Since I ride METRO daily...I’ll offer the answer. Broke bus card scanners. I’ve been here in DC since 4 Jan, and ridden to the Pentagon five days a week on the bus. I would say since the arrival...I’ve had twenty times where the scanner did not function as I entered the bus, and the driver simply waved me on. I noted at each stop...same deal...the scanner was broke and he completed his entire route before returning to the ‘yard’.
If you consider that a driver is supposed to run his route three times typically...you could have 100 passengers on each route (to and from)...meaning that one driver could miss out on 300 passengers during his entire run if the scanner was broke (that’s $450-plus that they missed). Mind you....it’s only early October....so I’ve got 90 days left before my one-year period. If you had five of those episode each day...you’d miss out on a significant amount of income.
The critical nature of this scanner is such...that missing any income...is just plain stupid, and no real company would stand for it. But this is METRO...the company with broke escalators, broke trains, broke buses, and incompetent management. I’ve sat there and watched folks march on the bus and ask stupidly about how to get to such & such location....then announce that they didn’t have the money, and the driver simply let them stay on the bus until they got to the point. I felt this was stupid, but it’s the nature of these drivers to allow it.
Thanks.
These fools want to manage our health care
Did these drivers and “free” riders have anything in common?