Metro advises rider to board bus that doesn't exist
Three years ago Kevin Whited began noting that Metro planned to cut bus routes as part of its plan to feed riders onto the Danger Train.
Monday's Move It! column reminded us of it:
"I bought a Metro stored value card thinking it was a better deal than carrying cash," says investments executive Mark Vance, who knows good deals.
"But something's wrong," Vance said. "Seems it is only good for one-way travel."
Vance takes a morning bus to the Texas Medical Center and gets a transfer to MetroRail to reach his office downtown.
"The problem is the return trip," he said. "There is no way to use the card at the rail platform ticket dispenser." Metro advised him to board a bus downtown just to get a transfer, and then hop on the train for his outbound trip.
But since MetroRail began operating, Vance said, there are no longer buses on Main. Catch-22. We've written variations on this theme before.
Gosh, that's mighty inconvenient, isn't it? And what's Metro's response?
"There is no solution at this time to the problem, which is one of many reasons why we are going to the 'smart' Q Card," said Metro spokeswoman Raequel Roberts. Q Cards will be loaded up with value like a toll road EZ Tag, then tapped against card readers on the rail platforms to deduct the fare.
Yeah, Metro's losing sleep over this rider's predicament, but it fits Metro's pattern of customer service. By the way, the Q card system won't be operational until February 4th. Unless it gets postponed again.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 12/12/06 06:34 PM | Print |
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