Tag Archives: Bus

Paying customers left behind by Peter Pan Buses


                                      Click on Photo for more information

  By Cristina Moon
                                                Providence, Rhode Island

Earlier this summer, I waited in 90 degree heat for a Peter Pan bus from Providence, RI to New York, NY. Not only was the bus late, five passengers including myself were left behind because there weren’t any seats left on the bus — even though we had bought our tickets hours, if not days, in advance! The relief bus we were promised never showed, we were never guaranteed seats on the next scheduled bus, and nobody from Peter Pan ever contacted any of us to apologize, offer our money back or guarantee us a ride to New York.

I started this petition because it’s not just bad customer service to oversell buses — the practice exploits people who don’t have the resources to walk away and book another ride with a different bus companyPlease sign my petition calling on Peter Pan to immediately stop overselling its buses and guarantee passengers a seat on the buses they’ve paid for. I know that if enough people in the northeast US make enough noise, Peter Pan will want to make the changes necessary to avoid damaging their brand.

Throughout my experience with Peter Pan, I was shocked at how the bus company disregarded the needs of passengers it had left stranded. The driver of the full bus told us that Dispatch was sending a relief bus, and that it would be there within 30 minutes. But the relief bus was canceled and nobody ever contacted us to let us know — even though there’s a Peter Pan representative inside Providence’s Kennedy Plaza bus station and I had been tweeting at Peter Pan since the moment we weren’t able to get on the original bus.

While I was fighting for a refund of my fare in the following weeks, Peter Pan’s customer service later told me that seating is “first come first serve” — but nowhere on any of the documentation I received from them (an email receipt or my actual ticket) is this stated.

Corporate practices like these harm and exploit the most vulnerable — people who don’t have the money or a smartphone to just walk away and choose another bus line. I want Peter Pan to stop this practice of overselling buses now, and guarantee their customers a seat on the buses they’ve paid for.

Final Vote on Bus Cuts on Mon. 8/15


King County Metro 30' Gillig PHANTOM coach #11...
Image via Wikipedia

Your support for saving King County Metro has made a huge difference. More than 8,200 people signed our SignOn petition to save our buses, and more than 14,000 total signed letters or petitions. The testimony at the 7/26 hearing was fantastic, and we didn’t lose! But we also haven’t won yet…

We need six of nine councilmembers to vote in favor of the two-year stop-gap measure to save our buses. We have the support of 5 members, but the sixth has been elusive.

The King County Council was set to vote on the matter that day. Luckily, thanks to the thousands of people who voiced their support, the four remaining councilmembers — all Republicans — agreed to take three more weeks to seriously consider the the measure.

Now, we must double-down. This is our last chance to save our buses from devastating 17% cuts that will significantly hurt 4 out of 5 riders. Though I started this petition as an individual, I’ve learned that many professionals are working on this and related issues under the umbrella of the Transportation for Washington campaign. Here’s what they recommend:

First, please send your own personal letter to the King County Councilmembers. There are no more opportunities for public testimony, so calling or sending another letter is the best way to remind them of our arguments. Feel free to edit or add personal details.

 Click here to send your letter.   http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5127/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=7814

Next, pack the meeting on Monday, August 15.
Click here to RSVP.    http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/5153/p/salsa/web/questionnaire/public/?questionnaire_KEY=608

Finally, we need volunteers to help petition, phonebank, write letters to newpaper editors, and enter data.
Email Brock Howell, field director of Transportation 4 WA, at brock@futurewise.org to volunteer.

Thanks again for your support. Your dedication to the betterment of our society and planet warms my heart.
Together we can save our buses. Stay strong & don’t give up!

Peace to all of you,

Julia Deak

thrips Thursday & some News -Veterans Day


Today is Veterans Day … a day to enjoy either the crisp sunny 38degrees outdoors or stay indoors to celebrate and honor the men and women of the Military then pop corn watch Military movies all day long, talk about it and remember what the Men and Women in uniform mean to all of us here in the States. While i cannot begin to list all the Military people i know who have chosen to serve and protect our country in some form, it is with great pride to have and I thank them all for keeping us safe. I especially am thinking about a couple of brothers named Luis and Carlos both cutie pies and who still support others after time served… Semper Fi ! Luis …love ya over there in Brazil

Vice President Biden will lay the wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns Today

FYI  Seattle

-Veterans Day -A Federal Holiday so most public service offices will be closed as well as many businesses -check before you leave your house

Most banks and credit unions:are closed

Parking Meters are mostly free today

Most government offices: closed Thursday. Exceptions include health-and-safety workers, such as state troopers, prison guards and child-protection workers.

Post offices: closed Thursday; no home mail delivery.

Schools and public libraries: closed.

State-run liquor stores: Open at either 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. and close at either 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. Contract liquor stores also may be open. Individual store schedules can be found on the Washington State Liquor Control Board‘s website at www.liq.wa.gov.

Metro buses: On Thursday, Metro Transit buses will operate a reduced weekday schedule in which some commuter and school-oriented routes won’t run, and other routes will run less frequently. Most buses will still run more frequently than on weekends. All Metro offices will be closed on the holiday, including the Customer Information Center phone lines. For information about transit service, go to www.kingcounty.gov/metro.

Pierce Transit: All buses, shuttles and express services will operate on a regular weekday schedule. Administrative offices and all Bus Shop facilities will be closed.

Community Transit: All buses will operate on a regular weekday schedule.

Sound Transit: All buses and trains will operate on a regular weekday schedule.

State ferries: All ferries will run on a regular weekday schedule.

Water taxis: Neither the Vashon nor the West Seattle water taxis — including the free West Seattle Water Taxi shuttles — will operate Thursday.

Washington State Department of Licensing offices: closed

Washington State Department of Health offices: closed

Waste pickup: In King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties, there will be normal garbage, yard-waste and recycling collection Thursday

Other News …

Obama deficit commission chairs came out without warning with news of what they felt will need to be put on the chopping block though other members of the commission have already objected

Amazon comes to Seattle w/10,000 jobs

New Chevy Volt on sales in Seattle next Fall

President Obama and the new congressional membership will meet Nov.18th

Grocery Workers are considering a strike contact UCFW21.org

G20 starts on Nov.12th

Tony Hayward says BP was totally unprepared to deal with the oil spill

Ask.com will be laying off 130 employees

GM lays off Mr. Goodwrench

Olympic

CSPAN …

 

Wicked Wednesday –As we move deeper into autumn and winter like weather it is the day before Veterans Day. My mind is on many things but the news and numerous ads on TV have brought back memories of my brother. My bother was a lifetime Marine, a phenomenal artist and promising professional football athlete drafted in high school under the old laws of military service overcame his height. I know he actually used his height as an advantage for the military though we all know the end result of the war he served the best he could earned medals at the cost of having a pace maker, heavily grafted and a hand that was quite mangled from protecting his men. I will say he made some mistakes during and after his years in service; he suffered from all that he endured while in Viet Nam like so many others in the name of military service. I am very proud of my brother.

…in 2008 53% voted for change and thank goodness people were bold enough to take the risk of voting for the first person of colour for the Office of President. The change we need will move Americans into 21st Century though as we have learned over the last twenty months that change is not what Wall Street, big Banks, AIG types, or the Republican Tea Party want.  The Republicans have voted against progress consistently on the floor of the Senate. If you are listening to the current rhetoric since the midterm elections, the Political Party of NO has managed to in my opinion fool those who decided to lean right because of the charade or label they have managed to sell to Americans -being the fiscally conservative political party. This only works when you are fiscally conservative until it involves some of their favorites like War and Tax cuts for the rich both of which the house of Bush dove into and in my mind rolled around in. The surplus $$$  i guess was spent in the name of being a good Republican in a pre-emptive strike against Iraq with reports of the house of Bush sending at least 10 million dollars a month to Iraq and Afghanistan. I have no idea how much they sent to Afghanistan but it is clear not enough and by the end of his reign, Americans found themselves in the depths of a deep recession. I am using humpty dumpty as my symbol of America with the need to put him back together again.  The fact that folks need reminding is offensive but here it is. America not having been through a recession this deep since the depression watched as the clowns in the house of Bush ran around trying to hide the fact that the sky was definitely on its way to falling. While they were looking for an out the rest of us watching waiting for answers participated in the 2008 Presidential Election as never before and when it came down to the choice 53% elected a guy named Barack Obama to deal with the chaos as people were losing their jobs left and right. I know some might say there were better candidates to have dealt with what the Republican Tea Party did to Americans but if you were paying attention no one had the calm, sanity,  resolve and trustworthy demeanor to handle what seemed like WMD on our country had just been dropped. The story behind the near financial collapse is by far a sad and devastating journey that has shaken the lives of so many Americans yet only one side of our government wants to make the corrections needed. We have two Political Parties and the other called the Political Party of NP has members of their party choosing to engage in fear mongering, threats, racism, stripping of Amendments, cutting and or privatizing social services programs. I am offended but not so naive to believe that change means keeping all things attached to social services and yes, we need to accept something cuts to shrink the deficit. I get frustrated when people think big spending equal big government was a choice made by President Obama when in reality we needed to save the system, who better then the very people who had more than just a topical knowledge of how the system works. I ask… who does not get that? It may not have been what anyone wanted to do but think about whom you would want to fix something when time is running out. The many branches connected to the near collapse reached out globally like fire moving state to state and  country after country with CEO’s reacting in various ways specifically laying off firing or outsourcing jobs in larger numbers than ever to possibly save themselves. It was obvious to have those with an intimate knowledge and experience to negotiate the terms in order to save us from what looked like the abyss. Though we hear people complain on a daily basis that the Obama Administration hired the very people who committed the crimes -i say suck it up because he hired or surrounded himself with the people who knew what to do to stop the flow toward a depression quickly. There was probably some distaste in the process but to say there was corruption as Issa would have everyone believe is just ridiculous in my opinion.

Other News …

CSPAN …

Actor Jeff Bridges Remarks on Combating Childhood Hunger Actor Jeff Bridges Remarks on Combating Childhood Hunger
Today
State Department Joint Press Briefing on U.S. Aid to Palestine State Department Joint Press Briefing on U.S. Aid to Palestine
Today
House GOP Majority Transition Office News Conference House GOP Majority Transition Office News Conference
Today
Fmr. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Remarks at the Atlantic Council  Fmr. Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf Remarks at the Atlantic Council
Today
Common Cause Discussion on 2010 Elections Common Cause Discussion on 2010 Elections
Today
British House of Commons Prime Minister's Questions British House of Commons Prime Minister’s Questions
Today
President Obama's Speech at the University of Indonesia President Obama’s Speech at the University of Indonesia
Tuesday
State Department Press Briefing State Department Press Briefing
Monday
NTSB Aging Driver Forum NTSB Aging Driver Forum
Tuesday
House Republican Transition Committee Meeting House Republican Transition Committee Meeting
Tuesday