Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Get on the Bus, Gus
Tonight's investigative story from our 10News I-team took some doing. We used hidden cameras and regular news cameras. And Hollywood magic.
The photojournalists included Mike Howder, Richard Klein and Michael (don't look too closely at my backpack) Gonzalez. Joining us in the effort was editor Roger Renkas who helped us create the spreadsheets to make sense of the information we had gathered. Producer Kristian Castillo drove the chase car and kept everyone sane.
Stu Segal's production studio used their makeup skills to transform reporter Marti Emerald into a little old lady. Except in Marti's case she was a tall old lady. She tested the "look" in our newsroom. It was a nervous bunch of writers and producers watching the tall crazed senior run around the newsroom demanding to meet some handsome anchors. In other words, it was a pretty good makeup job.
What was this all about?
We receive complaints from the public about everything including bus service.
We have done stories because of these complaints, including an in-depth story on maintenance and equipment problems on transit buses ten years ago. But I suspected I was missing the bus after hearing what KGO Television discovered in the Bay Area. We work with their I-Team from time to time and when I saw what they had uncovered on the transit system-- some very ugly behavior by drivers -- I wondered if San Diego riders encountered the same problems. So the story began with the filing of an open records request for MTDB complaint records from bus-riding citzens. I limited it to the 25 "worst" drivers with the highest number of complaints. Some of the "25" had as many as 50 complaints each! And the complaints ran the gamut, from the drivers exhibiting "road rage" and "wreckless driving" to another who "threatened to fight," Other compalints about dirvers included "injured a senior when the driver took off abruptly, " "mocking, rude, " "bus almost hit another car, " "talked on the cell phone," "drove by bus stops with people waiting" and on and on. There were over 600 complaints from 25 drivers. See them for yourself, we have put the entire complaint spreadsheet up on our Web site, Inside the Story. It's worth a look, even if you DON"T ride the bus.
Here's the strange thing. We had Marti and the hidden camera crew riding the lines with the most complaints, night and day. Eleven different lines. And on every occasion she was treated well by the drivers. I know her makeup was good.
So I suspected that after we filed the open records act, request, MTDB sent a memo out to drivers to be on their best behavior. But the MTDB denied they would do anything like that. So I have filed still another open records request--asking for any documents sent to drivers since my first request. I will let you know what is found.
Got a gripe with MTDB? Let me know.
jwblog@10news.com
Blogger "C" from North County writes:
Your bus story was interesting, I have been a bus rider in North County since 1978.
The biggest problem I can see with the buses is that those who schedule the routes are not riders.
At certain times of the day the drivers are so rushed on many of the routes they don't even have time to take a break at all. They are pressured so heavily to keep their buses on time that they endure such stress that it pours over onto the passengers.
From the drivers and regular riders point of view, if you are not standing waiting for the bus with your fair or pass in hand when it arrives then you are not being curteous to everyone else.
The routes are not timed to allow for the elderly and disabled, therefore many problems arise.
Personally, I have a cane and a cart because I have a damaged spine, and I am not supposed to lift. Every driver pulls up and lowers the bus and expects me to lift my cart into the bus. What part of not supposed to lift do they not get. They are obviously not trained to deal with such circumstances. I feel like a one person bus driver trainer.
"Yes, please put out the ramp. No I cannot just lift my cart into the bus. No, I am not required to explain my disability to you. The ADA regulations state that if I carried a disabled pass and ask you to lower the ramp for me to board, then you must do that."
Most of the drivers are very good about this. Then you have the ones that roll their eyes and huff and puff through flipping a small switch with one finger.
Worst are the drivers that downright stall and argue. They are obviously trying to get you to take someone elses bus in the future, not theirs.
The photojournalists included Mike Howder, Richard Klein and Michael (don't look too closely at my backpack) Gonzalez. Joining us in the effort was editor Roger Renkas who helped us create the spreadsheets to make sense of the information we had gathered. Producer Kristian Castillo drove the chase car and kept everyone sane.
Stu Segal's production studio used their makeup skills to transform reporter Marti Emerald into a little old lady. Except in Marti's case she was a tall old lady. She tested the "look" in our newsroom. It was a nervous bunch of writers and producers watching the tall crazed senior run around the newsroom demanding to meet some handsome anchors. In other words, it was a pretty good makeup job.
What was this all about?
We receive complaints from the public about everything including bus service.
We have done stories because of these complaints, including an in-depth story on maintenance and equipment problems on transit buses ten years ago. But I suspected I was missing the bus after hearing what KGO Television discovered in the Bay Area. We work with their I-Team from time to time and when I saw what they had uncovered on the transit system-- some very ugly behavior by drivers -- I wondered if San Diego riders encountered the same problems. So the story began with the filing of an open records request for MTDB complaint records from bus-riding citzens. I limited it to the 25 "worst" drivers with the highest number of complaints. Some of the "25" had as many as 50 complaints each! And the complaints ran the gamut, from the drivers exhibiting "road rage" and "wreckless driving" to another who "threatened to fight," Other compalints about dirvers included "injured a senior when the driver took off abruptly, " "mocking, rude, " "bus almost hit another car, " "talked on the cell phone," "drove by bus stops with people waiting" and on and on. There were over 600 complaints from 25 drivers. See them for yourself, we have put the entire complaint spreadsheet up on our Web site, Inside the Story. It's worth a look, even if you DON"T ride the bus.
Here's the strange thing. We had Marti and the hidden camera crew riding the lines with the most complaints, night and day. Eleven different lines. And on every occasion she was treated well by the drivers. I know her makeup was good.
So I suspected that after we filed the open records act, request, MTDB sent a memo out to drivers to be on their best behavior. But the MTDB denied they would do anything like that. So I have filed still another open records request--asking for any documents sent to drivers since my first request. I will let you know what is found.
Got a gripe with MTDB? Let me know.
jwblog@10news.com
Blogger "C" from North County writes:
Your bus story was interesting, I have been a bus rider in North County since 1978.
The biggest problem I can see with the buses is that those who schedule the routes are not riders.
At certain times of the day the drivers are so rushed on many of the routes they don't even have time to take a break at all. They are pressured so heavily to keep their buses on time that they endure such stress that it pours over onto the passengers.
From the drivers and regular riders point of view, if you are not standing waiting for the bus with your fair or pass in hand when it arrives then you are not being curteous to everyone else.
The routes are not timed to allow for the elderly and disabled, therefore many problems arise.
Personally, I have a cane and a cart because I have a damaged spine, and I am not supposed to lift. Every driver pulls up and lowers the bus and expects me to lift my cart into the bus. What part of not supposed to lift do they not get. They are obviously not trained to deal with such circumstances. I feel like a one person bus driver trainer.
"Yes, please put out the ramp. No I cannot just lift my cart into the bus. No, I am not required to explain my disability to you. The ADA regulations state that if I carried a disabled pass and ask you to lower the ramp for me to board, then you must do that."
Most of the drivers are very good about this. Then you have the ones that roll their eyes and huff and puff through flipping a small switch with one finger.
Worst are the drivers that downright stall and argue. They are obviously trying to get you to take someone elses bus in the future, not theirs.
Posted at 4:11 PM by jw
<< Home