Tim Patterson, an employee at the University of Maryland, Baltimore who rides the Charm City  Circulator from the BioPark Parking Garage to campus every day, raised some  concerns about the city's new free shuttle bus service:

1)  The other day, I inquired of a driver why so many buses seemed to switch to "Not In Service" just as they approached the stop I was waiting at.  The answer:  Veolia has been getting fined for the un-even spacing, so what they will do is switch to a "drop off" only mode to space things out. Unfortunately, neither the LCD display on the front of the bus, or the online tracking tools differentiate between "Out of Service" or "Drop Off Only" mode.  It's pretty misleading.  They should really fix that (especially on the online tools) since many of us use the tracker to determine when to leave work and head to the stop... only to see the bus go by with "Out of Service" on it.

 

2)  There have been an increasing number of people on the west-bound leg of the Orange Route who seem drunk, or high, or at least "sailing".  They often are passed out or passing out, and frankly, REEK.  And this isn't at night, it's between 3 and 6 in the afternoon.  The Circulator bus drivers aren't cops, and have their hands full enough.  I would be interested to know what can be done to keep this service clean and hop-head free?

These are two valid concerns. I'm sure readers of this blog will be interested in what the city Department of Transportation has to say.