The Tale of the Phantom Bus

Last weekend some friends and I were going downtown on a Saturday night. One of my friends was working until midnight so the plan was that I would meet her at work and we would drive downtown.

So I get to Kennedy station and I check the bus time. I've just missed one but the next one should be arriving in a few minutes. The schedule reads FS (Frequent Service: every 10 minutes or less) until midnight. It's about 11:55 so I think "great! That's good timing" since it's not a far bus ride anyway.

Well, of course midnight comes and the bus doesn't. A few more minutes and still no bus. The bus finally arrives at about 12:15. Well, that was the next scheduled bus so one bus just didn't show up.

Whatever. It's cold and I'm finally on a bus and a few minutes later I'm in the car and we're rollin' and my toes are starting to forgive me for allowing them to get so numb.

Cut to this weekend. Same story. Going to downtown. Friend works until midnight. Meet her at work. Drive downtown.

I got to Kennedy station at 11:55 and thought "great! that's good timing" since it's not a far bus ride anyway.

Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Midnight arrives and no bus. I'm an impatient person by nature so when this is the second weekend in a row that this bus is late I start to get annoyed. Not right away of course. I mean, when it's 12:01 and the bus isn't there I'm not seething. But when it's 12:11 and the bus hasn't arrived I'm definitely getting there.

That's when I notice that on the other side of the station there is a 34 Kennedy bus sitting on the side of the driveway. Now I'm mad. Especially since by this time it's 12:16 and there are now 2 late buses.

I simmer down a little bit when an ambulance pulls up and the paramedics board the bus. It obviously can't go anywhere if someone needs assistance. But by 12:20 there's still at least one late bus and unaccounted for and a platform full of annoyed, cold and clueless people.

By this time my friend has pulled up to the passenger pickup area and I'm on my way out but I do stop and ask the man in the booth if there is a 34 bus coming any time soon. He is just as clueless. His answer was that the bus runs until around 2:20. Not the question but thanks for that.

When you're on a subway and there is a delay you're informed... eventually. It does take a while sometimes but at some point they do let you know there is a delay.

There needs to be communication to bus riders when the same thing happens. At the very least the ticket booth operators need to be informed so that when they are asked they have a clue.

I mean, give them a little something to do so they don't get bored and fall asleep....