The scene is about 2 weeks ago, 8:40am, I get on my regular D1 bus for the morning commute to work. As I scan my SmarTrip card, the following conversation takes place:.
Driver: "Hey, do I just keep going straight down this street?"
Me: "Ummmm. Wow. Yeah, until you hit 37th, then you take a right there."
Driver: "Oh really? So, do you know the route?"
Me: "Yeah, until I get off on K Street. Do you NOT know the route!?"
Driver: "Um. Would you mind showing me where to go?".
So, I directed the bus driver downtown and hopefully he knew where he was going from there. I definitely got some strange looks from the other riders as I told him where to go. Apparently, he had no idea that Glover Park even existed (ouch) even though his route takes him in and out of it several times a day! At this point, the very little bit of faith I had in the metro system was substantially hurt.
Flash forward to this morning. I decide to get off on N Street, pull the cord and then notice the bus driver just blow through the stop. He didn't even slow down. I shrugged and decided I would just get off at K St, per usual. Imagine my surprise (and those of the other riders) when my faithful D1 driver decided to turn down L Street! WTF? My office is on L St. so I just chalked it up to door-to-door service, but I'm curious how all of the other commuters on the bus got to their final destination.
I would think that knowing the route would be a prerequisite for all city bus drivers, but apparently that's a course that good ole' Metro doesn't really bother with. I'm curious where all of the money from fare increases is going, because it's obviously not driver education or safety.
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