Transit system sparks debate
Sarah Day — Staff WriterBLUE EARTH - A complaint to the county about the Prairie Express service sparked the ire of at least one commissioner Tuesday.
The county received the letter - written by Janice Croom of Elmore - which was about communication with transit coordinator Bonita Hagedorn and the Croom family's experience with the transit system.
"We have felt the effects of incomplete communication, inconsistent policy implementation and insensitive personnel," Croom wrote in her letter, dated Aug. 11.
Croom describes several incidents where her children were delivered late, picked up late or left unsupervised.
She also states that her children were chastised by the bus driver for not leaving swimming lessons early.
Hagedorn said that's not the case, calling the idea "ludicrous." She said a letter was sent to the Crooms in June asking them to be ready five minutes prior to the scheduled time.
Croom criticized the accuracy of the county Web site, when it says "reservations can be made for times between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday on a first-come, first-served basis up to two weeks in advance."
She noted that several organizations have times blocked out long before that and would like to see that stated on the Web site.
"Complete honesty, upfront, is important when dealing with taxpayer money," Croom wrote.
Hagedorn responded that the guaranteed rides have been offered since 2003 with several organizations.
"These are called Special Route Guarantees and greatly enhance the system in terms of number of riders, revenue and efficiency," Hagedorn said.
Croom said Hagedorn told her if someone schedules a ride to go to an appointment, others aren't added to that time so the passenger can arrive on time. Croom writes that this was not done in any of her cases, where her children had swimming lessons or took an ecology bus trip.
With the instance of the ecology trip, she said her children were dropped off more than 10 minutes late, after the ecology bus had left. They weren't scheduled to be picked up until three hours later.
Hagedorn called the ecology trip incident "regrettable." She said the bus made a stop a block outside the route to pick up a 94-year-old woman.
"The driver wanted to get her home, knowing that some of these folks have meds to take at certain times and after meals is one of them," Hagedorn said. "Ms. Croom is accurate in stating that the Prairie Express driver didn't know when he dropped them off late that he was leaving them unsupervised. While our responsibility is strictly door-to-door transportation, the drivers have always gone above and beyond the call of duty to ensure that our riders are safe."
Croom also mentioned that after swimming lessons in one instance, it took her children one hour to get home, and she could not reach anyone to tell her where her children were. She was not aware that other riders could be taken to different places in the middle of a route.
"Dial-a-ride service, combined with effective dispatching, does not entitle anyone a direct route in public transit," Hagedorn said. "Not always do our riders understand how our system runs, but with enough educating we hope that they can become good riders. Public transportation does not always fit the needs of everyone and we know we have done a good job when 99.8 percent of our riders are satisfied with the service of the Prairie Express."
Hagedorn's last statement is what raised Commissioner Tom Warmka's ire, along with statistics from July regarding how many riders there were per town.
"I have more calls on busing than any other issue in the county," Warmka said.
Warmka, who represents the eastern portion of the county, said the drivers are "top quality" but the system doesn't work.
"But this has got to get better," Warmka said of the system. "This is not acceptable. I'm ready to make a motion that we're going to stop busing. 'Cause I'm not putting up with this."
Commissioner Bill Groskreutz also gets a number of angry phone calls. He said the weekly logs for July show the majority of the rides were in Blue Earth.
"That's one of the reasons why we have so much difficulty in other parts of the county is because there is such a strong support for the use of the bus in the Blue Earth area," Groskreutz said.
He said it's a good system for Blue Earth, but because of that, it doesn't work well for the rest of the county.
Based on the weekly logs, Warmka said the communities of Minnesota Lake, Kiester and Walters only had one ride in July. Bricelyn had four.
"So you can see why I'm upset," he said. "I don't even ride it, but I'm upset because the people are upset."
The argument he hears from his constituents is that they subsidize it, so they should be able to get rides.
Hagedorn said she tracks denials, and denials from those areas aren't there.
"They told me flat out they quit calling," Warmka said. "In the beginning they tried to get on and they couldn't - it was always full. So they knew it wasn't going to work for them. It hasn't changed."
Groskreutz asked if there was a policy to avoid leaving juveniles or vulnerable adults essentially unattended - like with the ecology trip incident.
Hagedorn said the county doesn't have a policy, but drivers use their discretion and assist people who they believe need help.
Commissioner Butch Erichsrud used the system when he had to go to physical therapy. He got to his appointment 10 minutes prior, and had to wait 15 to 25 minutes to be picked up.
"And I lived with that," he said. "It's impossible, and I realize this, to keep a schedule when you're hauling elderly around and kids. I think people need to realize they have to live with that scheduling flaw."
Hagedorn said she calls ahead to people when the system gets too far off schedule.
"We're not limousine service," she said. "And if people want limousine service, we're not the ones to do it. We're public transit."
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wiccanmgick
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08-20-08 2:26 AM
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My son used the bus to get to and from his job. I have a medical condition which makes its impossible to drive him. Many times his bus has been late or not shown up at all. And when that happens many times I couldn't get a hold of anyone to find out why. I had no way to get him to work or to come home. The bus system *****.
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