Bus rider urges: Give MTA a chance
Ada Orie of Towson recently contacted this after having difficulty getting her complaints dealt with. Our public airing of her problems helped bring out action from the MTA, including a call from Administrator Ralign T. Wells, who apparently did a good enough job of responding to her concerns that she sent this email:
I was born, raised and have lived in Maryland all my life. I have been a MTA customer for about 15 years. I want to talk to you about MTA service and second chances. I have traveled on the MTA bus, light rail, MARC train and metro subway. I will say although the service has not been perfect in the last 15 years, I will say I always got to my destination safely and I am appreciative the fares have stayed the same for the last few years despite the economic downturn. As we are ten years into a new millennium, we have a responsibility to usher in positive change. Let us do it by opening up the lines of communication between the MTA and its customers.
I recently had a problem with bus service. I went through the proper chain of command and expressed my disappointment and frustration. I was contacted by different people in the MTA and told that my comments would be investigated. They were investigated and my bus line is being monitored closely.
It is easy to complain when something is wrong and we all have that right. We also have the right to say thank you for a well done job. I plan on giving the MTA second chance to workout any glitches and problems that are currently wrong. I will also hold them accountable. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes. We should try to extend the same mercy that we want extended to us when we make a mistake to the MTA. If you have any thing to say to the MTA, please email them by using the following link http://mta.maryland.gov/resources/contactmta/ Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
A Fellow Commuter
MY TAKE: There is much to what Orie said, and many rides under-estimate how much help they can get if they contact the agency. However, Orie had to enlist the help of this blog, and MTA customers should be able to get a satisfactory response without third-party intervention or a call from the administrator. There's only one of him -- or me.
As for the "holding acountable," that's what we're here for.
Comments
MTA should raise its fares and the quality of service. When WMATA riders were asked to chose between higher fares and reduced service, they voted for higher service.
I would be much happier with MTA if their officials pointed to specific improvements that could be made with higher revenues. Bus service is the low hanging fruit, as the success of the Charm City Circulator has shown. For the light rail, more money needs to be put into track maintenance and fences so there aren't accidents. The MARC train is tougher to fix, but I would love to see the MTA accelerate MARC improvements, perhaps through fare increases and gas taxes.
Posted by: Louis | July 22, 2010 7:31 PM