well, you are never going to guess who i ran into at the Transit Station!!!! dr Robert (Bob) Schneider, executive director of the Comet. He was actually mingling with the masses. (said with tongue in cheek) he was doing the half priced id cards. you are eligible to get one of these free of charge (replacement is $15.00 what it cost to produce them, so do not lose them.) if you fall into one of the following catagories. 65 or older, under 18, disabled, medicare (blue and white card), veteran. According to dr. schneider, someone form the comet will be down at the transit center registering people for these half priced cards on the following day s and times: 1st and 3rd tuesdays 7 a.m.-11 a,m. 2nd and 4th Fridays 3 p.m.-7 p.m. (all other times you must go down to the comet office.) If you are on our e-mail list, I will be e-mailing an update on this tonight. the comet does have signs up. we will hopefully be putting our bulletin board at the transit station into use very soon. So please view this bulletin board (enclosed in glass case,as you come in on the laurel street side) We will have periodic notices up, including notices asking people to contact us with updated contact information. we get some returns on mail and e-mails, and when we have exhausted all ways to contact you, you become an inactive member, and finally taken off our rolls. This means you do not get much needed information that helps to keep your voice out there in regards to improving the bus system. the more voices out there, the more Bon schneider listens, because he has to listen. Now as an administrator, Dr. Schneider is terrrific. Yesterday, I even told Walter Durst this. when it comes to implementing app, and putting forth ideas, and managing buses, and crunching numbers, he is very efficient. However, when it comes to understanding the needs of riders, he is disconnected. Now at the end of our debate at the station (which was about the 34b being constantly late), I asked him if he had ever ridden the bus. he told me he has ridden every route, and tries do so weekly. I know just about every driver, and the big joke among drivers and riders, is that if Bob schneider actually got on a bus, the world would have turned upside down, or it would a sign of the second coming of Christ! so i am asking you, if there are any Bob schnieder sightings on the bus, please let us know, so we can have post a bob sighting on this facebook page. we want pictures as proof. however, i imagine that these sightings are more rare than those of the loch ness monster or bigfoot. an example of Dr. schneiders disconnectedness with riders involves the constant tardiness of the34B Bus in the mornings and evenings. Walter presented a solution yesterday at the service standards committee, that is workable. Bob says he is not saying no, but he just did not see the logic in it. so here goes. prior to the 34B being a dedicated route, it would rotate between being the 34b and 15 (Fort Jackson) buses. this means that the bus was not hitting the early morning and late evening traffic that it now hits as a dedicated route. So in talking this over, Walter and I came up with a proposal. whereas now the 34B is scheduled to arrived at the station at 15 after the hour, and does not have a 25 minute buffer that the regular 34 to harbison has, changes some of the times. foe example. so there is less chance of missing traffic and school buses have the 34 start out at the transit station at 7:00, 8:00, 9;00. none of the other time stops would be affected, because you have a 15 minute buffer, and you would still arrive at those stops on time. then from 10:15-3:15 you go to quarter after the hour. then you go back to the top of the hour between the 4 p.m.-5 p.m., 6 p.m, because this is when traffic is busiest.therefore giving a 15 minute buffer time period.By the way, this was raised during last general membership period. then you go back to 7:15 and 8:15 at the transit station. Well, Bob tells me he sees no logic in this. (this is the same man who told walter and I in March that he saw no logic in running buses past 7;45, because he did not see that buses did not need to run past tthat time, based on what he had observed. well, that is all he knew. so consider the source) I replied that he did not understand the columbia transit system the way I did. his reply to me was: I have bee doing this as a CEO over transit systems for 15 years,. dont tell me I dont understand. you have not been doing what i have been doing for 15 years. He is quite right, but lets look at the facts 1. he has lived in this town for 3-4 of the those 15 years, and has rarely if ever taken a bus. I on the other hand (although having also been a driver) have taken the bus since 1987 (25 years), and have lived in this town for 37 years. 2. this is not idaho! 3. I listen to drivers, bus riders, bus drivers, politicians, business people etc.I think ny 25 years of using the bus, trumps his 15 years as a ceo of transit sytemss, which of only four are in this town. now ,like i said i do not mean to bash the man. he is a terfic administrator, but that type of arrogance is something I find unbecoming. especially since i find it demeaning to riders. he then to make himself look like he is actually listening, says that instead of traffic problems it is the fault of his operations people. when i run a bus system I expect my operations people and bus drivers to run on time, and not to blame it on traffic problems. even the riders and acknowledge the problem of traffic could be a contributing factor, and have asked something be done to tweak the problem. like i said, when it comes to administrative stuff, and runnng board meetings he is very effective, but when it comes to relating to riders, he is unemphatic, and involved. years ago, when i was in the peace corps, we had to get their per capita wage, in their currency, and live at their level. so that we could better understand how help solve our problems. this is way all board members should be required to ride all routes. especially those they are discussing changing. Anyway, walter, since Bob has indicated that he will go on the recommendation of sam (If sam proposes it, i will consider it), we are going to have to meet with sam, ir at the very least e-mail him, what was proposed in yesterdays meeting, in regards to the 34B. well, at least he is signing people up for the half price cards at the station. bottom line: we need your voice. so please tell people who access to facebook to place comment on this page, those that have e-mail to e-mail contact information and.or fill out information on the yellow surveys at the transit station, and to keep current with their regular phone and address information. Walter and I can do only so much! it took a person in a wheelchair to help us bring sandhills to fast track status, and it was two people form Atlas road that helped eastway park not go to changes that were proposed. not anything walter or I said or did. it was not just becasue walter and i pointed out the problem of the bus going down blossom instead of gervais to harden, along with the normally disagreeable comet board member agreeing with us, that helped remedy this situation. it was the fact that there were two membes of the comet staff at the last general membership.ridership meeting, that heard the complaints, that got things changed. sometimes your voices are just as strong ,and sometimes stronger than the MTRA board members; voices. well that is my rant for now. as i stated earlier, i will have updates on the cards and the proposed reinstatement of sandhills bus to those of you on the midlandstransit@gmail e-mail list. either this evening or tomorrow evening
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 01:26:39 +0000
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