Bus Tracker Challenge

Description

As a young professional who works in Downtown Fresno I challenged myself to ride the bus the entire week and I would not under any circumstance drive my car to any meetings to run any errands.

I was disheartened on June 5th when I waited in the rain where their seemed to be no shelter anywhere on Route 32 finally after arriving 12 minutes later than expected I grabbed a seat in the front where I later had to relocate because 2 wheel chair riders had gotten on which I didn't mind but later at another stop on Martin Luther King a 3rd wheel chair rider attempted to get on but before doing so the driver SHOUTED out "GET ON THE NEXT ONE, I'M FULL" closed the doors and drove off without giving the poor wheelchair bound woman anytime to respond as she waited in the RAIN for another 40 minutes until the next bus was due to arrive.

The next Day on Route 32 I shared a conversation with an African American woman who was 94 years old and was headed to church for a meeting. It was a very pleasant conversation she revealed to me she's unable to ride the bus as much as she would like to because since the fare hike she is no longer able to afford a Bus Pass being on a fixed income and unable to drive and a homeowner it was out of her financial reach.The bus was over-croweded that day Westcare has alot of people get on so I was forced to stand (this was almost an everyday thing)

By far the worst personal experience came from Route 28 @ the Bus Shelter when I inquired to the bus driver which bus would best get me to United Way Fresno and the man completely ignored my question as he seemed more consumed with the Fresno Bee he was reading, I than repeated my question and I got the same response at this point I was sure my tone was louder and I was still pleasant. I than went on to explain how disappointed I was as a customer at the quality of service I was getting from him. He cut me off put the newspaper down and said "WELL YOUR MORE THAN WELCOME TO RIDE ANOTHER BUS OR BETTER YET WALK TO YOUR DESTINATION". I took my seat and I did him a better service and filled an HR report with the City's Transportation Department.

I was able to catch ROUTE 34 and I had a great conversation with a bus driver with a Jamaican accent which ended up being the last route for the evening he really was of great assistance. Because I had no idea where I needed to get off at ... He had worked a double that day he said he had been up since 5 or 6am and had worked the entire 3 day weekend - I was shocked at his commitment to service and how Humble he was to have worked such a long over extended weekend.