San Diego Transit

I'm wiped out this evening. And the major reason is the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System! (The reason I don't have a wheel-chair van is because I can neither afford to purchase one, nor pay the upkeep!)

I garnered together the energy to go to the ATM, Barron's (a small grocery), and Long's today. I had put it off for a couple of days just because the ONLY days our #35 bus runs ramp buses instead of lift bus service is on week-ends and holidays.

And having, in the past month, gotten stuck with NON-WORKING public bus lift equipment on two different occasions, I try to schedule non-essential transportation on week-ends.

But since Veolia Transit has contracted to run the #35 for SDMTS, it's been a fire drill. They don't keep up their disabled equipment, they don't train drivers, they don't reply to complaints (either via email or telephone).

Today I made it to the bus stop a few minutes ahead of the scheduled bus, according to a current schedule. (Though it was mid-day, sat there in the shade and froze in the wind coming off the ocean - will it ever be warm in Southern California again?).

The bus arrived, #2510, just a couple of minutes late. As always, I waved to the bus, signaling that I wished to board. The driver (who'd been going FAST), did see me and pull into the stop. Without 'kneeling' the bus, she deployed the ramp, and I rolled on.

As I was boarding, I told her she needed to 'kneel' the bus, as otherwise the ramp was too steep. She replied with something I didn't hear, as her back was to me; she was trying to fold up the side seats so a wheelchair could fit. She was UNABLE to do so; either the seats didn't work, or SHE didn't know how to do it.

She told me I'd have to disembark and wait the 30 min. for the next bus. I asked her to call in and find out HOW to fold the seats. She replied that she would when she got to the end of her route. I had to go a third of the length of the bus interior, disrupting a lot of people, to turn around to exit via the steep ramp.

And if I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all!

Because on the way home, I got the same exact bus, Route 35, #2510! Now this was a couple of hours later. And guess what? Same driver, same problem!!! She said she'd called in the problem. Do I believe her, I don't know.

I do know I had to wait another 30 minutes for another bus. This time though, I was at a shopping center. I was so tired and frustrated that I went to a restaurant and had an early dinner, spending an extra hour and $4.00 I shouldn't have...