Fierce competition * USA - Surrounds jitney buses
Frequent violations may put riders in danger, officials say
Hudson County,NJ,USA -The Hudson Reporter, by Tricia Tirella -Jul 18, 2010: -- Commuters in North Bergen and surrounding towns sometimes prefer to save time and money by skipping NJ Transit’s buses and taking the smaller, independent jitney vans that run to New York City and Journal Square... But in the last few years, several county inspections have forced the jitneys to pay fines for safety violations including bad brakes and an exit door being welded shut... Three weeks ago, the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office held a surprise inspection of local jitneys. Twenty-three out of 33 jitneys were found to be unsafe and taken out of service... For Hudson County bus riders, the decision to use NJ Transit or their smaller jitney bus competitors rests on factors like safety, comfort, reliability, and cost... NJ Transit buses are not as frequent as the jitneys... The jitneys follow each other in close pursuit, and many of them are the first to get to bus stops, with NJ Transit buses close behind. Drivers honk their horns to alert waiting passengers and pull over abruptly... (Photo - UNFAIRLY TARGETED: Samuel Martinez of Union City has been driving his bus for 11 years. He said jitney bus drivers are unfairly targeted...)* NJ Transit riders log 25,000 complaints against drivers the past 2 years
Wayne,NJ,USA -The North Jersey, BY KAREN ROUSE -July 19, 2010: -- One bus driver talked on his cellphone the entire 40-minute ride from Wayne to New York. Another got lost on the way to Giants Stadium, while a third slammed the bus doors on a little girl's head... Still another smoked aboard her bus, then sprayed excessive amounts of air freshener to mask the odor. And yet another shouted "start walking" to an amputee when a wheelchair lift failed to work... NJ Transit logged more than 25,000 complaints about bus drivers in 2008 and 2009, records show, the majority describing encounters with drivers who berated passengers, bypassed them at bus stops or drove recklessly — striking garbage cans, cars and, according to one complaint, a woman's dog... The agency has 3,773 bus operators, most of whom don't get complaints, said Jim Gigantino, vice president and general manager of bus operations at NJ Transit... (Photo by DAVID BERGELAND: Donald Rouse hailing an NJ Transit bus at Vreeland Avenue and Hudson Street in Hackensack. Rouse says NJ Transit apologized after he reported a driver failed to stop for him)
posted by Unknown @ 7:16 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home