment I sent them below explain it.

Bus arrived 10 minutes late to stop near Missouri & Rosery. I asked the driver to call ahead to the beach trolly and ask them to wait. She refused to beause she "was 10 minutes late and no one will wait." When the bus did get to the Park Street terminal at 10:17 pm, the beach trolley was pulling away from the platform. I asked her to quickly try to get them to stop. She did, they stopped, but it really could have been avoided if she called when I asked her to.

I've said this before, I work an overnight shift and I rely on PSTA to get me to work on time. This kind of service is unacceptable. How many times have I contacted PSTA before? Late busses and unprofessional drivers are not something I should be forced to expect. Now I am paying more for the same lousy service.

I'm getting the impression that PSTA just doesn't care.

More exacting, they just don't give a shit, kinda like the phone company used to be when there was only one.

Why am I paying $10 more a month again?

So the price of the bus went up, but will the service get any better?

I'm doubtful.

And annoyed. The buses I ride are late more often than not. Especially the first one I ride on Saturday night. That one has made me late for work several times and forced me to take a bus that is nearly an hour earlier. To add to my frustration, most places I need to go require 2 buses and they never connect. Nearly every time the bus I'm on is with in a block of the terminal, the bus I need is pulling out of the terminal. Then I have to wait at the terminal for 20 minutes to damn near an hour depending on the day or time of day for the next bus. Does an outdoor bus terminal that is crawling with homeless and surrounded by Scientologists seem like the place you want to spend an hour of your time on a 90+ degree summer day? It's not a happy place, far too many creeps and weirdos and not the fun kind either. The security guards that are there during the day don't make me feel any safer. Not that I think anyone would mess with me, but still it's not some place where I want to sit for an hour.

Let's take a look at the changes.

I'm seeing the word eliminate being used an awful lot. I get the impression that those that regularly ride are paying more while PSTA is doing less. $10 more for a monthly pass, 50 cent's more for a daily, quarter more one way. That's got to add up. It's not sitting right with me. I'm trying to keep in mind they did just lose a grant, but jacking up prices and cutting service? If there's a significant improvement in the service provided, I guess it may be justified.

Great job done today by PSTA at 6:45 PM, left a pregnant woman and several others behind at a stop.

I was one of those others and here's the complaint I just submitted to PSTA. I really need a car.

Myself and several others were waiting for the northbound rt18 in front of the Dollar Tree at Largo Mall. This bus arrived just behind the southbound rt 18 and the Westbound rt 59. While those other 2 buses stopped at the stop and waited, bus #2202 went around them and kept going, only stopping well behind the stop to let passengers off, not giving any time to allow any one to get on the bus. People were left behind at this stop including a pregnant woman. Most of the others at the stop that needed this bus,including myself, ran across the parking lot to catch it at the other stop.

This is just another in a long list of complaints I have had about your service. I really wish at this point that I could afford a car so I wouldn't have to use you shoddy excuse for a public transportation system.

Another thing that makes me wish I had a car.

Fucked up people like the one I encountered tonight on my way to work. I've seen this one guy before. Every time I've seen him, he seems drunk and just really annoying. He never has his money or bus pass ready. He is always bothering somebody, usually the nearest woman. Also, he just looks really dirty, unkept and has kind of a creepy look about him. Tonight he took it a step further. He didn't seem to care too much that his shorts were way too loose on him. I'm not making this up – there was a few times that his manly bits were exposed. I didn't care to see that. Or his ass for that matter. Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd be a little too embarrassed to talk to anyone after accidentally flashing them, save for an apology. Not the case with this guy. Just went right into trying to flirt with the lady near him. After she got off he went on to talking to anyone with in an earshot about some nonsense regarding conspiracy, cameras, Scientology and cell phones.

I wanted to say something to this rather disgusting lunatic. However, I know it would have gotten me nowhere. So instead I ignored him the best I could and now I'm trashing him in my blog. It may have been a bit more amusing if I had a camera to get a picture or two of him with. I doubt anyone would want to see it though. I'm glad I was looking about as masculine as I get. Last thing I need is for this creep to be flirting with me.

Update on my bus woes

The issue with my passport has been corrected (it seems my apartment number was left off, I could have sworn I put it on the form), and they are sending it back out today.

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!