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Date Received: 8/2/2010
Subject: Wi-Fi On-board
Comments: Hi. I just wanted to ask if it's true that you have Wi-Fi available on the buses? I saw an ad, but I've seen that service only in one bus, not in others. Just wanted to know please, if the service is available on all the routes. Thanks
Metrobus Response: You can find more information at this link. The service is available on our low-floor buses, which is just less than half the fleet at this time.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/14/2010
Subject: Bike Racks
Comments: I heard on the radio a while back that your buses would be soon out itted with bike racks allowing passengers to attach their bikes and ride the bus. I have not seen any bikes on the bus so just wondering is this something we will see in the future or is this something that is currently on going but I just haven’t noticed.
Metrobus Response: We aren't able to install bike racks until we move into our new facility, hopefully in the Spring of 2012. The units add a few feet to the length of each bus and by doing so, the buses would not be able to fit into our existing storage facility.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/16/2010
Subject: Google Transit
Comments: The Metrobus website has been talking about a Google Transit project for ages now that would allow people to plan their trips using Google Transit both online and on mobile devices (which is an excellent initiative), probably for about 2 years now but there have been no further announcements. Are there any updates on how it's coming along? Thank you!
Metrobus Response: That's a fair question. To say the least, our experience with getting the project off the ground has been frustrating. Google does not charge the Transit Agency a fee for the service, but as a result, we must "stand in line" until our system is live with Google. The most recent correspondence we received from Google was apologetic for the delays and touched on restructuring within the Google Transit team. It ended with an assurance that it is "moving through engineering review and once our Account Rep gets feedback from Google's engineers, he will contact us about the launch date. In the end, we believe the unexpected delays, will be worth it.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/12/2010
Subject: Mobile applications
Comments: It would be really useful if there was an app for the iPod touch or the iPhone which contained all the bus schedules. It would also be a green initiative :) More than once I've gone scouting the Internet so I could load your site so I can plan my journey. Myself and my friends have mentioned this more than once so I thought I'd pass it along!
Metrobus Response: Great suggestion. We're working on the final stages of our Google Transit project and once that's running, it will run very well on mobile devices, iPhones and iPod touches included.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/15/2009
Subject: Online Trip Planner
Comments: Just a suggestion for your website. It would be good and very helpful if say we could type in our place of departure and our destination point and then it would tell us what route and bus to take. I find it frustrating trying to figure out what bus goes where and then which bus I have to take next to get to a certain point.
Metrobus Response: That long-awaited feature will be available later this Summer as part of our Google Transit project. We are testing data right now and should be able to launch in late Fall.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/25/2009
Subject: Bus pass sales at The Village
Comments: Since the Lotto Corporation has shut down their booth at The Village where can anyone in this end of town buy their bus passes?
Metrobus Response: We have not had an opportunity at this point to speak with anyone at The Village about taking over the sales of our passes. Once we have figured it out, we will update our "fares and passes" page on our website. UPDATE: Starting next week (February 9th) m-Cards can be purchased and reloaded at Shoppers Drug Mart on Topsail Road. In addition, if you have a bank account or a credit card, you can purchase or reload your m-Card in our e-Store at www.metrobus.com
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/20/2008
Subject: Fuel prices and fares
Comments: Since the price of fuel has dropped dramatically in recent weeks, I was wondering if the Metrobus fare price will drop as well. My understanding is that the recent fare increase occurred primarily because of the high price of fuel during the summer months.
Metrobus Response: The fuel price drop is certainly good news, but unfortunately, there is still a $200,000 shortfall related to fuel expenses for 2008. We don't anticipate any fare changes in the near future.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/12/2008
Subject: Online Route Maps
Comments: I was wondering if there are individual maps for each route available? The map for all routes is ok but a more detailed map of each route and where each stop is would be even better.
Metrobus Response: Individual route maps are available in the "Schedules" section of our website. And, as part of the recently completed first phase of our Google Transit project, we just added a new set of Google Maps that show the precise location of each bus stop on each route - you'll also find them in the "Schedules" section of our site.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/18/2008
Subject: Trip Planner
Comments: I like your new website but I believe your old website had a feature where I could put in a street address and a destination and it would give me the proper route to take. Now I have to scan through half a dozen routes to find the appropriate bus to take. Could the origin/destination feature be re-instated?
Metrobus Response: We are busy working on such a project that when finished, will become part of the Google Transit network. You will be able to enter origin and desintation addresses and receive back an intinerary for your trip. We hope to be in the testing phase within the next six to eight weeks.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/19/2008
Subject: Mistake on Website
Comments: I would just like to point out what I think is an error in the information posted on your website. If you click on route 10 Saturday or Sunday schedule in the "list of streets travelled" at the bottom of the page - Larkhall Street, Vinnicombe Street and Baird Place are still listed although they are not listed on the weekday schedule. I assume that route 10 no longer travels these streets even on the weekends so I decided to let Metrobus know so they could remove the above three streets from the list in order to alleviate customer confusion. Thanks.
Metrobus Response: Whoops. You're right and thanks for pointing that out. We have since corrected the errors.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/23/2007
Subject: Route 16 servicing HSC
Comments: Your main "Route" page states that Route 16 takes you to the Health Sciences/Janeway. This is not the case. Route 16 does not go to the hospital anymore, it goes to the University Center, Freshwater Road and then to the Avalon Mall. Yesterday I discovered this and had to take another bus to get to the hospital from the Mall. You need to update your website with the correct informaiton.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your email. The Health Sciences Centre is considered serviced by route 16 because the bus stop on Arctic Drive is well under our 400 metre standard (it's actually about 150 metres from the stop to the door of the building); that is, an area is considered serviced by public transit if a bus travels within 400 metres of the area.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/22/2007
Subject: Info on website
Comments: Under the "Educational Institutions" section, there is no route to the Center for Nursing Studies, and under the "Hospitals" section there is no mention of the Miller Center. These are two huge attractions for both students and the general public that should be mentioned on this page.
Metrobus Response: You're right; we'll update this information on our next web update.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/3/2007
Subject: Shelters at The Village Shopping Centre
Comments: Will you be installing bus shelters at the new bus stop at the Village Mall. It will be very hard for people to stand in the wind, rain & snowy weather.
Metrobus Response: We have been advised by representatives of The Village Shopping Centre that they will be installing 3 bus shelters at the new bus stop location.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/12/2007
Subject: Route 2 Not Servicing MUN Centre
Comments: I am a third year university student. I have purchased 5 semester passes since starting university. I have lived at the same address since coming to St. John's. I never had a problem with Metrobus before, I would get the bus to school - getting off on Elizabeth Ave, and would get the bus home from school, getting on at the University Center, on what used to be Route 4. Since this semester started I have not purchased a bus pass because there is no way to get from the University Center down Elizabeth avenue without having to change buses. I don't like the fact that Route 2, which comes down Elizabeth, does not go to the University Center, instead just comes straight down Elizabeth. There is no shelter on the opposite side of Elizabeth Avenue, so on days, like today, when it is raining, I don't like to have to walk across campus, and up a little ways, and then have to stand in the rain to wait for a bus. There are 4 students living in my house and none of us are now using Metrobus because of this reason. Why is there no bus leaving the University Center to come down Elizabeth avenue?
Metrobus Response: We changed the route from the University Center to Elizabeth Ave because it would take our Route 4 10 - 15 minutes to service the UC. We heard from many passengers who told us they would like to see direct routing. We also had students on our Steering Committee and Focus Groups who felt the University would be considered serviced by Elizabeth Avenue. I attended a meeting this morning at City Hall and received permission to install a shelter in its old location across from the Arts and Administration Building. This is conditional that our patrons do not create a problem by not using crosswalks in the area. I have spoken with our Maintenance Department who tell me it will take a couple of days to get the shelter ready and install it. Hopefully we will see it installed by the end of this week or early next week. Thank you for the feedback as we depend on this to make decisions which affect our passengers.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/18/2007
Subject: Route 2 Connections at The Village
Comments: When Route 21 Goes to Mount Pearl, the bus stop closest to my boyfriend's house is about the 4th or 5th stop in Mount Pearl (Ruth Avenue). I have to spend 40 mins of my time traveling all around Mount Pearll on the bus, then when I finally get The Village I have to wait another 40 mins for Route 2 which drops me off by my house (Lemarchant Road). I never had this problem before you changed the routes. Route 2 was there right away when route 21 would arrive. My friend is having the same problem as myself.
Metrobus Response: We have made changes to the Route 2 so that it will connect with the Route 21 all day effective September 3rd. With regards to Mount Pearl we suggested changes to their routes but the city decided to keep their service as is and they have final say on the matter. We will be working with Mt Pearl trying to design some better routes.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/17/2007
Subject: Route 10
Comments: Route 10 bus is almost always behind schedule. I have been late for work 3 times this week because of it. Yesterday I was 30 minutes late. I know that this is because of the detours downtown, but they are so late that they actually lapse into the next scheduled time. If the downtown situation is such a big issue that the buses are this late, then it is my opinion that the times should be adjusted. The work that is being done is not going to be finished any time soon. I'm sorry for having to complain but this issue is causing me a great deal of stress. Thank you for hearing me.
Metrobus Response: I fully understand your frustration. We are aware of the problems with Route 10. To help alleviate the problems we have made changes to its route starting September 3rd. We also visited the downtown area this past Wednesday and were ready to detour the route so it could travel up Duckworth Street. We could not get permission to install bus stops on Duckworth but were promised some changes to the intersections involving Prescott Street making it easier for our buses to navigate the turns.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/1/2007
Subject: Confederation Building
Comments: My major concern is safety especially in the winter with the fact that sidewalks are non existent. Traffic is frequent and high speed. I wish that the bus stop for this area revert to the original bus stop.
Metrobus Response: We plan on putting some of our routes (1, 9, 17) back onto the parking lot of the Confederation Building (CONA & Marine Institute as well) as off September 3, 2007.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/18/2007
Subject: Changes for September
Comments: I've been reading the posted feedback and I'm left wondering what some of the unposted feedback says about the new system. As well, I notice that many of the Metrobus responses state we will get this and that in September. I am aware that the summer run is a trial to work out any "kinks" in the system, but given that Metrobus has now had almost a full month to evaluate the system, why must customers be forced to endure 2 more months of an existing problem? Operating budgets aside, if you wait until September to implement the new changes, wouldn't it stand to reason that this may only create more problems in the future? Nothing is perfect. My suggestion for the month of August is to slowly implement some of these changes so you can discover problems now. Otherwise it seems like a game of politics filled with empty promises. We'll see in September I guess.
Metrobus Response: There are two main reasons why we will wait till September to make changes. 1. We have to give new routes enough time for people to get used to them and by giving more than a month we can get a true read on some of the issues that need to be worked out. There were a few problems that could not wait till September to be rectified and we made the changes immediately to the Route 10 and Route 3 nights and Sundays. 2. It takes time to analyze problems, develop solutions and implement them. One example is that in order for us to have a new Operator Shift Pick we require three weeks to have it selected by the drivers. It also takes time to develop the Operators Schedule as we have to develop the public schedule first. Another problem we are experiencing is that people are comparing our new system (Summer Schedule) to our old Winter Schedule. We always operate a reduced schedule in the summer months. This is exactly why we implemented our new schedule in June so that we would have the summer to work on problems and have a better system ready for September.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/13/2007
Subject: Route 3 Night Service
Comments: I rarely complain about anything but this really demands it. On the "old" system I was always able to get route 10 across from Government House and go straight to work on Stavanger Drive. I work nights and this took away a lot of the pressure. However now I have to walk further to get a route 3 get a tansfer,and wait 20 mins or more to connect to route 1. This is fine for this time of year but remember that we have a thing called winter that will make this wait unbearable. My only option is to get route 2 to The Village where I can at least wait indoors to get the bus. Totally unacceptable. Also I don't know how many people complain about this but when are those 25 year old "rattle trap" buses going to be replaced. They are slow, noisy cramped and just not comfortable. I know that replacing buses is costly and all depends on your budget but they have done their job and seriously need replacing. Thank you for your time.
Metrobus Response: We made a change to the Route 3 this past week so that at night it travels to Highland Dr past Convergys. Starting in the Fall we are fairly certain that we will keep the Route 3 operating during the evening the same way it travels during the day and it will travel every 30 minutes during the evening and off peak during the day. During the peak hours (7:30 to 9:00 am and 3:30 to 6:00 pm) the Route 3 will travel every 15 minutes. We do have a fleet replacement plan in place and have a number of 25 year old buses that are all scheduled to be replaced over the next couple of years. You certainly are right when you state replacing buses is costly at almost 1/2 million dollars a bus.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/11/2007
Subject: Saturday Service
Comments: On Saturday past I left to catch the route 10 at Water & Waldegrave Streets I was very surprised to learn that the route only runs every hour on Saturdays. I thought it had to be a mistake until I checked the schedule on-line when I returned home that evening. To make a long story short I waited approximately 50 mins and was 15 mins late for work. Luckily, I don't always have to catch the bus, but feel bad for the folks who do, especially on a Saturday. If I hadn't missed the ealier bus that day I still would have been at work almost an hour early. That's better than being late, but who really wants to be at work an hour early if they don't have to? Anyway, wouldn't it be better to have 2 buses running on Saturdays, especially since it goes directly to the Avalon Mall?
Metrobus Response: Thanks for taking the time to outline your concerns with our system. We have discussed the issue of only one Route 10 operating on Saturdays and are proposing that the Route 10A and the Route 10 both operate as a complete Route 10. This would increase the service to every 45 minutes on Saturdays. This would take effect in September. Another option available to you to get to the Avalon Mall from Water and Waldegrave is the Route 11. It departs Waldegrave Street on Saturdays at 20 minutes to the hour and arrives at the Avalon Mall on the hour.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/6/2007
Subject: Crowded on Route 3
Comments: Since the new route change there is not enough space on the bus to accomodate all the passengers. For the past three days about 10-15 people have to stand on the bus from The Village. As the bus stopped along the route to Water Street and remaining area more people get on and have to stand. I think you should put another bus on that same route for that time period.
Metrobus Response: In the Fall there will be a route 3 leaving The Village every 15 minutes at peak times which should help alleviate this problem of overcrowding.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/5/2007
Subject: Service to Shea Heights
Comments: I was disappointed to see that the hour service for route 11 to Shea Height's on Friday and Saturday night's was discontinued. Also, I was very disappointed that the customers of Shea Height's didn't get a Sunday service. After all there are people living up there who have to work on Sunday's and families who would like the opportunity to take their children to the park. Thank you.
Metrobus Response: We conducted our review with the restriction of having to operate within the existing budget. Shea Heights has been identified as an area of the city that we would like to improve service and add more buses. When the Route 11 made a trip to Shea Heights Friday and Saturday night it did so with a minimum number of passengers. We could not keep operating that bus while collecting such a small portion of the operating costs.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/4/2007
Subject: Service to CONA
Comments: There should really be much better service to CONA. In the winter or rain the walk over that parking lot could be really bad. That is a long parking lot and one could get really wet while walking to the school. There should be a stop in front of the school again. Very disappointed in this aspect of the route change.
Metrobus Response: We feel we are servicing CONA by the Route 1 and in the fall it will travel every 15 minutes during peak hours. Please note in the fall we will have the Route 17 operating from downtown, MUN and on the parking lot of CONA before heading east to Torbay Rd. This route will travel during peak hours (7:30 to 9:00 am and 3:30 to 6:00 pm ) which is when most CONA students travel.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/3/2007
Subject: Service to Convergys
Comments: I am very disappointed in your new scheduling. My son works at Convergys on Torbay Road and after 7 pm there is no bus going there. Do you realize how many people work at Convergys who do not have a vehicle and depend solely on the bus system. Convergys works on a shift system and every night workers there depend on the bus to get home. With the new schedule not one bus going in the direction of the Village Mall stops in that immediate area. I don't think this was thought out very well, and it certainly needs to be changed, and the employees should not have to wait until September for this to happen. Please say that you are going to do something about this.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your email outlining your son’s problems getting to and from Convergys. You are not the first to voice their concerns regarding this area of town. I just left a meeting and our focus was to improve the service for that area now in the short term and again for the long term. In addition to the current route 1 on Torbay Road at night, starting on Monday, July 9th, the route 3 will provide service to Highland Drive at night and all day on Sundays.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/3/2007
Subject: Route 19 to Cowan Heights
Comments: I was just wondering if, during the fall schedule, there will be more run numbers after 6pm for route 19? Right now, to get home (Cowan Heights) from the Avalon Mall when getting off work at 6, you have to wait until 7 for either a route 19 to show up. I love how it gets to Cowan Heights in a mere 20 minutes (which is a major improvement from having to transfer at the Village before, and it's much, much faster), but having to wait an hour after work is a major inconvenience.
Metrobus Response: We make decisions on how often to run our bus based upon ridership and inquires. We will monitor the performance of the Route 19 to determine the schedule for the fall. Thank you for the input regarding the Route 19.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/2/2007
Subject: Service to Southlands
Comments: I would like to request that route 20 to Southlands should not stop at 6:00 and keep running as late as the other buses and that route 20 should also run on the weekends.
Metrobus Response: We are monitoring the route 20 and if ridership continues to grow, we will be able to make improvements to the route.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/1/2007
Subject: Customer Service
Comments: I just wanted to say “thank you” for the excellent service that my boyfriend and I received last night. Route 19 at the Avalon Mall showed up at 10pm last night, but unfortunately was delayed due to a leak of power steering fluid. The driver on the route felt bad because this caused a major delay for the riders to make their proper connections at the Village Mall. It affected a few people, such as my boyfriend and I in regards to transferring to a Route 21 which happened to be the last run of the night. My boyfriend called the station to inquire about the connections for our Route 21. The dispatcher assured him that the Route 21 would be held for us and other riders. It pleased us greatly when we arrived at the Village Mall to see the Route 21 waiting for us. We have had some problems with the new system and the schedules, however, we're glad to see that the customer service itself has greatly improved!! Thank you and keep up the excellent work.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/30/2007
Subject: Route 10 Scheduling
Comments: Please tell me that something is going to be done about the route 10 being so off schedule. It was due at my stop by Keane Pl. at about 5:30pm and showed up at 6:00pm. I'm well used to the bus being a few minutes late but this is crazy for this time of year. I'm aware that you’re still trying to adjust to the new system but unfortunately the people I work for don't care. I work at home support and many of my clients are disabled. They rely on my being at their homes at the scheduled time to fix their meals, assist them with personal care etc. and when I'm late, they suffer. When I commented to the driver that I was going to be late for work again, his comment was "Uh Huh". That's it. I'm sure that the drivers are getting tired of negative comments about the new system but really! I know the route 10 is changing again on July 2 but please tell me that this lateness will be rectified soon. I don't buy a monthly bus pass and expect to pay for a taxi to work in order to be on time. If TimeTrack was working, I could at least make alternative arrangements but I don't have that option either. Thanks.
Metrobus Response: We are making the changes to Route 10 in order for it to be able to adhere to schedule. We will travel straight down Military Rd to the downtown area. This should allow us to keep us on schedule. We will know by Tuesday or Wednesday if this change is successful or not. We do not have TimeTrack working at this time as it has to be tested with the system before we can display it to the public. This will available to the public again on July 16th.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/29/2007
Subject: Bus Stop Locations
Comments: I live on Frecker Drive and when I leave work to go home after an 8hr shift I like to get the bus home instead off walking the 15-20 minutes, but it's really annoying to have to get off the bus at the stop in front of the mail box at 80 Frecker Dr or wait till I get to the one on 150. There’s now a stop accros the street from my house which I think will be very useful for me but I haven't went in that direction since the changes have been made. I only moved to this address in May and I didn't realize the inconvenience with the distance between stops. Please if there's anyway you can do to help this pleasant traveler it would make my journey home from work a little more enjoyable. Thank You
Metrobus Response: We are still working on getting all of our bus stops in place. We have a standard of not having bus stops more than 400 meters apart. We work in conjunction with the City in determining the location of our stops, but the City has final approval. I am not sure if we can or will install another stop in that area but we will get out and have a look at it.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/29/2007
Subject: Service to Avalon Mall/Kelsey Drive
Comments: I was very excited about the new routes and schedules, however, now I'm afraid the new system is no good for me. In particular, service to the Avalon Mall and Kelsey Drive. As a employee at the Avalon Mall, Routes 7 and 6 arriving 10 and 5 to the hour, and Route 15 arriving 20 past, this was perfect for any employee taking these routes to get to work, whether it be on the hour, or half past. Now however, it seems most of the buses (and the one and only bus in my case) arrives at the mall directly on the hour, or a couple minutes past. Obviously, I cannot be late for work, so now I must be 30 minutes early. I understand that it is easy to remember what time the routes arrive if they arrive on the hour, but this is a pain for mall employees like myself. Can anything be done about this? Also, almost no Avalon mall employees get off work at 10:00, however this is when most of the buses arrive, otherwise you might have to wait an hour for the next one. Can there be something in between? I used to take Route 6 to go to Kelsey drive, and it would pick me up pretty much outside my door, go straight to Kelsey Drive, and when I wanted to go home it would go straight back. Now however, I have to transfer, with a 30 minutes wait in between, to go to Kelsey Drive. On the plus side I can now go to Stavanger on one bus, but why would I go to Stavanger Drive when Kelsey Drive is pretty much the same, and closer? Where I currently live it isn't a far walk to the mall, however, after being accustomed to convenience at my doorstep, the new system is a big, unwanted change. I cannot justify my $63.00 monthly pass anymore. I would like to say, although I do have complaints, I really appreciate being able to get to the Village faster. Thank you.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for expressing your concerns regarding our system. We knew we would not have a perfect system when we started and have committed to listen to our customers and make changes as need be. We are aware of the concerns with our buses at the Avalon Mall not leaving late enough for employees to catch it after getting out on the hour. We will be looking at this to see if can alter the schedule. We have 30 minute service to Kelsey so you should not have to wait 30 minutes. This past week we had severe problems keeping that route on schedule. We made changes to the Route 10 effective Monday July 2nd. Keep us up to date with your concerns as it is through constructive feedback that we will make changes.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/29/2007
Subject: Route 1 Behind Schedule
Comments: I am writing to express my thoughts on the new Route 1 servicing Crosbie Road to the University Centre. Before the introduction of the new route system, I was a faithful rider of Route 6 at 8:27 a.m. from Crosbie Road to the University Centre. When the new route system was announced, I was very happy to see that the Route 1 would be a few minutes later arriving at Crosbie Road at 8:40 a.m. This would give me an extra few minutes to get out the door and to the bus stop and still arrive at the UC in time for work at 9 a.m. To my surprise this morning, Route 1 did not show up at Crosbie Road until 8:50 a.m. causing me to be 10 minutes late for work. I find this to be a very unacceptable amount of time to be late on a route during those early morning hours. That is the most important time of day when students and staff are arriving for class and work at the University. Also, there were very few seats available on the bus by the time it had reached Crosbie Road. My concern is, what is it going to be like in the fall? This is summer semester and the bus was fully loaded with passengers and behind schedule. In my opinion, that route should be ontime and be able to accomodate the amount of passengers travelling to the university on a daily basis.
Metrobus Response: Many of our routes are operating a little behind schedule as many customers are asking questions while on the road. The main reason we introduced the new system in the summer time was to get a feel for the running times and make adjustments, where necessary. One reason the bus is so full by Crosbie is that the 16 Express does not operate during the Summer. Also in the Fall, the route 1 will operate every 15 minutes allowing for greater capacity during peak hours.
Customer Follow-up: Thank you very much for your prompt reply. I really appreciate you taking the time to address my concerns. I will look forward to the more frequent operations and express route in the fall.

Date Received: 6/28/2007
Subject: Route 2 from Avalon Mall
Comments: I'm a frequent Metrobus passenger, who is a student at MUN while also working 2 jobs, one at Stavanger Drive, and the other at the Avalon Mall. For the most part I'm quite pleased with the new bus system... originally I'd arrive to work at either location roughly half an hour to an hour early because of the schedules, and now I only have a 20 minute wait before work at the most, so kudos to that! However, one of my biggest pet peeves as a Metrobus user, is the last stop serviced on your previous route 4 (and now current route 2) from the Avalon Mall to Torbay Road. For employees of the Avalon Mall, the majority of shifts end around 10:30 pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and at 5:30 on Sundays. The new route 2 services the mall at 10:15 pm, 10:45 pm, and again at 11:15 pm according to the recently posted schedules. This would be ideal, for those who get off work at 10 pm and can catch the 10:15 bus, or for customers of the mall who are finishing their shopping as the mall closes, but for those of us who are scheduled to work until 10:30, this poses a problem, because the Avalon Mall is the last stop serviced by route 2 at 10:45, which means nearly an hour wait after a long day at work to take a half hour bus ride home. My suggestion is to continue travel for this particular run after 10:45, and to use the 11:15 departure as the last stop serviced to the mall. I understand that there will be a few changes as the new system is being tweaked between now and September, so hopefully this could be one of them.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for the great email. Not only have you clearly explained your problem you also suggest a solution. You are up to date in that we will be making changes to the system. Some will be as soon as next Monday and others will be in September. Your email has been entered in our database and will be considered in time.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/27/2007
Subject: Bus Stop Locations
Comments: There are no new bus stops on the stretch of Blackmarsh Road between Captain Whelan Drive and Jensen Camp Road. The nearest bus stop is east of Jensen Camp Road. I have two children at the ages of 13 and 14 who I have to spend a lot of time driving them to either to The Village Mall or the Avalon Mall, When I heard about this new route I thought I would be able to avail of your service, since the bus would be passing directly in front of my residence. Can there be a bus stop nearer to my home?
Metrobus Response: We have not been making progress with our bus stops as quickly as we would like and are waiting on approval from the City for a number of new bus stop locations. I am compiling a list of areas of where there is a large space between stops and will address this with the City very soon.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/27/2007
Subject: Feedback
Comments: It's very interesting that you have the "option" to view all feedback but in reality you can't. It's fake because there hasn't been any comments made between June 5/07 and June 25/07. I know that I have made comments. Just not putting up any of the negative ones I guess. That says to me that all the comments made between June 5th and 25th have been negative.
Metrobus Response: First off, let me say, we receive negative feedback and have never tried to hide that fact - that would be foolish. Our commitment to our customers is we read and respond to every comment we receive. We further make the commitment that our customers will never receive an automated response from us - we take the time to read the feedback and respond with the truth. If you take the time to read the comments that are posted, you would realize that your "Just not putting up any of the negative ones" comment is quite incorrect. I believe the comment that starts out "Well, just when it seemed things could not get worse, they indeed have." would have to be classified as "negative" and if you look back over the months of comments we receive, you will see quite an assortment of positive and negative comments, all of which have a response from us. If you have provided a constructive comment, either positive or negative, you too will have received a response from us. We don't post all feedback for the simple fact we have one IT person available and right now that person is quite busy completing other tasks relating to the the new system. In reviewing your recent comments, your first one about "closing the loop" doesn't really provide any improvements other than to lengthen a route and provide service between two malls that already have two routes servicing them all day and all night. Your second comment about not being able to get from Military Road to Avalon Mall without having to take two or three buses is also incorrect as Military Road to Avalon Mall is serviced by a route 10 and a route 15. Your third feedback form included comments about an individual on a review committee and also a comment about the biggest grocery store in the City not being serviced. First off, all of the individuals were screened, interviewed and selected and served on a volunteer basis. One member of the customer committee did take ownership of a vehicle during the review process, but that certainly doesn't exclude him from having an opinion about the service he received while using transit and even more important about what motivated him to give up public transit for a private vehicle. Second, your comment about only one bus servicing the Blackmarsh Road Dominion is misleading as it implies more than one bus used to service that store. With the old system, it was serviced by the route 7, and on the new system is serviced by the 12, every 30 minutes up to 630pm, and then hourly after that. Again, we always make an effort to post constructive comments, either positive or negative that will help provide answers to other customers with similar thoughts or feelings and if we receive comments about similar issues, we will generally post it only one time; we will not, however, post feedback that is incorrect or misleading.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/26/2007
Subject: Metrobus Time
Comments: I don't understand why "Metrobus Time" - the clock that Metrobus operates by - isn't synchronized with an Internet time site. If you're using a Windows computer, double click on the time displayed down in the task bar, and then click on the "Internet Time" tab - it offers a few websites (one Windows/Microsoft, two government) that your computer is/can be synched to. "Metrobus Time" not being in line with any other clock I've ever seen has always had an annoyance factor to it, partially because of the practicality of it, and partially because of the illogicality of it, because I would assume that a lot of Metrobus users check metrobus.com for schedules, and I'm very sure that the vast majority of them have a computer clock that is synchronized with one of these time servers. So, why not make Metrobus time the same as the time as everybody's computer says? Barring the ability to set the general populations clocks and watches all to one specific time, and synchronizing Metrobus' time with that (which, of course, is impossible), this synchronizing of Metrobus time with an internet time server and, therefore, metrobus.com users' computer clocks, seems like the next best thing - and it also seems like a fairly obvious thing to do. That's why I don't understand why you don't do it. It appears that you're making a big push for people to use the website, what with the redesign of it, and TimeTrack. I think we all know that time is a very important part of Metrobus' operation and also a big part of Metrobus customer complaints, so why not do one of the simplest things you can concerning time and synchronize Metrobus time with one of these time servers?
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your email. Metrobus time that appears online at metrobus.com and that is spoken up front on Ride Guide through the telephone IVR has been synched with the Internet since 2005. The online service is provided via Flash through clocklink.com Many computer users don’t know this, but Windows only synchronizes with an available time server once a week which is woefully inadequate, however, you can synch it manually by clicking the “Update Now” button located on the tab you referenced. Most home computer users who believe they are synched are actually out for about 6 days out of those 7 because a computer clock begins to lose or gain time the moment after a synchronization takes place. Our servers are synchronized every 10 minutes.
Customer Follow-up: Well, thanks for pointing that out. I clicked to update it yesterday and it didn't change. I tried again now after your email and it told me that the time server gave me an error. I switched servers and updated and now I'm synched with Metrobus clock. Now the Metrobus clock makes a lot more sense to me. Thanks.

Date Received: 6/25/2007
Subject: Route 2 Connections at The Village
Comments: I have just been reviewing the new routes and schedule and I have noticed that the only bus that will not meet up with the route 21 from Mount Pearl at the Village at 8:25 is route 2. Can I ask why this is? It really makes no sense to have to wait for 15 minutes to connect with the Route 2. To me 25 past the hour at the Village is the main route change. How can introducing a new system and schedule to improve service eliminate such an important transfer point and time from the schedule? To me it would make more sense to have the route 2 at 25 past the hours and 5 to the hour for a summer schedule. I do realize that in September that the route will run every 15mins but I think there is a let down of the service during the summer with this major route change time being eliminated. I would hope that you can give me some sort of explanation for this.
Metrobus Response: Starting tomorrow morning, we are going to have an extra route 2 leaving the Village at 730 am and 830am and also an extra route 2 in the afternoon along LeMarchant Road arriving at the Village at 430pm and 530pm. This will be in effect for the rest of the summer. Like you said, peak time connections during the Fall schedule will not be an issue as route 2 will run every 15 minutes.
Customer Follow-up: Thanks. I do realize that you will never be able to have a perfect system where everyone is happy. I do appreciate the service we get from Metrobus and I have voiced my comments to the City of Mount Pearl as well for their lack of service.

Date Received: 6/5/2007
Subject: New System
Comments: I am a senior citizen who had concerns about the new system. It seems you have improved the service beyond my expectations. I live on Watson Street and today it took me more than an hour to get home from Avalon Mall. According to the new schedules, I will be able to make the same trip in twenty minutes. Thank you.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/5/2007
Subject: New System
Comments: Well, just when it seemed things could not get worse, they indeed have. With the new route system to be implemented soon, yes there are many ways the service seems to have been improved, but there are areas that need changes or at least further consideration. But it will take time to evaluate the effectiveness of the new service, and to deal with any flaws. I have some concern that route 2 and 4 are combined so that now 3 stops for route 2 have been eliminated along Newfoundland Drive. One such bus stop was directly in front of the Virginia Park Plaza, and near the White Hills Clinic, located just a two minute walk from the bus stop. These two locations are now somewhat isolated from bus service. It seems that now people will have longer walks to get to the plaza or this clinic. With the weather we experience in Newfoundland, walking to get route 2 at the bus stop before Montague Street or on Newfoundland Drive just after Middleton Drive, will make for some cold, wet and upset customers. Needless to say that some people will actually be walking further to get the bus. There are numerous stops along Montague Street, which I feel are not necessary. Two of these bus stops are located within less than 5 minutes of each other. Another thought is that there will no longer be a route 9. How tragic. It was bad enough when route 9 was cut back in the summers, but now there will be no route servicing a particular section of Newfoundland Drive. Has it been taken into consideration that people may be going to the new Dominion, [soon to be completed], will have to walk farther to get the bus or even returning with groceries. The changes to the route system has done nothing to benefit me or others living in my area. We have to walk further for buses, and part of the route has been eliminated. It goes without saying that at least for myself and some others I have spoken to, we are not happy to have the route change to route 2 along Newfoundland Drive. I don't anticipate much bus use in the future. If we have to walk in poor weather to get a particular bus, it is easier for us to make other arrangements. These are my comments but am sure that not much will be done, as decisions have already been made. It really is a pity. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Metrobus Response: There will certainly be situations where more walking is required. Going through the process, the Review Committees adopted a reasonable standard of 400 metres walking to service during peak times and 800 metres walking during off peak for 90 per cent of the service area with the view to straightening out routes and reducing travel times. One guiding force for the new standard is the provincial government expects school children to walk 1599 metres to and from school, before considering bus services, the Review Committees felt that a distance equal to one quarter and one half of what the children are expected to walk, was quite reasonable. With respect to route 9, the ridership on the route has been so poor over the years that it led us to reduce service last year and the route would probably have been eliminated entirely in the coming months. It is by far, one of the worst performing routes in the system. I also live in your area and I don't mind having to walk a little further to the bus stop because now with the new route 2, I can get home from work a lot faster withouth having to detour to MUN University Centre and all through Pleasantville like the current route 4 does, I can get to work for 730am because the service is starting earlier, and I can get a bus every 15 minutes during peak times of the Fall Schedule (every 30 minutes during the Summer Schedule). We certainly will take your comments into consideration and monitor the new system over the Summer - we consider all feedback we receive. At the same time, I hope you will give the new system a chance and I think you'll come to see that direct routes and the elimination of large one-way loops will make the service more attractive to a majority of residents in our City.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/4/2007
Subject: New System
Comments: Over the past week, I've been watching everything being updated on the new route system. I must say it does look promising. However it's not without it's faults. I'm disappointed as are other people over the loss of one hour in the evenings on some of the routes, especially on Sundays, mainly the one that will be Route 2. The ability of only taking one bus, though the trip is a little longer, is very nice. Although, on Sundays when I get off at 7:30pm, it proves inconvienient with the last one leaving at 8:00pm. With the system review, I expected to have buses running at the same times but being more efficient, reliable, and convienient for many others to use. Nevertheless, it is the summer schedule and less buses running is to be expected. As well, this is more of a test to see how everything works. However, when the fall schedules are done, I'm hoping for at least some of the buses are running a bit later. In addition, my girlfriend was disappointed towards there being no bus at 10:50pm going towards the Parade/Freshwater area like Route 3 did on Saturdays and was hoping there would be a change to Mon-Sat. As she works at the Avalon Mall and often doesn't get out until 10:30pm, it was the bus she preferred to take home. With the new routes, the best I can see is to get Route 2 and go through Pleasantville at 11:15pm and take 35 minutes to get home which is also inconvienient. Again it is the summer schedules and as of yet no one has even used the new route system yet to see how it really works for them. I'm not trying to complain about the changes as I think many of them are good but trying to suggest where the new system fails and the old system excelled. I hope you'll take these suggestions into consideration at the end of the summer when we see how it really works out.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your feedback and we certainly have noted your suggestions. You are right that the Summer Schedule will not be as good, for lack of a better word, as the Fall schedule, but nonetheless, we would like for customers like you to use the system this Summer, and provide us with feedback so we can make some adjustments, where possible, to make the full service that will be offered in September even better. One severe limitation we faced during the entire review process was keeping everything within existing budget and as a result we admittedly focused on beefing up our peak time services first as we see that as the greatest opportunity for ridership growth. We do have a priority list that, if money becomes available through additonal funding or revenues from the farebox, we would like to implement; one being an exta bus on that route 2 at night that you wrote about. Please stay in touch with us over the next several weeks and provide feedback, good or bad, that will help us tinker with and improve the system before the September launch.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/1/2007
Subject: New System
Comments: If the scheduling thats online is adjusted very little you have made a rider very proud and content. These changes wil be welcome changes compared to the current bus system.
Metrobus Response: We do not expect to make any changes at this time before introducing the service on June 25th. We will be using the summer period to monitor the new system and accept feedback and will make any necessary adjustments before September.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/1/2007
Subject: Service to CONA
Comments: Looking over the new bus routes, I notice that the Prince Philip Drive campus of College of the North Atlantic seems woefully left out. Students won't be able to get there at all during the summer if I'm reading it correctly. With no information posted about how this route 17 will run in the fall I can't really pass judgment on it for September, but compared to the other education institutions, we appear a little left out. Please let me know if I'm just reading it wrong. Thanks.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your email. Service to CONA will actually be increased, especially during Fall as core route 1 will service the area every 15 mins at peak and every 30 mins off peak. During the summer, that frequency is reduced, as it always is to reflect the lower ridership during June, July, and August. A change of note for CONA is that route 1 will not service the parking lot, but will instead service the area on Portugal Cove Road heading north and south. We have come off most parking lots including Confederation Building and Marine Institute as people have told us they want quicker trip times, and we get held up in these areas when we leave and try to get back into traffic - the CONA parking lot is especially bad during peak periods. Also in the Fall, the route 17 will provide peak-time service to and from CONA (a map will be available soon) and we intend to keep operating a route similar to our existing 16 express that takes people from The Village to the institutes in the morning. This bus and the 17 will go on CONA's parking lot when heading east. If you have a specific origin/destination, please let us know and we'll be happy to help you find the best route(s) to get where you're going.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/30/2007
Subject: The New Route 10/10A
Comments: I was just wondering when the routes get changed around, will route 10 go the same way as route 10A?
Metrobus Response: The new route 10 will operate as one route on weekdays, that is it will provide service from downtown to Kelsey Drive and back. At night, and on weekends, the route is split into a 10 and a 10A and serviced by two buses. The 10 will provide service from Military Road to Avalon Mall and back, and the 10-A will provide service from Avalon Mall to Kelsey Drive every 30 minutes. Transfers at night and on weekends can be made between the two routes at Avalon Mall.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/30/2007
Subject: Mount Pearl Connections
Comments: I was disappointed to read that Mount Pearl service will not be improved, but I understand that it is not your decision. My question is will the times on the routes 21 and 22 change to connect with the other routes at The Village?
Metrobus Response: Yes, the routes 21 and 22 will be adjusted to connect at The Village with most other routes. Schedule information for routes 21 and 22 should be available online within the next couple of days. The major connection time for buses at The Village will be on the hour and half past the hour.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/30/2007
Subject: New Route 3A/3B
Comments: I've been looking over your new schedules and route information. I've noticed that route 5 has been replaced by the new route 3a/3b. This new route is, well to put it very bluntly, confusing. I can see this being a big problem in my daily trip to work at Convergys on Torbay Rd as I'm a little unsure as to what time it will even get there and what direction I have to get route 3 in, or rather if I have to get A or B. The map and schedule read like an exam question, where in you have to figure out how late you will be depending on what letter you chose. Honestly, you could have made this a little simpler. What was wrong with having one solid route that you stick to all the time? Why does it have to change depending on the time you get on the bus? I seriously think you over compensated with this route and its complexity. Maybe in another ten years or so when you decide to redo the whole thing again, you can give us back the routes that made sense. And yes, they made perfect sense, they just needed to run earlier in the morning and later at night. I highly doubt the feedback from your customers said "Please make my daily transportation as complicated as possible" or "run at exactly the same times, just completely change how you get everywhere and how many buses you use to do it". Thank you for your time, and I apologize for ranting a little, but you sure did fix what was broken, didn't you?
Metrobus Response: I'm sorry you feel the way you do. Admittedly, the route 3 schedule seems confusing because it is not something people are used to seeing, but I can assure you, that after a trip or two, there will be no confusion. The route provides two-way service around Stavanger Drive (3A goes by Convergys then Stavanger, 3B goes through Stavanger and then down by Convergys). This was done to allow people in the east access to Stavanger Drive, which they do not have now because it is serviced by a large one-way loop that goes in the opposite direction. For that matter, all of the one-way loops have been eliminated from our system. Regardless of what we changed, this process was going to lead to confusion all around - change leads to confusion. There will be people that may have to take two buses instead of one, but there will also be just as many cases of people who take two or three buses today that will now take one bus. If you have an origin and destination, you can complete our "route info by email" form or call 722-9400 and speak with an Information Service Rep and we will help you find the best way to get where you are going. Also, our services will be starting about an earlier as this is what customers told us they wanted to see. We would also like to operate later, but we had to design the new system within our existing budget. More people indicated they wanted earlier service than later service and we had to make a choice.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/29/2007
Subject: New Service from Cowan Heights to MUN
Comments: Hi, I was viewing the new routes and schedules that will start in June and noticed that there is no longer a direct route for students traveling to MUN from the Cowan Heights area. I was wondering is this just for the summer schedule or is this permanent, because it certainly is inconvenient for all us MUN students. During regular school semesters route 1 is usually very full in the mornings and I don't understand why you would change this route.
Metrobus Response: This will be a permanent change, but for anyone who used to take route 1 from Cowan Heights, there will be little change for you. Today, you take a route 1 to The Village and wait for routes to connect to the route 1 before going to MUN. Under the new system, you will take a route 19 to The Village and connect with the route 1 that will take you to MUN. Travel time is exactly the same and the 19 and 1 connect for every trip leaving The Village. Another improvement for MUN students with this new routing is the ability to go directly from MUN Centre to The Village – today the route 1 only services the Student Centre in one direction. The 19 is an overall improvement for Cowan Heights as residents will have the choice of whether or not they want to go to The Village or Avalon Mall. Today, because of a one-way loop, no matter where you want to go from Cowan Heights, you are forced to go to The Village first.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/9/2007
Subject: New System
Comments: Is there anywhere on the site that I can view the new proposed route system and the summer schedule?
Metrobus Response: We are busy preparing the necessary documents and webpages to release to the public. We will be releasing all information about the new system by June 4th at the very latest. This will give existing customers more than three weeks to review the new system and ask questions either through our website or Ride Guide (722-9400). We are making every effort to release the information a little earlier than June 4th, but our deadlines are fast approaching.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/25/2006
Subject: Bus Passes
Comments: You have regular ride fare $2, 10 ride ticket $18, monthly pass $63. How about some type of half month pass? Or make the monthly pass half price after the middle of the month, the 15th. Sometimes a monthly pass would be useful to me but it is too late in the month to buy one to make it feasible. Maybe the cost of the monthly pass could be adjusted as the months go on.
Metrobus Response: In November, we will be introducing a new Smart Card Fare Collection System that will allow us to offer just about any duration pass, like a 10-day, 2-week, or 1-day pass. More information about the new system will be made available as we get closer to November.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/27/2006
Subject: Schedules at bus stops
Comments: I was waiting for a bus a few days ago, and called your automated Ride Guide for information regarding the bus. I noticed a HUGE problem with the system. Most major stops have posted the times of all buses that serve that particular stop. However, the route numbers aren't there (for example route 1-4 or 1-3). You just know what time the next bus is coming. So if you know a bus is supposed to be there in 15 minutes, and you call Ride Guide, which tells you that 1 bus is on time, another is delayed 5 minutes, and another is delayed 8 minutes, the information actually isn't helpful at all, as you can't determine which one you are waiting for. You should include the specific route numbers (1-2 or 1-3, etc.) when you post the bus times at stops. This would be extremely helpful!
Metrobus Response: That's a great idea. Just for information, the number to the right of the dash is called a 'run number'. I'll see if we can make this happen starting with our Fall 2006 schedule.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/14/2006
Subject: Website
Comments: I recently moved to St. John's from Toronto, and I like using public transit to get around. I just wanted to say that I am impressed with your website. It is very easy to navigate, and there are features on it that even the TTC's website doesn't have (such as live online chat and a feedback forum). I look forward to my first bus ride!
Metrobus Response: Thanks for your comments. Just wanted to let you know that our system is undergoing a major review with the view to building an ever better Metrobus. Our current route system was introduced nearly fifteen years ago and it is not adequately servicing the newer developments in St. John's. Being a brand new customer, I would encourage you to visit the review website, http://review.metrobus.com and get involved by completing Trip Surveys, Customer Surveys or by applying to become a member of the Customer Focus Group. It would be interesting to hear from someone that is brand new to our service today.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/24/2006
Subject: System Review
Comments: I heard that there was going to be some sort of survey because you were revamping the bus routes. I'd be very interested in giving some imput so please let me know.
Metrobus Response: You should visit http://review.metrobus.com for more information about the System Review.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/25/2006
Subject: Service in Paradise
Comments: I was wondering why there is still no bus route to/through Paradise. Does the town not want one? With it being built up so much with new subdivisions, you would think there would be one by now. Especially when there is one going all the way out in the Goulds and I can't imagine it would be a busy out there as a route in Paradise would.
Metrobus Response: Our service is paid for and provided by the residents of St. John's, of which includes the Goulds. Paradise is a separate municipality, and we do not have the authority to operate within Paradise at this time. The decision about whether or not there will be service in Paradise rests with the Paradise Town Council and they would have to setup an arrangement with us similar to what the City of Mount Pearl has done. My understanding is that the town of Paradise is considering the issue, but have not made a decision yet. You might want to contact a member of the Paradise Town Council to see where things stand with respect to public transit in Paradise.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/20/2006
Subject: Ride Guide Phone Number
Comments: I find it really puzzling that the Ride Guide phone number (722 9400) is not displayed more prominently on the Metrobus website. It is almost impossible to find it. Is there some reason for this? Could you please display it more prominently?
Metrobus Response: Our website is used primarily by those who choose not to contact us by telephone. A website that encourages visitors to call Ride Guide defeats the purpose of operating the website. Having said that, our phone numbers, including our Ride Guide number, are found under our 'Contact' and 'Feedback' links that are available from any of the pages at our website.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/2/2006
Subject: Complaint about decision to operate service today
Comments: I was reading the last comment in regards to having drivers out in these road conditions. I think it is outragous myself. I work at Convergys and it was only when the bus shut down that they excused individuals to go home. How about parents with kids who are unable to go to day care or school and there parents have to stay home. What about those individuals who will have to walk a mile like us here in Airport heights because you have limited bus routes for us now. What about those people who have no snow blowers and have to shovel there way out through this. To me it doesn't seem as though you care about the safety of your workers but care more about the ones who are inside already waiting for rides. This city's closure depends on Metrobus closure which is quote SAD! Passangers Metrobus service would rather workers safe at the office or safe at home with there families during these conditions. Convergys do offer a taxi service to employees when the weather conditions are horrible and when Metrobus closes. Safety is MOST important!
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your email and I agree, that safety is most important. Metrobus has recently received recognition from the provincial government for our safety record, and our Drivers are the best trained drivers in this province. Having said that, have you looked out your window today? The conditions have been quite favourable all morning and the decision to operate service was the correct one. Long before the drivers arrive for work, our Operations Manager and our Transit Supervisors are on the road evaluating the situation. At 500 AM this morning, most roads were clear, visibility was excellent and the decision to begin service was made and the first bus scheduled to pull out at 620 AM. "This city's closure depends on metrobus closure which is quote SAD!" - the city doesn't 'close' unless a state of emergency is declared by the mayor of the city. Shopping malls, educational institutions and private business made the decision to close long before we removed service at 330 PM. We've had many people in our building today, telephone repair people, boiler technicians, couriers...they're all open for business - in the absence of storm conditions, there is really no excuse not to be. If you feel the conditions are unsafe, then you certainly have the option to stay home where you feel more comfortable. Others that mind today's weather can carry about their business.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/2/2006
Subject: Decision to operate or remove service
Comments: I just simply can't understand this....this morning you have all kinds of cancellation and closures notices and you have sent your drivers out in a blizzard warning. MUN, CONA and both Avalon and Village malls are closed. I also just heard that federal government offices, Confederation Bulding and all Government buildings are also closed for a few hours. Isn't your safety a great concern for those whose at risk? Wouldn't be me out in this weather!
Metrobus Response: We don't often receive complaints from people opposed to us operating our service - we receive many more complaints from customers after we remove service, like we did yesterday. Not everyone works at the Mall or Confederation Building, or goes to MUN. On my way in the morning, I saw the route 5 heading up Torbay Road...I counted 19 people on-board who were probably going to work at Convergys or somewhere in that area. Those people need a way to get to work as their offices are not closed. The operating conditions this morning, up to this point, are a lot more favourable than they were yesterday afternoon when we removed service. The situation is constantly monitored and if conditions deteroriate, service will be removed. We cannot remove service based on a forecast alone, because as you're probably aware, St. John's winter forecasts have not been very accurate over the past couple of years. You can find more information about removal of service at the following link: http://www.metrobus.com/weather.htm
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/23/2006
Subject: Route 12 service
Comments: It’s unbelievably inconvenient that route 12 shuts down after 6:00 PM. I know many people don’t ride that bus, but that’s because it shuts down so early. If the bus ran later, I and I’m sure many others would be able to get home less stressfully. All the times are confusing, and it’s just annoying that it shuts down at 6:00 PM. You should consider changing it.
Metrobus Response: We are undertaking a full review of our system in 2006 and expect that some changes will be made to our route system. The route 12, along with all of our routes, will be examined in detail.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/22/2006
Subject: System Map
Comments: I actually at one point brought up a suggestion to have a full service map, and now there is one online, just wondering if this will actually be in print at some point?
Metrobus Response: At the current time, we will not be printing any copies of the system map. We are undertaking a full review of our system in 2006 and expect that some changes will be made to build a better, more efficient Metrobus system for customers. We really don't want to spend thousand of dollars in printing costs only to have the maps become somewhat obsolete within the year.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/15/2005
Subject: Fare increase & 10-ride pass
Comments: I am disappointed to learn of your fare increase today. However, I know that these things are inevitable these days with the inflating price of fuel. My question is, will the remainder of the 10-ride pass which I purchased last week be good in the new year? I am going home for the holidays and I anticipate having rides left over when I return to St. John's.
Metrobus Response: You'll have no problems using your existing 10-ride pass in 2006.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/30/2005
Subject: Park 'N' Ride to Rex Goudie
Comments: I am inquiring if the Park 'N' Ride service will be available for the Rex Goudie show on December 13, 2005. Thank You.
Metrobus Response: Mile One Stadium would normally contact us within 10 days of an event if they are requesting service. If we don't hear from them by the 4th of December, it would be unlikely that such a service would be provided. Just click on our Park 'N' Ride link a little later next week to see if service will be available or not.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/24/2005
Subject: General Comments
Comments: I live in Ottawa and regularly ride on OC Transpo's city buses. I was checking your Web site as I always do before I visit a new city. Three suggestions: 1) You still do not provide a complete system map. At the very least, a PDF version of that map would be very useful to any current or future rider with Web access. For Ottawa transit users, one is readily available at the bottom of this page: http://www.octranspo.com/maps_menue_systemMap.htm 2) A reader was commenting in June that "Many bus stops don't even have route numbers". You responded that "It would not make much sense to show a route number on a bus stop without any indication of where that route travels, especially for someone new to the system." Sorry, but I must disagree. Here, all the route numbers served by a bus stop are printed on it; someone who knows the system even just a bit can figure out that he can or cannot wait "here" to go "there". 3) You state your transfer policy: "A transfer is only valid when used on the next bus departing at a designated transfer point. A transfer is not to be used for stopover. Transfers are not valid for use on the route from which you are transferring." I would suggest that you change that. OC Transpo did just that a few years ago, and ridership increased immediately. Their transfer policy: "Transfers can be used for any direction of travel, including return trips and stopovers, providing the time has not expired. Transfers are valid for about 90 minutes." People pay once to run an errand or have lunch some distance from the office; given the lower cost, they do it more often. A few years ago (and maybe still today), OC Transpo was the most heavily used public transit service "per head" in all of North America (number of trips divided by the population). They must be doing something right... They could likely give you a few tips, like individual route maps with much better resolution than your PDF versions... For example, go to http://www.octranspo.com/maps_menue.htm, click on any number, then click on View Map. You will see what I mean... Thanks for reading me.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for taking the time to comment. First, an online system map will be available before the end of the year. This was announced in an e-News bulletin that was emailed yesterday and was also placed in our RSS stream. We have been upgrading our route maps for the web and our printed schedules, then we will make a system map available online and soon to follow in print. We have a number of them completed and you can see an example at http://www.metrobus.com/map_schd/map11.htm These maps are superior to even those offered by OC Transpo and in the opinion of David Tuley, Marketing Manager with Dun Maps in Toronto, our flash interactivity makes these maps the most useful he's ever seen. The PDF copies of our public schedules are a temporay fix - they're actual scans of the paper copies. In past years, we provided full-colour PDF copies saved at hi-resolution right out of CorelDraw. This year, we hit a snag when Adobe released version 6 and then 7 of its reader. Corel 10 and Adobe 6 don't always 'play nice' and users were reporting receiving an 'error reading linearized hint data' message and not being able to view the documents. We are working with Adobe on this problem and hope to have the nice looking copies available again soon. In fact, we have been given the go ahead by Adobe to test a few as soon as we get the chance. Second, we began adding route numbers to our stops within the last two years with very little response from new or regular customers. We still believe route numbers are useless to someone with no experience with our system. Our regular riders have told us they would rather there be more information like schedule times at stops as opposed to just a route number. As a result of this type of feedback, we are trying to get more 'infoposts' out there showing schedule times and route maps. I think you'll agree that that would be better. Third, our transfer policy will be revisited when we introduce our smart card-based fare collection system in the spring - I'm not sure what the outcome will be at that time. Many systems sat at a roundtable, us included, to discuss omni-directional transfers and now many transit companies are starting to go that way. Finally, many of us here have had the chance to ride with OC Transpo and meet with many of their employees through past CUTA (Canadian Urban Transporation Association) conferences. The OC Transpo system is fantastic, a bus about every 10 minutes on most routes. They're also the most heavily subsidized system in the country with big money from the feds, the province, and the municipality. Unfortunately, systems like ours that are far removed from central Canada, receive funding from only the municipal level of government, an amount that, in my opinion, is not adequate enough to attract a significant number of private vehicle owners to the system. Transit is not high-enough on the municipal priority list at this time, although a couple of weeks ago a provincial minister actually stated that investment should be made in public transit in this province - it was the first time anyone at the provincial level has mentioned public transit in my twelve years with Metrobus. We will be following-up with the Minister to state our case for better public transit service in the capital city. In the end, more frequent service on the streets is a lot more likely to entice people to switch to public transit than pretty maps and numbers on bus stops. Again, thanks for your comments. We review every comment we receive because it is only through this process that we can learn what customers are feeling about our service. I will also point out that I don't just work here, you'll often see me making my way to or from work on one of our route 4's - so I have a double interest in continuing to improve our system.
Customer Follow-up: I wanted to thank you for your detailed answers. A few quick remarks: 1) Bravo for the upcoming system map. 2) ...'infoposts' showing schedule times and route maps: we have them here too, and indeed they are very useful. 3) OC Transpo is the most heavily subsidized system in the country: That does not seem to be enough... the already high fares have crept up in July (http://www.octranspo.com/fares_menue.htm) and will creep up again in December (http://www.octranspo.com/fares/Fare_changes.htm). Keep up the good work, you evidently know where you are going! I will certainly go back to Metrobus' Web site now and then.

Date Received: 9/7/2005
Subject: Trip Planning Service
Comments: I was just wondering if there was an update to the trip planner service that was announced a few months ago. Last I heard it was to be made available in June. I'm still looking forward to trying it out but I guess the bugs are still being worked out. Good luck with it.
Metrobus Response: As you know, the launch of our Trip Planner has been delayed. We are working through some issues, not necessarily bugs, before we release it for public use. It's important that the information be accurate so we're going over a number of different test scenarios. We hope to launch the service later in the Fall.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/5/2005
Subject: Website Suggestion
Comments: An improvement, I think, that would enhance your already great web page, is to add a "photo gallery" of sights of St. John's. Other transit companies have this, and it adds greatly to the site's interest. For example, show the cruise ships in the harbour with charter buses parked alongside, same with Cabot Tower, Quidi Vidi Village, etc.
Metrobus Response: Thanks for the suggestion. We do plan to make a part of our extensive, and rather historic, photo collection available online in the coming months.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/21/2005
Subject: Windows not opening
Comments: Yesterday, June 20, 2005 was quite a warm day. I noticed however, on a couple of buses I was on, that some of the windows that should be able to slide open, seem to be stuck, and cannot be opened. I think your maintenance workers should check the windows on these buses to ensure they can open properly.
Metrobus Response: I have forwarded your email onto our Maintenance people. By chance, do you remember a bus number or possible model type? I know you probably don't but if you should, send it along and we'll look at that (those) bus(es) right away.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/15/2005
Subject: Helping hand
Comments: Compliments to the driver of the route 3. I was feeling really sick on the bus and the driver helped me off the bus and went into Caines store with me. I found out later that I was suffering from low blood sugar and was pretty close to going in shock. It was because of the driver that I was able to get my blood sugar up and if the driver hadn't noticed how sick I was I would have collapsed.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/15/2005
Subject: e-News article
Comments: This is concerning your e-News. I have been riding your bus system since I was 5 years old. I am now 37 and my kids ride the bus and I trust the drivers to watch over them and keep them safe and deliver them to their destination. I still prefer the public transit over a car compared to the high costs of maintaining a car and the insurance rates. It saddens me that I pick up your news letter and your profiling someone from the USA and not one of your local customers as I am sure there are many. Here's a marketing tip - look to your loyal base first before you step way outside even outside of our own province/country. I see some guys that have been on as I have and some seniors even longer. Profile them reward them for staying with you. I am sure they would appreciate it. I know my family is a fourth generation rider. My grandmother, my dad, me and now my children. There you go another marketing idea. Through the generations.
Metrobus Response: Thanks for your email and your 'marketing tip'. We (Metrobus) are not profiling anyone - these promos are made available through the Canadian Urban Transit Association and the American Public Transit Association for use by all transit systems in North America to raise the profile of public transit in North America as a whole. They are part of very focused North American campaign known as the V.I.P (visibility, image, positioning) campaign designed to change people's minds about public transit and its importance within our society - a campaign that has been very successful in opening the federal government's eyes to the role it plays in healthy communities. There is a profile on a St. John's rider scheduled to run this fall and we will be doing a whole series of profiles on Metrobus customers known as our 'postcard' campaign targeted primarily at our municipal politicians and other decision makers who set the level of funding for public transit in St. John's- we'll actually be putting the call out for stories like yours at the end of this summer. It's unfortunate that you took such offense to the article, that like I said, was meant to profile you, me, and all users of public transit. In closing, I would be thrilled to sit down with you and put your story on paper for use in our future local marketing efforts. If you or anyone else you know would be interested in being on the radio and in print as a Metrobus customer please contact me.
Customer Follow-up: I would be proud to talk of the stories of riding with Metrobus. As I said many of the drivers have treated me and my family kindly over the years. Still now there are numerous times like when my kids went to their grandfather's for the first time on the bus and ended up getting lost - it was your drivers that found them on the system and took care of them and got them there two and half hours later or just the other day when I fell asleep after a hard days work it was the driver who woke me at my stop. They know my husband by name now and ask how he is doing on his sick leave and remark how my girls are growing. The drivers that took me to school are just about gone now but not forgotton. And I still see many of the loyal riders getting on and off just maybe a little slower or in need of a little help. However most times that helping hand is still there. Thats all I would like to see in the e-News; the loyal local people with the sparkle in their eyes and their dedication that they have given to you over the years.

Date Received: 6/14/2005
Subject: Connections and other comments
Comments: I appreciated your service during the snowstorms as well as typical car break down periods this year, but other times I try to avoid your "to park and ride" invitation. Reason: poorly organized connection between the routes (see other customers comments) and considrable time loss (see other comments). Many bus stops don't even have route numbers, I am not speaking about the posted schedules. One should live in St. John's from the time of birth to understand the local public transit system. So far, there is no one clear map with all public tramsit routes. I am just back from Halifax, where I was amazed to find out the free color public transit map with all routes clearly indicated in different colors with corresponding switch points. Halifax is only a bit bigger than St. John's, but it seems to me that they do a good job providing clear information for visitors. I don't understand, why St John's can afford tons of maps/schedules for each route separately and no one showing the entire area of service. Be efficient, guys, this city, its dwellers and visitors deserves it.
Metrobus Response: Thanks for your comments. We make over 3 million direct customer impressions each year and receive only a handful of complaints with respect to connections. The majority of time a connection is not made is due to a bus running late, which does happen from time to time, sometimes our fault, and other times through no fault of our own (traffic, weather, etc.). We are investigating a system map, however, in our surveys, our customers appreciate the individual schedules as they are small and convenient for unfolding a taking a quick glance, as opposed to unfolding a 3 foot by 3 foot map on a windy day and then trying to fold it back up again. We encourage new customers to call us at 722-9400 or use our Live Chat service on our website to ask questions about our service and how they can get from point A to point B. It would not make much sense to show a route number on a bus stop without any indication of where that route travels, especially for someone new to the system. On a point of interest, Metro Transit in Halifax is rougly 6 times larger than our operation in St. John's. Again, thanks for your comments - it is only through this process that we can learn where we are not meeting our customer's needs and then be able to take steps to correct any deficiencies.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/7/2005
Subject: Service to Paradise
Comments: I’m writing to inquire if there are any future plans to extend Metrobus to service the Paradise area. There are several employees at my place of work, aside from me, who live in Paradise and would benefit from the addition of such a route. Please keep me informed of any such change. Thank you.
Metrobus Response: Just wanted to let you know that service in Paradise would be up to Paradise Town Council. We don't have the authority to provide service, as it is a municipality separate from St. John's. Paradise Town Council would have to approve and pay for a public transit service, similar to what Mount Pearl City Council has done. You should forward your email onto a member of Paradise Town Council.
Customer Follow-up: Thank you for your quick response. I’ll forward the message on to them.

Date Received: 5/31/2005
Subject: Link to Summer Schedules
Comments: The website seems to be somewhat slow. There's probably nothing that you can do about it, but I do have a general suggestion. As the Summer Schedules become available, or maybe after they all are available, you could probably put a 'SUMMER' link on the 'Routes & Schedules' page so the user can easily get directly to the summer schedules. This may have already been planned but seeing as the site is slow at the moment, it would be helpful.
Metrobus Response: I've noticed the site was slow this morning as well. We don't host most of the site so I'll check with our web host to see if there were any problems this morning. We've made the change you suggested. Now from our 'Routes & Schedules' page, you can select the 'Summer Schedules' link. We've only got a couple of Summer routes available right now, but we're working on them as we speak and all Summer Schedules should be available by Sunday (June 5th).
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/27/2005
Subject: Real-time Text Messaging
Comments: I am a frequent Metrobus user and overall very pleased with the service. Prior to leaving work or home I usually check Timetrack and find the service quite valuable, especially in bad weather. If I forget, I can then use my cell phone to either call, or check the wireless edition of Timetrack at the bus stop. My one wish request - ability to quickly text message my route numbers from my cell phone to a Metrobus number and receive a Timetrack text message back. No airtime or data charges - just quick text messaging. Has this ever been considered? I personally find short text messaging over wireless faster than wireless web browsing, or even calling.
Metrobus Response: Your timing is unbelievable. We just presented this technology to our Board yesterday afternoon. While the technology is not in use in North America with respect to transit, it is well proven in Europe. Our board will be meeting again next month to give a yea or nea to the idea, as there is a significant software cost to implement everything from our side. Stay tuned.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/9/2005
Subject: Website
Comments: Your site is very good and helpful. Just a suggestion - it would be good if one could search by (major) street name or place e.g. "Stavanger Drive" or "Avalon Mall" and then have the appropriate route number come up on the screen (possibly even with that section of a map). Right now, one has to scroll through the routes to find the streets covered by each route. This is probably in the works but I just thought it would make things easier and quicker. Your site is already very good. Thanks for your time.
Metrobus Response: We'll be introducing a service very similar to the one you outlined, during the last part of May. The user will enter an origin and destination and the system will return back the route(s) required to complete the trip. You can take a 'virtual tour' of the new trip planning service at http://www.metrobus.com/trip_plan1.htm.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/29/2005
Subject: Website
Comments: This website is very helpful, keep up the good work!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/28/2005
Subject: Routes 1 and 4 making connections
Comments: For the past 3 mornings I have needed to use public transport to get to work as my husband is out of town with our only vehicle. I live in Cowan Heights and work at Elizabeth Towers. Wednesday morning I had no trouble making my connection at MUN, although I had to cross Westerland Road in busy morning traffic because Rt 1 would not get to the University Centre before Rt 4 left. Thursday morning, I missed the connection altogether and had to wait for the following Rt 4 and was 15 minutes late for work. This morning myself and another passenger had to make the same connection. When the driver of Rt 1 called dispatch at 8:20 to ensure our connection, he was told Rt 4-4 was already at Allandale Road! If he/she was not scheduled to leave UC until 8:20, how in the world could that bus be at Allandale Road at 8:20? Again, I was 15 minutes late for work. To be totally honest, I would not hesitate to leave my car at home and "take it easy and take the bus" if the system was a little more efficient. If I wanted to get the earlier route to ensure getting to work on time, I would need to leave my house at 7:15 for work at 8:30; I believe that would be a little unreasonable to expect. Plus, with the coming summer schedule, service on Rt 1 will be drastically reduced. Perhaps the City as well as the Transportation Commission should think a little more about the working people who are in the long run paying for this service with our tax dollars and cater to our needs a little more than they are currently. I have traveled in several large cities where it is actually more convenient to use public transport than a personal vehicle. When will we be able to depend on such service in our city? Thank you.
Metrobus Response: Sorry to hear of your trouble over the past couple of days, looks like we blew our chance to make a good impression on you as a new customer. I have forwarded your email onto our Operations Manager and our Dispatch office for investigation. I'm not sure why the driver of the route 1 waited until 820 PM to inquire about connecting with the route 4. That should have been done soon after you boarded in Cowan Heights; regardless of that, the 4-4 shouldn't be leaving early. I have asked Dispatch to investigate whether or not the 4-4 left early, and if so, to take steps to correct the problem. In closing, we would love to have buses running every 10-15 minutes on every route, similar to those large systems that are much more heavily subsidized. Unfortunately, we are limited to the level of service we are able to provided, while keeping fares at the current level. The changeover to the summer schedule and the resulting reduction in service is a direct result of a large drop in ridership during the summer months. We simply cannot justify keeping the same number of buses on the road when there are a lot less people using the service.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/28/2005
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I would like to thank Metrobus for all the years of service that I have received since I first came to St. John's. I am no longer on Metrobus (own vehicle) but I will never forget the friendliness and professionalism of the drivers. I am considering riding the bus again for winter service as I know that all of your drivers are professional and very cautious. Thanks again so much to all the drivers.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for the kind words. I will pass them along to our Operations Department.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/27/2005
Subject: e-News
Comments: Just wanted to say thanks for the new e-News service. Thanks for keeping me informed. The new trip planning service looks great and is something I will definitely use a lot.
Metrobus Response: Reponse to the 'Trip Planner' announcement has been very positive. We are just now testing the system trying to find any last bugs/errors before we make it available for everyone. We expect to have that system online before the end of May 2005.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/21/2005
Subject: Air Temperature on Buses
Comments: It is always terribly cold on the busses, and it is really starting to bother me. It is bad enough waiting in the cold for a bus, and then for them to have no heat on; it is such a routine.
Metrobus Response: I will certainly pass your comments along. We've also received complaints from customers who feel the buses are sometimes too warm. Not sure if there's a solution to this one.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/18/2005
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Well you did it again. Thanks for getting me where I wanted to go on time. On Saturday April16, 2005, I had to be at the Avalon Mall for 9 A.M. unfortunately I missed the 7:45 route 3 which stops in front of Caines store on Duckworth Street. The next route 3 wasn't due until after 9 so I got the 8 A.M. route 5, connected to the 8:25 route 7 at The Village and got to the Avalon Mall at 8:55. As a result I wasn't late for my 9 A.M. meeting. Much thanks guys.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 3/18/2005
Subject: Website
Comments: The information on your website has to be one of the most user unfriendly, ever. I would expect that I could key in the route info I needed from point A to point B and find the pertinent information. Alas, that is not the case. The site goes on the assumption that "everyone" knows St. John's and surrounding area, AND that the maps provided fill in any blanks in ones knowledge of the area. For example, I find three routes that go to Torbay Road. Well, I discover that Torbay is a very long road. Not to worry, you say, just click on the route map. Well, how many years has it been since a K-Mart store existed on Torbay Road, or anywhere else in Canada, for that matter? But, there is one shown on your route map. How long has it been since Zeller's existed on Torbay Road? As far as telephoning to get a route sorted out on short notice, well 7 AM to 7 PM leaves a blank there, too.
Metrobus Response: Our website has been designed with existing customers in mind, and with over 40,000 visits each month, it is serving the purpose intended for the most part. There is no doubt that our website works greatest for existing users of our system. We do, however, offer a Live Chat service to ask questions and receive answers in real time, and also a telephone service with extended hours of service. To be frank, we would rather have new users call us and speak with an Information Services Representative before taking their first trip. There are a lot of little tricks, such as how to pay, the electronic farebox, transfers, and the like that we want new customers to be aware of before heading for the bus stop. Your points are well taken about the landmarks having changed, however, our customers are known for referring to these landmarks as the K-Mart Plaza and the Zellers Mall, still to this day. Second, we are working on an origin destination system for our website and a single route map. It is quite a comprehensive undertaking as every location has to be geo coded in order for it to work properly - probably the reason there are only two such system working in Canada right now, one in Winnipeg. Finally, not sure about the 7 AM- 7 PM comment. Those hours are our Customer Service Centre hours for walk-in service. If you are a caller to Ride Guide, you will know that our Operators are available from 700 AM until midnight, Monday to Friday, and 900 AM until 900 PM on Sunday. We don't think there are any 'blanks' there.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 3/18/2005
Subject: Shelter on Higgins Line
Comments: I am writing concerning the removal of the Higgins Line shelter. I would like to say that this will be a major inconvenience as many students use this shelter everyday like myself. If it is raining or snowing during the day, what do you expect people to do in this area, we could walk to the one on Portugal Cove Road, but it's just as well to stand in the rain because we will still get soaking wet. I propose that you just move the shelter to the other side of the Bells Turn/Higgins Line corner; it is only a matter of like 20 feet or so.
Metrobus Response: As was stipulated in the announcement, we have applied for a new location (the one you specified actually) and are waiting for word from the City. Hopefully, we will get approval and be able to erect the new shelter very soon after the old one is removed. We do not have the right to erect a shelter in any location without permission first from the landowner and second from the City. The City's Planning Department has to do a site distance assessment to ensure that a shelter does not block site lines for drivers and pedestrians. The old shelter was erected on a piece of land where the owners permitted us to place the shelter. The land has been sold, and the new owners have asked us to remove it. We don't have a choice, but to remove it.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/12/2005
Subject: Compliment
Comments: Just wanted to compliment one of your drivers on service that goes beyond the expected. Your driver, upon reaching a "driver transfer" point in front of Guvnor Pub on Elizabeth Avenue, upon exiting the bus helped an elderly lady across the street. It was especially nice since the lady was obviously disabled and very nervous about the large amount of traffic. Your driver took her by the hand and led her across the street to safety. Chilvalry is indeed alive! He also showed a wonderful example to everyone by using the crosswalk further down the street to cross back over. Way to go...it was nice to see....there was a general "AHHHHHHHH" from everyone on the bus who was watching.
Metrobus Response: Thanks for submitting your contact record. I have forwarded it to our Operations Manager, and our Dispatch office. We'll pass the compliment along to the Driver.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/10/2005
Subject: Changes to Route 6
Comments: So you “changed” route 6. I can't comprehend how making it go only every hour helps anyone, if anything it made it that much more inconvenient. All you did was say "well we're late by this amount everyday, so we'll just change it to that". Pure genius. Well I guess you did fix my route 6 problem in a sense, because with these running times it isn't feasible for me to even use that route anymore. I guess I'll be walking to school. Thanks Metrobus.
Metrobus Response: The route 6 obviously cannot be completed in 45 minutes during the day. Your "well we're late by this amount everyday, so we'll just change it to that" comment is actually the way public transit agencies design routes; they figure out the headway requirements, then factor in extra time for boarding and alighting. We do not have the budget at this time to operate 2 buses full-time on that route. It makes sense to move it to a 1-hour schedule so it can operate on time and customers can know when to expect the bus. If the route performs well in terms of ridership, then an additional bus throughout the day would be considered. I don't think you've had a good look at the schedule. Under the old schedule, there were 14 trips leaving Kelsey Drive between 700 AM and 500 PM. Under the new schedule, there are 15 trips leaving Kelsey Drive between 700 AM and 500 PM. If anything, this new schedule will be more convenient, especially for those going to MUN. In the meantime, I have forwarded your comments onto our Transit Scheduler for review. Before making the changes to the route 6, our Transit Scheduler surveyed people on route 6 for about four hours at different times during the day and their requests were: 1. Connect with route 7 at the Avalon Mall; 2. Arrive at Kelsey Drive for shifts finishing at 7:30am and 11:00pm and shifts starting at 8:00am; 3. Connect with route 9 at the University Centre; 4. Arrive at Academy Canada for classes at 8:00am (most) and 8:30am; 5. Arrive at MUN for classes starting on the hour and finishing at ten minutes to the hour. Although over fifty percent of those surveryed wanted to arrive about fifteen minutes before their start time they still wanted to connect with route 7 & 9. According to MUN about 77 percent of its students have classes that start on the hour.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/3/2005
Subject: Transfer Policy
Comments: I will be visiting St. John's this summer for a month and will taking the bus big time. Your web site does not contain any info on transfers and the valid time duration of a fare.
Metrobus Response: We will add our transer policy to our website. In the meantime, our transer policy is as follows: "A transfer is only valid when used on the next bus departing at a designated transfer point. A transfer is not to be used for stopover. Transfers are not valid for use on the route from which you are transferring. Transfers should be obtained when fare is paid. Please ask the Driver for a transfer when you are boarding the first bus of your trip. In case of misunderstanding please pay fare and report the facts to the St. John’s Transportation Commission by calling 722-9400 during regular office hours or by email at infoservices@metrobus.com."
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/31/2005
Subject: Route 6 Running Late
Comments: I ride the Metrobus a minimun of twice daily. I am writing to say how disappointed I am with Route 6. Route 6 buses have never been on time. However, now that the new Wal-Mart has opened our buses have been even later. I have to get the '8:45' bus to make it to a 10:00 class because the buses are never on time. I would always get the 9:30 bus and make it to class before it started. Now, I cannot even think of doing that. This morning I was waiting for the bus and it was about 20 minutes late. On Friday morning, I was waiting outside in the cold for over half an hour for the bus. On Friday afternoon, after I finished school I was waiting at MUN for the bus, which was an hour late! What is up with the buses not being on-time anymore? I just got home a few minutes ago. I was at the Student Centre at Mun at 11:00 waiting for the 11:10 bus. It didn't show up at all. I was not the only one who wasn't happy with this. There were many other individuals around me who were waiting for the same bus. We had to take the 11:55 bus because the previous one didn't come. I think something has to be done to ensure that our buses will begin to arrive on time. Students cannot walk into class late everyday. Customers use Metrobus to be in certain places at certain times. We cannot count on Route 6 anymore to get us to our destinations on schedule. Is there something that can be done? Maybe use a different route to service the new Wal-Mart and have route 6 service the Avalon Mall to MUN without going up to Kelsey Drive? Something has to be done - we are all getting tired of waiting around for buses that are extremely late or those that just do not show up
Metrobus Response: You're absolutely right, the route 6 is performing horribly, especially since last week when the new Wal-Mart opened on Kelsey Drive. Last Friday afternoon, it took our Supervisor 25 minutes to get to the Avalon Mall from our office on Freshwater Road because of the traffic on Kenmount Road. Generally, what is happening is the route 6 is leaving on schedule, or close to schedule for its first few trips of the day, then, on the way up Kenmount Road, around the new Wal-Mart, and on the way back down we are hitting severe slow downs, especially mid to late morning. The 6 right now, is a trip and a half behind schedule. I just spoke with our Dispatch office and they are doing what they can to get it back on schedule. This isn't a perfect solution, but for the time being, while we work on a fix, I would advise that you call Ride Guide, press zero to speak with an ISR, and ask her where the bus is...she can view the location information on the map. I have also forwarded your contact record onto our Transit Scheduler and requested that he investigate the problems immediately.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/28/2005
Subject: Skillful Bus Driver
Comments: The bus driver was awesome. The weather was horrible (last Thursday evening) and road conditions were unreal. The driver was so in control and took great caution. I'm a very nervious person while driving in snow but i felt very safe. Thanks so much! Keep up with the excellent driving.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/21/2005
Subject: General Comment
Comments: The bus drivers in general are very friendly, polite, and customer-oriented. They do their best to get people to their destinations on time and safely.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/17/2004
Subject: Resumption of Service after the Strike
Comments: Hello all! I just wanted to thank everyone involved in getting the buses back on the road. I was happy to wake up this morning, get ready for work and hop on the bus again. The fact that I was able to drop in a quarter and ride was amazing (I actually felt like I was robbing you guys). But it is a very nice way to apologize to us loyal everyday riders who depend on you guys to get us where we're going. I guess the saying really is true: "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." In closing, it's really good to see you back and keep up the great service. Have a great day and I'm looking forward to riding with you guys again.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your comments. We too are thrilled to be back on the road, where we belong. Our decision to offer 25-cent rides was a simple one. We want to put something back in the pockets of our customers, many of whom had to make some tough financial decisions in order to afford transportation during the strike. We stated when the strike ended that we will go forward making sure each day that our customers know how important they are to this organization.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/29/2004
Subject: Strike
Comments: Well, I'm sure you've received your fair share of hate mail and the like from people who ride the bus. I'm just a simple bus rider, like everyone else. I sit on your buses twice a day, day in day out. Here I am now looking for ways around this strike. I've dealt with early buses, late buses. I've grumbled when bus drivers stop their already drastically late runs to buy a coffee or bag of chips at a convenience store or Tim Horton's. Now, I have to deal with the drivers stopping the routes because they want more money. I'm just a guy. I work for a living, I scrap by. I don't need this. I have to walk 3 hours to work now. I have to depend on friends who don't mind being put out. Obviously, I cannot depend on you.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your email, and I can understand your frustration as a user of the system. We feel horrible about the inconvenience that the strike by our unionized employees is causing to our customers. We have made every effort to reach an agreement with our union and our offer on the table right now includes an 8.5% wage increase and an overall wages and benefits combined increase of more than 20%; to this point, our union has refused to respond to our offer.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/29/2004
Subject: Service during the Strike
Comments: I was wondering if during the strike if there is going to be any attempt made at putting a skeleton service in place? Maybe a couple of day trippers to different areas of the city at different times for those of us who rely completely on public transport?
Metrobus Response: The short answer to your question is 'no' and the problem for us is we cannot put out any type of a service to meet the demand. If we attempted a 'skeleton' service, thousands of users would be left at bus stops all over the city. In a normal day, 37 buses operate at peak times to meet demand. Operating one or two for now, would only cause chaos and confusion on the streets. There would also be the issue of getting the equipment across the picket line each morning and evening, further delaying a service. In closing, I can only ask you to stay in touch with us by visiting our website on a regular basis for the latest news on the strike. Also, we want our customers to know that we are providing full refunds for any unused portion of any bus pass, and more information about how to claim a refund can be found on our website - not the news you want to hear, but unfortunately, its the only news we have right now.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/22/2004
Subject: TimeTrack
Comments: I recently visited metrobus.com and noticed the TimeTrack option of your website. An excellent feature, and I'd really like to know how that information is updated. But, that isn't the reason I'm writing. How about taking that information in the TimeTrack and placing it in a RSS feed. We could then check on the actual running times of the buses without loading all of metrobus.com.
Metrobus Response: We have been looking at providing an interface to TimeTrack outside of a standard web browser, mostly for display terminals that we plan to make available at some of our busier bus stops. For the web version of TimeTrack, the real time information is actually fetched from our AVL server every 90 seconds (it could be done more often but that would be overkill) and an XML file is created and saved to our webserver. When a browser requests the information, he or she is actually requesting the XML file from our webserver and not from our AVL server. For the Ride Guide version of TimeTrack, the real time information is actually fetched directly from our AVL server when a user requests information about a particular route using the touch-tone keypad on the phone. That, in a nutshell, is how TimeTrack works. We're still working out a couple of bugs for the phone version, but the web version has been stable since April. Thanks for your interest in our service.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/17/2004
Subject: Possible Work Stoppage by Unionized Employees
Comments: I am a regular customer of Metrobus. In actual fact I rely on Metrobus service to get me to and from work, Monday to Friday, and anywhere that I may need to travel. I was just wondering if you were able to supply me with any information regarding the "strike" that may or may not take place at the end of the month. I am very eager to know as much as I possibly can due to the fact that I have a two year old daughter that I have to provide for and I cannot do that if I have no transportation to and from work. I appreciate any enlightment that you can provide on this situation.
Metrobus Response: At this point, we are in labour negotiations with our union. We have been advised that if a deal is not reached by November 28th, they will take job action beginning on the 29th. The union could actually be in a legal strike position beginning next Thursday morning, November 25th. That's really all we have at this point and while the two sides are talking, progress is being made. We will begin this weekend providing a 'contract talks report' on our website, through local media and on Ride Guide so our customers can stay informed and begin making alternate transportation arrangements should a strike appear imminent. The two sides are scheduled to meet again on Monday, November 22nd. I can assure you, that we will make every effort we can to reach a collective agreement with our union, within the financial limitations that are feasible. I know its probably not the 'good news report' you were hoping for; we will, however, ensure that our customers are informed about our negotiation progress beginning this weekend.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/16/2004
Subject: Avalon Mall Bus Stop
Comments: The new shelters are disappointing in their distance away from the Avalon Mall and the parking lot being on an incline with the slope going up towards the bus stop. Harder to run for a bus at this rate. Is the slope for drainage? Must be a reason for it. Is the idea that people waiting for a bus do so in the warmth of the mall (= fireplace) and then make a mad dash to the bus stop when they see their bus coming? Will have to have good eyesight. Could bus driver radio to a speaker system in lobby of mall when about to arrive? "Number 3 arriving at Shelter 2 ... On your marks, ready, set, go!" The hill to the bus stop is going to be hard going for those who have walking problems and even worse when it is slippery. Hope the walkway will be sanded. I can see the idea of separating auto traffic picking up people from the mall entrance from those of us who catch buses. I guess those who ride buses may be on lower incomes and not likely to spend as much as the auto riders, hence the penalty of waiting in a cold bus shelter on a hill to give way to the heavy spenders. Sorry to gripe, just seems unfair somehow. Now if the bus shelters could have been made more attractive somehow - bigger, more comfortable, artwork, etc., that would have been nice. How about a propane fireplace in the bus shelter? Or Tim's? Or video? Dream on. We have an excellent bus service here in Newfoundland (most of the time) but the shelters (location, design, comfort, style) do not match the buses standards.
Metrobus Response: Your comments were very entertaining, although I'm sure that's not what you want to hear, but let me say you are a very talented writer. On to the issues... I fully agree that things at the Avalon Mall are not what they used to be what with the shelters being located where they now are. Unfortunately, we were at the mercy of the Avalon Mall once they decided to renovate - one of there objectives was to eliminate loitering at the food court entrance (not just people waiting for buses). It is the Avalon Mall that decides where we can stop, and it is also the Avalon Mall that owns the new shelter. We have been working with the Avalon Mall to make the best of a not-so-good situation. They have agreed to provide seating in the shelter for our customers and that should be in place before the end of this month. They have also agreed to purchase and install a second shelter on the upper lot, and a new shelter on the lower lot where there has never been a shelter before. The new shelters will be installed early in the new year as they will not be delivered until late in December. One final note, and although you kind of joked about it, we are in fact looking at heating technology for our bus shelters in an effort to make waiting for buses as comfortable as possible. I have copied our Transit Scheduler with this reply and will ask him if the Avalon Mall might be a good place for us to try our first 'heated shelter'. If I hear more back on this, I will contact you (it's not Tim's, but hopefully it's a start).
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/29/2004
Subject: Seating in the Avalon Mall Bus Shelters
Comments:
Metrobus Response: The bus shelters located at the Avalon Mall are actually owend and maintained by the Avalon Mall. We have been requesting, that seating be provided for our customers in the new shelters. At a recent meeting with mall management, we were informed that an additional bus shelter has been ordered for the top parking lot and also one for the lower lot; benches have also been ordered for these and the existing shelters. The benches should be installed during November but the new shelters won't be installed until the new year.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/28/2004
Subject: Bus Missed Stop
Comments: My son, along with another young girl, were standing at the bus stop in front of Vanier Elementary School on Ennis Avenue, actually holding on to the bus stop sign post. The bus drove right past both of them without stopping. My son takes the Metrobus every single day Monday to Fridau after school, and has been doing so since school started in September. Normally, on a nice day this situation would be a little bit of an inconvenience, but he would have waited for the next one. But, today of all days, the two were standing in the pouring rain. This was a little more than an inconvenience, as I was forced to leave work and drive out to pick him up myself, or else leave him stand there in the rain for a half hour. Needless to say I'm not too pleased.
Metrobus Response: We spoke with the Operator of the bus in question and unfortunately it's down to a case of 'Driver error'. He said that there was a lot of traffic in the area of the school and probably didn't have his attention focused on that bus stop; he simply did not see them. He was quite sorry to hear of the mistake and will certainly be more aware from now on. I wish I had a better reason to give, but unfortunately, these are the facts as far as this incident goes. Thank you for making us aware of the incident. It is only through the feedback process that we can learn of where our service falls short of customer expectations, and more importantly it allows us the opportunity to take action to correct those short falls.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/4/2004
Subject: Lack of Sunday Service
Comments: I would like to complain about the Sunday bus schedule. Me and my girlfriend buy bus passes which cost us $116 a month and when we go to work on Sundays we still have to get a taxi to get there because the buses do not start running until 10:00 AM. We do not spend $116 on a bus pass to spend another $80 a month in taxi fares. I think that the buses should run on a regular schedule on Sundays like the rest of the week for those people that have to work at 9:00 in the morning. Thank you. I look forward to your reply.
Metrobus Response: We'd like to have buses running every 15 minutes on every route, all day and all night, every day. Unfortunately, however, public transit does not make money and for every route added to service, we lose more and more money. In fact, for every dollar we spend to provide service, we only receive back 50 cents through the farebox. In other words, if we were to collect from customers enough revenue to cover the costs of providing the service, a one way trip for an adult would be about $3.50 cents and a monthly pass for an adult would be well over $100 each month. We don't charge you the full rate, however, as the City of St. John's kicks in the difference (about $5 million a year) to keep your bus fares lower and more affordable while still allowing us to operate the service. Ridership on Sundays is too low to add service and thus further increase our costs. During weekdays, we carry about 15,000 rides per day and on Sundays we carry about 1,500, so to have a full service out on Sunday is simply not economically feasible - there are not nearly enough users to help offset the increase in costs. Public transit is planned and provided based on the mass or majority of users and in St. John's that majority rides most from Monday to Friday, second most on Saturday, and least most on Sunday.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/3/2004
Subject: Shelter on Stavanger Drive
Comments: Over recent weeks I have had visitors to the city who have been shopping at Stavanger Drive stores. There are no bus shelters available either side of Staples or near Pier One Imports bus stops. The winds today were very high and cold for the visitors waiting there for the bus. I suggest there be shelters placed in such shopping areas, otherwise, it deters people from shopping in these areas and taking the bus. Please advise if Metrobus has any plans for such shelters. Thank you
Metrobus Response: We have been actively seeking permission from landowners in the area to install a shelter on Stavanger Drive. I just heard from our Transit Scheduler that the we received approval from Cabot Development today to place a shelter in the Stavanger Drive area next to Staples. Our Maintenance Department advises me that the shelter should be installed before the end of September.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/3/2004
Subject: Ride Guide
Comments: Just wanted to let you know that I'm impressed with the new Ride Guide system and how easy it is to use. Two thumbs up!
Metrobus Response: Glad to hear from you. The new TimeTrack-equipped version of Ride Guide is simply a better system. It will take a bit of getting used to, but in the end I think most callers will appreciate it. The new system also has additional line capacity which will cut down on the number of busy signals customers receive when attempting to call for information on stormy days; let's hope we don't have to test that too often this winter!
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/2/2004
Subject: e-Store
Comments: When will October bus passes be available to purchase online?
Metrobus Response: Passes for the next month are made available for purchase on the 15th of the current month. If you can wait a few minutes, I'll post the October ones now. Just make sure that you select the right pass when ordering.
Customer Follow-up: Thank you very much, I don't arrive in St. John's until The 18th of September so I will be ordering a 10 ride bus pass to use in September and an October bus pass for the next month. You were very kind and very helpful.

Date Received: 9/2/2004
Subject: Website Problems
Comments: I use your website on a daily basis to obtain lots of useful information, and I've grown to love the TimeTrack feature on the website and Ride Guide. However, over the past few weeks I have noticed that it takes anywhere from 2-3 minutes or more to get a page on your site to load. However, once I get to the schedule page where I can select weekday or weekend schedules for summer or fall, that part seems to come up almost instantly. I'm not sure if you're aware of any issues with the site, or if you can provide any insight to this issue. Thanks.
Metrobus Response: Is there a particular page or pages that you find loading slowly. I have gone through them all from different connections (Rogers & Aliant) and have not found any problems. If it happens again, please let me know the link you were attempting to view. I would also like to hear from other users that may be experiencing similar problems so we pinpoint the cause and fix the problem.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/1/2004
Subject: Harvey Road Bus Stop
Comments: I just wanted to let you know that I had emailed you the other day about the Harvey Road Bus Stop because of the garbage that was put into the brick box. I noticed this morning it has all been cleared away and there is gravel there now and a proper garbage bin. Thanks for your help.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/1/2004
Subject: Summer Schedule and Route 1
Comments: A tip for next year; MUN Is not the only post secondary institution in St. John's. I go to CONA on Prince Philip Drive, and you are still on the summer schedule. This is not convenient at all. Also, put more buses on route 1 in the morning. If the 1 is anything like it was 2 years ago when I used it all the time, I'll still have to stand up on the bus every single morning, because you refuse to add another bus 5 or 10 minutes behind it. Paying the full fare to have to stand up and possibly fly out through the windshield in the event of a mishap (no insult to your drivers or anything, because they are excellent drivers, but an incident COULD happen) This is not what I consider good service. I just had to rant about that. Please take my suggestion for making the morning route 1 safer into consideration. Thank you for your time.
Metrobus Response: I have forwarded your concerns about route 1 onto our Transit Scheduler for review. Just to let you know, we do not base our decision to revert back to our Fall schedule on MUN. We base it on the schedules of the majority of schools, both post secondary and grade schools, and unfortunately for its students, CONA is in the minority. Our Fall schedule has been coming into effect during the first week of September for the past several years.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/20/2004
Subject: Avalon Mall Shelters
Comments: Just wondering if you are going to provide seating in the new shelters at the Avalon Mall? Thanks, and keep up the good work!
Metrobus Response: The shelters at the Avalon Mall are actually owned by the mall. We are going to contact mall management and request that seating be provided, should they refuse, we will install seating ourselves with their permission.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/19/2004
Subject: General Comment
Comments: My message will not be as positive as those that you post on your site, so I presume you will not post it. I am new to St. John's, but I should say that so far you have the most awful public transit I have ever used. I have been to more than 20 cities in Italy, Holland, Denmark, Austria and in major cities in Canada - Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Quebec City. I understand that you guys live on the island since the time of Vikings, probably, but you have not to ignore common sense and the meaning of public transit. First, you don't have a map with all routes as a whole for tourists and newcomers to this wonderful city. It is pain to figure out where and when to switch from one line to another without calling your wonderful customer service - I just arrived and have no phone yet because your wonderful Aliant is on strike; I still haven't bought a car, because I just arrived, so how would you imagine a person in this city could use your transit system without extensive local experience? So, 1. Make a map with all routes; include it on the city map. 2. Provide clear information about transfer points- so far it is a pain to figure them out. 3. Always provide a transfer- it is your duty. Frequently drivers don't give out a transfer without a request and explanation. Don't restrict the number of transfer points – it would be better to restrict time-say 45 min to 1 hour before the transfer expires (like many other cities do). 4. Provide connection between east and west parts of the city, including Mount Pearl. You may say you have it- I don't believe that this is an effective service. 5. Provide public transit to the airport- don't do a favor for local TAXI mafia 6. Less routes, but cover essential points and make large circular, not linear routes. Try to measure the time wasted in some of your routes - today I had to go from the Miller Centre to the Health Sciences Centre and it took 1 h 5 min for a distance of 5 km. I was waiting only 3 min- all of the other time I was sitting in the bus. I really enjoyed your downtown, but the circles all buses are making in the downtown are redundant- there were no passengers on small streets for 55 minutes of my ride. 6. Your drivers are awfully rude and complicated guys. They see the passengers as enemies who don't like to pay for their fare. Thanks for reading. English is not my first language, I apologize for some mistakes, but I think it is way better than the French of most Canadians.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for taking the time to pass along your views of our public transit system. I certainly will post your comments and your English is quite good considering it is not your first language. First, the cities you mentioned, all but Quebec City perhaps, have the benefit of large operating budgets, but perhaps more importantly, a definite east-west, north-south grid system of streets. If you've spent some time in St. John's, you quickly realize that our streets run in every direction and some even run parallel to themselves. The biggest reason we don't have a system route map is because for a number of years our routes were not stable enough for us to commit to the printing costs - as soon as a route or schedule time changed, the entire map would be wrong and would have to be reprinted. We will be looking at a system route map this fall with a goal of having it available for customers early in the new year. I don't think it would fair to blame us for the on-going labour dispute at Aliant. In deed, our telephone information system is in place for all customers, but new customers especially. The fact that you do not have a phone due to the strike is unfortunate because we could answer all of your questions within a couple of minutes. You obviously do have access to a computer, and therefore could avail of our live chat service to ask questions and receive answers, in real time, about our services. We do not provide a transfer to all customers without having been asked simply because our system experiences a great deal of 'transfer abuse' - for example, some customers request a transfer when going to the local mall in an attempt to use it to get home, never intending to transfer to a different route at all. This type of abuse prevents us from collecting the return fare and we simply cannot afford to forego revenue when already for every dollar we spend to provide service we receive back fifty cents. The Mount Pearl service, I believe, is not adequate, however, we have little to do with that. Metrobus is a service paid for and provided by the City of St. John's and we have no jurisdiction to provide service in Mount Pearl on our own. In fact, the City of Mount Pearl decides on the service that is in that city, and we simply provide the Drivers and equipment. All we can do is tell people who are not happy with the service in Mount Pearl to contact Mount Pearl City Council. We also do not have jurisdiction to service the airport and to this point, the Airport Authority has not allowed us to consider providing service to the airport. I suspect the reason is because the tender to provide taxi services to the airport is quite an attractive and expensive one and probably would not be as attractive if public transit were to begin servicing the airport. Again, Metrobus has absolutely no control over this issue. Your idea about 'circular routes' is one that we have been talking about for the past couple of months as something we might want to look at. Your comment about servicing essential points is a little simplistic. Yes, MUN, the malls, the hospitals, downtown, and government buildings are essestial points, but people who go to these locations begin their trips from 'non-essential' points; we obviously can't eliminate these. I absolutely disagree with your comment about our Drivers; in fact, I would argue that most of our Drivers are among the best in the country. We receive numerous comments about the friendliness of our Drivers from local users and visitors alike. Certainly, there will be occassions when a customer feels he or she wasn't treated properly by one of our employees, that happens in every service industry, but like you, I have ridden on dozens of transit systems and can easily say that Metrobus Drivers are among the best in terms of their ability, friendliness, and professionalism. In closing, thanks once again for your outlook on our system. I am confident that you will see improvements in our service within the coming weeks and months as we revert back to our Fall schedule and look at introducing a system map. Our system is not perfect and works better for some people than for others. I say this not only as an employee of Metrobus, but as a customers as well. Perhaps if you get access to a phone, you can call us at 722-9400 and speak with one of our Information Service Representatives (ISR) who would be happy to help you with any questions you have about our service and an ISR can make sure that you are using the best combinations of routes to get to and from points within the city.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/13/2004
Subject: Service to Airport Heights
Comments: I would like to see more and longer hours for Airport Heights. Will this happen in the Fall and when does the Fall schedule start?
Metrobus Response: I checked with our Transit Scheduler, and because of very poor ridership on the route 14 we are not able to increase service at this time. To answer your other question, our Fall Schedule will come into effect on September 6th. On that day, we will be operating on a regular Fall Sunday schedule in observance of the Labour Day holiday.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/19/2004
Subject: New Bus Stop at Avalon Mall
Comments: I usually contact you guys to thank-you for your wonderful service, but I unfortunatley have a bit of an issue on my mind today that I have to ask about. What were you guys thinking with this new bus shelter system at the Avalon Mall. I understand that the Avalon Mall is doing some renovations and expanding the intermission, but wasn't there anyway that they could have made enough room to accomodate a bus stop closer to the front entrance? It's all fine and dandy at the moment, when it's 20 odd degrees outside every other day (summer...finally... :) , but when the winter rolls around again and people, especially older people who ride the bus, have to walk all the way up to the new bus stop/shelter, this is going to cause a major incovenience! Not to mention the fact that the drivers like to get Tim Horton's coffee (which I totally understand and respect, believe me), but even they have to get off the bus and walk far enough that the bus is going to start running late. Again, especially in the winter when walking conditions are less than favorable, are they going to build some kind of overhead walkway between the Avalon Mall and the bus stop/shelters? I'm not entirely sure of the complete plans of the Avalon Mall for this little strip of land, so I was just wondering if you guys could shed some light on the subject.
Metrobus Response: I agree, the new setup is not nearly as good as it used to be, but unfortunately, the mall tells us where we can operate and mall management decided it did not want buses to service the building like we once did. The area set aside for buses is the area we have to work with. While the shelters have been installed and we are using them, the whole arrangement is still kind of temporary, and we'll evaluate things once construction has been finalized and the barricades on the mall parking lot have been removed. You'd have to contact the Avalon Mall for more details. Again, we're basically 'playing the hand we're dealt' and will monitor the new setup to see where improvements, if any, can be made. We certainly don't like to take backwards steps in terms of service, but unfortunately, we've kind of been forced to do so in this case.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/7/2004
Subject: Route 21 Service
Comments: I just want to say hello to everyone at metrobus. I use your services, primarily every weekend and some weekdays, but i just want to know why does route 21 have a short sunday schedule that would end at around seven o'clock?, I asked that question to one of your drivers before but he said I should ask the City that, if so where can I submit this question?
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your feedback. Our routes 21, 22, and 24 are actually paid for and provided by the City of Mount Pearl; they tell us where and when to operate...I agree that there is room for improvement on those routes, but they only have a certain amount budgeted for public transit in Mount Pearl. We have a contact at Mount Pearl City Hall, however, I can't get the contact details until our Transit Scheduler returns from vacation in a few weeks. You could try calling the main number for Mount Pearl City Hall and ask them who would be the best person to speak with, or, if it can wait, I can track down our contact details and forward them along to you at the end of this month when our Transit Scheduler returns.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/29/2004
Subject: Route 4
Comments: I would like to say I enjoy taking the bus as it gives me the peace of mind that no matter what, the bus will be where it should be within five minutes of it's scheduled time. I understand that it is difficult to keep on schedule with construction, traffic lights etc., but you guys still manage to be on time 99.9% of the time. Great job. My request is that you consider rerouting route 4 from Austin Street to Hallett Crescent to Austin Street back up Pippy Place where a bus stop may be placed in front of the Health Care Services building and then on to Thorburn Road from there. The reason for my request is that I work on Duffy Place and find it very difficult to catch Route 4 at 5:05 pm. I end up running and the bus drivers are kind enough to wait for me when really they don't have to. If I don't do this, I wait around work for a while and catch the 5:20 bus. If you reroute route 4, I could catch the 5:05 pm bus very easily. Thank you for your time. Have a great day.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your comments. While we strive for 100% on-time performance, we don't quite hit that, it's actually a little over 80%, but that includes the winter months - our on-time performance tends to be a little better in the warmer months - even with all of the construction. I have forwarded your request onto our Transit Scheduler for review. I will get in touch with you after I've heard from him, if he doesn't contact you first.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/27/2004
Subject: MetrobusTV
Comments: Hello again all! The other day, my friend was telling me that she boarded a bus and upon sitting down in her seat, she noticed that there were 3 T.V.'s above her head. She told me about this and I thought she was losing her mind. Well, to my great surprise, I got on the bus Friday evening and there they were...3 T.V.'s hanging from the roof of the bus. And on said T.V.'s, you guys were playing hockey clips...how freakin' awesome is that! I can truly say that it was the best bus ride I ever had. So, in short, I just had to contact you guys and thank-you for this exciting new service. Hopefully, you will be able to make this great service available on all bus routes in the future (I know it's not cheap. Have a great day and please continue with the great service! P.S. With the Euro Cup winding down, maybe we can get some great football (soccer) clips on those T.V.'s.
Metrobus Response: We're glad you noticed! Bus 9846 has been equipped with a video system including three 10-inch LCD displays and took its first run in service on a route 4 in mid-May. The strategy is two-fold - we're really making an effort to reach our customers and provide them with the information they need about our service; the new video system will allow us to do that while also providing entertainment for our customers for the twenty to thirty minutes that they are on board with us. 'MetrobusTV' programming will be updated monthly and will feature news about Metrobus service as well as silent video clips like sports bloopers and 'Just for Laughs' gags. If the new service works well, we plan to equip more of the fleet with the video system.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/23/2004
Subject: PayPal Service
Comments: First off I love your service and keep up the good work! My question is what is PayPal? I was also wondering if I were to buy from your e-Store could I pay upon arrival and pick it up at the main office?
Metrobus Response: Paypal is a secure payment method over the Internet that allows you to use your personal bank account to pay for things online, if you don't have a credit card that you can use. It acts sort of like an on-line bank. Basically, you can link your bank account to your PayPal account and transfer money between the two. For those sites (like Metrobus Dot Com) that offer PayPal as a payment method, you can make purchases online without a credit card. PayPal is totally secure and I have been using it for Internet purchases for the last couple of years. You can read more about PayPal at http://www.paypal.com. As for your other question, it wouldn't be a problem to do that, however, I'm just wondering why you wouldn't want to pay for the pass when you in fact come in to pick it up. We keep plenty of stock of all passes so you won't ever go without one, also, you can purchase one from any of our other sales outlets. If you would still like to 'pre-order', let me know and I will make changes to our e-Store checkout form to allow that transaction to be processed.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/20/2004
Subject: Hours of Operation
Comments: I just have one complaint. I have never been on a Metrobus but I was on this web site looking for schedules and other info as I will be taking the bus as of next month, and you guys have no hours of operation! I have no idea what time you guys stop running. This is information I need to know when applying for jobs considering I have no other means of transportation. Please let me know where I can find hours of operation on this site or add it soon. Thanks.
Metrobus Response: It would be difficult to post our 'hours of operation' as it depends on the route and the day of the week. We have some routes that operate until just after midnight while others terminate at around 600PM. I would suggest, especially since you are a new customer, that you call Ride Guide at 722-9400 and press zero to speak with an Information Services Representative. One of our ISR's can speak directly to you about your possible job locations and the routes that will service those areas.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/17/2004
Subject: Service on Discovery Day
Comments: Hey All. First off, I absolutely love this site and your outstanding customer service. I take route 4 every day and a smile from a worker goes a long way. Just wondering if you guys will be operating on a Sunday Schedule on Monday, June 21st (Discovery Day in St. John's). Please add this to the service bulletins as I need to make advance plans. Thanking you in advance.
Metrobus Response: On Discovery Day, we will be operating on a regular Summer weekday schedule. Customers are reminded that our Summer schedule comes into effect on that day also. Ride Guide and our website have been updated to included information about Discovery Day service.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/4/2004
Subject: Website
Comments: I was looking for information on my transit system in St. Louis, Missouri and came across this website by mistake. This is a great site. I'm jealous!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/24/2004
Subject: Information Regarding Victoria Day Schedule
Comments: I was supposed to take the bus home from Mount Pearl on May 24th, but it never came. I searched everywhere on the website to see if it didn't run on this holiday, and found no evidence against it. I called the office, and there was no answer, and no answering machine explaining. Please make your website clearer when it comes to holidays. I don't want this to happen again.
Metrobus Response: Sorry to hear of your unfortunate experience today. Our website and Ride Guide (722-9400) have indicated for the past week that we would be operating on a Sunday Service on May 24th, like we have for the past several years. This information can be found on our main page (http://www.metrobus.com) and on our Service Bulletins page. If you tried calling our main office number, 570-2020, you would have received a recording stating that you need to call Ride Guide at 722-9400 for route & schedule information. If you did call that number, you would have heard the bulletin about our Sunday Schedule today and you would also have received an answer had you wished to speak with an Information Services Representative as one was available from 900 am until 900 pm today. What number did you call? We encourage all customers to 'call or click before they split' That is call Ride Guide at 722-9400 or click on metrobus.com. Route 21 operates on an hourly schedule on Sunday, just like the weekday schedule, only it starts to operate a little later in the morning (1055 am) and finishes earlier in the evening (655pm). You should not have had a problem getting a route 21 between those hours today. What time were you travelling? If you have any additional information that will help us to understand why you experienced the trouble you did (like the number you called for information, or the time you were attempting to use route 21), please send it along.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 5/8/2004 2:30:23 PM
Subject: Website
Comments: Your website is fantastic. It's clean looking and very easy to navigate. I saw an ad in a shelter for TimeTrack and had to check it out - I was never a website user, but after seeing your website and using TimeTrack, I will be visiting a lot more often. Just one question though...will only web users be able to get real time information? I think it could be done through your phone service too. If I'm not mistaken, the City of Halifax provides up-to-the-minute information through its telephone service.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your contact record. We are working hard to make Metrobus Dot Com the best website in the public transit industry. To answer your question, we are giving Ride Guide a facelift and we will be introducing a telephone version of TimeTrack within the next few weeks. Callers to Ride Guide will be able to select an option to find out whether or not their bus(es) is running on-time. We are testing the software this week and next, and if testing is successful, the new and improved Ride Guide should be in place for early June.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/23/2004
Subject: Website
Comments: I have a couple of things that I'd like to pass along. First of all, this isn't fully a complaint email - I ride routes 3,5, and 15 on a regular basis and have to say that I have had very few problems with the service - my biggest issue is Rt 3 showing up in clumps. There are times you can be at the student centre and have to watch three busses head to the Avalon Mall before one comes back to take you downtown. I'm writing this, though, to express some concerns about your web site. Metrobus continues to develop its web site with little or no concern for current web standards. The usual defence for this type of design strategy is that you're trying to keep the site accessible to the widest audience possible. This cannot be your excuse, as you have several features, most notably the new "TimeTrack" feature that are only accessible to users running Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6. As an avid and long time Apple Macintosh user, your choice of proprietary formats means that the features of my public transit site are not available to me. The simple fact of the matter is that this is no longer the way things are done. Even Microsoft has made sure that their web sites are (mostly) standards compliant and will work with non-microsoft browsers. As IE6 is not available for my platform (MS has decided to stick to designing for MS platforms, Apple Safari is the new browser for Apple platforms) I am not able to use the TimeTrack, and there really is no reasonable explanation for this. As a taxpayer funded organization, it is your responsibility to ensure that your site is accessaible to the general population, which means the different computing platforms. The couple of suggestions that I would make for your site are: - Remove the graphic tables. The schedule data could easily be represented in a text-based table. - Have the new text based tables update from a current database (the way I assume your TimeTrack does) to show the actual time the next bus is expected at a stop, or to at least show the scheduled time with a note of how the bus is really running. Think of the airport flight arrival board. - Make the site standards compliant. In the current WebDev environment, there is no reason to use non-standard applications. Your page should (and can) look and work the same in IE6, Netscape 6, Mozilla, FireFox, Safari, and Opera. Get these browsers. Test your site. Thanks for listening. As a regular user who purchases semester passes three times a year, I find the Metrobus service to be quite good for a city the size of St. John's. The web site needs to be overhauled to bring the same level of service we experience on the bus to the computer screen.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your contact record, and your advice. I guess you'd need to know a little bit about TimeTrack before making the assumptions you have made. While it is true that at the present time TimeTrack will not work with browsers other than IE 5.01 or later, the rest of the features on our site are available using most web browsers, not just Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Now, on to TimeTrack and I get the feeling you are quite technically sound when it comes to Internet technologies so you should have little difficulty understanding this explanation. Before I get into it though, we are working on a script solution that will make the data available in other browsers and we are presently testing this solution to work with Netscape, Mozilla, Opera and Internet Explorer. Most of our new services are tested in these browsers before we launch them to ensure we are making them available to as many people as we can. In the case of TimeTrack, we wanted to go public this spring and have customers use the service over the months leading up to our busy Fall schedule. This would allow us to futher test the solution in a live environment. We didn't want to delay the service while we developed the script version and we made the decision to launch based on site statistics that show us more than 96% of visitors to our site are using a version of Internet Explorer that will work with TimeTrack. Unfortunately, you fall into the minority in this case. TimeTrack is an XML-based solution. There are no static tables that exist anywhere on our servers. Every two minutes, a script runs that connects to our AVL XML server and requests current information for each route and run combination that we operate. This data is then parsed and saved as one XML file and uploaded to the server that is serving Metrobus Dot Com. This whole procedure takes about 20 seconds. The resulting XML file leads us to the unfortunate part for non-IE users...we then use XML Data Islands to make the data available through our website. The fact is Microsoft has taken the lead when it comes to the XML language and Netscape and other browsers are simply not capable of working with XML Data Islands at this time. Microsoft browsers supported the XML 1.0 standard long before the other browsers figured out what was going on. In closing, I can assure you that TimeTrack will be available to Netscape/Mozilla users in the very near future. As for Macintosh, I can't say with certainty that the script xml solution will work as I don't have access to a Mac to test with. It's a fact of life that the majority of computer users are using PC's; whether or not that is a good decision is open for much debate. Metrobus Dot Com is as platform-independent as possible. A great deal of XML software these days is targeted at Windows, and among the standard browsers, Internet Explorer has many times more XML support than any other browser does. As the person in charge of Information Services with Metrobus, I can say that I do not have a special pro- or anti-Microsoft bias, but when it comes to the XML language these days, you're going to find yourself in Microsoft territory fairly often; there's no getting around it. I also have to make a decision about how much time, money, and effort should be spent attempting to satisfy the 4% of visitors to our site that are not using a version of Internet Explorer. It's a lot like planning or making adjustments to a route on the street. We make the decision based on the majority of customers knowing full well there will be one or two adversely affected by the adjustment. If you have any more questions or comments, please contact me. As for TimeTrack, keep watching and when we go live with our XML Script solution, I would be interested in knowing if it works for Macintosh browsers.
Customer Follow-up: Thanks for the rundown. It is quite refreshing to get an honest answer with a technical explanation from a company to a question about their web strategy. As for making TimeTrack available to Mac users, if you can get it to work in Mozilla/FireFox then it should work cross platform for those browsers. If you'd like any feedback on changes/updates from a Mac perspective, feel free to drop me a line. Thanks again.

Date Received: 4/19/2004
Subject: Route 7 Shelter
Comments: I would first like to say that Metrobus service is excellent. I have never had any trouble with it. The drivers are always friendly and always have a smile on their faces. Everyone likes to see that. I was just wondering why there is no shelter provided for your customers on Jensen Camp Road. I know that you cannot place a shelter at every stop but there is neither one nearby to use. I would appreciate it very much if you could consider placing a shelter at Jensen Camp Road. Thank-you for your time. Keep up the excellent work.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for submitting your contact record. I have forwarded your request onto our Transit Scheduler for review. There is a formula that we use when we are looking at an area for a possible shelter installation. In addition to the formula, we have to be able to secure enough land (either publicly or privately-owned) to erect the shelter...this is often the most difficult task. When I hear back from our Transit Scheduler, I will contact you again
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/12/2004
Subject: General Comments
Comments: I have 3 things to say: I love the new design of the website and the new TimeTrack service. Using a dial-up Internet connection, your website has become a lot more accessible to me - thank you. The service of Metrobus is fantastic, I have rarely had any problems with any routes, and those that I have had, the bus was early. TimeTrack is listing a route 21-1, and a Rt 21-2. Is this a typo (I hope it isn't) or does route 21 now have 2 routes (I hope so). To all the staff at Metrobus, keep up the good work!
Metrobus Response: Thank you for submitting your contact record. There is only one route 21, however, on Sundays it operates as a 21-2. Similarly, the route 8 has only one route, but it is an 8-1 from Monday to Saturday and an 8-2 on Sunday. This is done more for our internal scheduling on Sundays.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 3/17/2004
Subject: Bus Pass Sales Outlets
Comments: I am very disappointed in your distribution of where you can purchase bus passes. In order for me to purchase one I have to go to the Village Mall. I get off work at 5pm. Then you expect me to take an extra trip over to the Village Mall to purchase a bus pass. I guess since the adult fare went up to a $1.75 you have made a nice profit from customers like me who have to use toonies. What I'd like to know is why bus passes are no longer distributed into the corner stores/supermarkets or even banks? I will be expecting to here from someone in your office.
Metrobus Response: Let me start by saying there is no profit earned in public transit. In fact, for every person that puts $1.75 in the farebox, we spend $3.50 to provide the service to him or her. In other words, if a cash paying customer was to pay for the full cost of the ride, our adult cash fare would be $3.50. There is no reason why you would 'have to use toonies'; exact change is recommended and it is up to the customer to have that available. If you put a toonie in the farebox, you're entitled to take a copy of The Telegram that we sell each day for 25 cents Sunday to Friday. Our bus passes were never sold in supermarkets or banks. We did at one time sell them through Mrs. Murphy's Deli in the east end and at Caines Convenience on Duckworth Street. We stopped selling them at those locations because they were not selling enough to justify the expenses associated with delivering the passes and collecting the monies owed to the Commission. While having an unlimited number of sales outlets throughout the city would be convenient, it is logistically not feasible as we would have to administer and co-ordinate all activities with the outlets. We have sales outlets located in all areas of the city. In addition, passes can purchased on-line 24 hours a day and purchases made on-line are delivered right to your door. If there is a particular store or business where you would like us to consider selling passes, please pass your suggestion along and we'd be happy to consider a new location. It would however, have to meet with a number of requirements on our end, and the business owner would have to want to sell the passes. That's a big part of it, many business do not want to take on the added responsibility that comes with selling bus passes.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/19/2004
Subject: Website
Comments: Love the site.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/17/2004
Subject: Shelter on Topsail Road & Total Wrap Buses
Comments: I have two comments: First, it is a shame the bus shelter at the Topsail Road - Colville intersection has not been replaced. The original was damaged in an accident mid fall. I have a baby and it is very hard to wait for the buses under storm conditions. Second, your SuperBus advertisments (bus wrapped in vinyl) are an insult to the beauty of St. John's landscapes because it's impossible to watch from the window. Don't block the windows please.
Metrobus Response: A new shelter was ordered from our supplier shortly after the old one was damaged but it did not arrive until late January. I spoke with our Maintenance Department today and they said that there is so much ice and snow covering the shelter pad that the shelter won't be installed for a little while yet. We also checked with the RNC and the City to see if it was OK to put the shelter back because of some concerns raised by the West End Baptist Church but there has been no indication that we are not permitted to replace the shelter. With regards to your second comment, I fully agree. We have a new policy in place that prohibits 'full wrap' on the windows, instead, we will permit partial graphics only. Unfortunately, we have a couple of multi-year contracts to honour, but once those run out in a couple of years, you won't see any new full-wrap designs.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/12/2004
Subject: New Web Site Design
Comments: Just wanted to compliment you on your well-organized website. I was very impressed with how easy it was to find the route information that I needed. Congrats!
Metrobus Response: Thanks for the comments. Our goal is just that - make it easy for customers to find the information they need. In addition, we have eliminated many of the images so our pages load faster for dial-up users. We've added some enhanced services as well with more on the way. We encourage all of our web customers to sign-up for our newsletter to read more about what's in store for our website and our service in general.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/11/2004
Subject: Shelter on Carrick Drive
Comments: I have written about this particular problem in the past and received a less than satisfactory reply. I take the route 10 everyday that it runs and I pick it up on Carrick Drive just before Paddy Dobbin Drive. Now I understand that this bus must make a run downtown before coming to get me so I fully understand that on stormy days or during rush hour that can mean a 5-10 minute delay, I have come to expect that. I asked before if there would be anyway to install a shelter because we are out in the open with no street lights, houses or trees to cower under in the winds and rains. I was told that you would need permission from the homeowners nearby to erect a shelter as that is their property. Someone doesn't know that route well because the bus stop sign is attached to a power pole on a pole line that is basically a wooded path. No homes are ever able to be built there so it is town land and is a good 10 feet from the nearest (and only home on that side). I don't feel safe there at night with no lights. I have at least three times waited over 30 mins for a non existing bus where I missed my University classes because I had to go home and get out of my soaking wet or freezing clothes. As well there is at least one elderly lady who regularly takes the bus and I hate seeing her bundled up against the cold when she shouldn't have to. This is the start of a new year so please consider this spot when you erect your usual 3 shelters. Thanks so much and tell that driver we all love his cherry 'hello's' and his extended kindness in waiting for someone if he knows they aren't there yet, he is a real sweetheart. Thanks
Metrobus Response: I forwarded your comments onto our Transit Scheduler for another look. I can tell you that whether the land is 'town land' or private property, we still require permission from the owner to erect a shelter. I know Don has looked at this particular area and it may be that the City has said 'no'. I'll check with our Transit Scheduler and one of us will get back to you. By your description of the area, it sounds like a utility easement might exist and Newfoundland Power would not allow a structure to block access to its pole lines. Regardless, a shelter cannot be erected in any area of town until the warm weather season arrives as we need to poor concrete and run electrical feeds underground.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/16/2004
Subject: Route 1 Delays
Comments: I would like to say that I take the bus every day whether it be to and from school or to and from work. I have done so for the last three years. I have never been so upset, disappointed, or frustrated with your service as I was yesterday. I waited for the route 1 in front of the Field House for over 45 minutes in -10 degrees weather and strong winds. When the bus finally showed up I was told that I couldn't get on because the bus was full. The driver said another bus would be by "soon". Well 20 minutes later is not soon when you've already been waiting 45 and you can't feel your hands or feet anymore. This is outrageous considering that I spent $200 to be able to take the bus. It was not stormy out yesterday and the time of day was around 4:00 PM when route 1 is supposed to be passing by every 15 minutes. Why is it that you don't send out a special bus to pick up all the students waiting on the streets when you know that the other buses are delayed or stuck in traffic. I don't want to see how bad your service is going to be on days that it is actually snowing or stormy.
Metrobus Response: I'm sorry to hear of your experience yesterday, but there is simply nothing we can do to bypass traffic. I left our offices on Freshwater Road between 430 and 500 pm yesterday evening and it took me 25 minutes to get to MUN. The point needs to be emphasized that Metrobus cannot bypass traffic delays, and such delays occur on stormy days and the days that immediately follow; we have to wait it out like everyone else and unfortunately, our customers are the ones most affected. None of our employees take any satisfaction knowing that our customers are waiting in the cold, often for extended periods during storms and the couple of days after. We don't use the weather as an excuse for unreliable service. The delays we are experiencing this week are a fact of life with no real solution. On a regular day, I think most would agree that our system operates quite well. Your suggestion to send out a special bus won't work. It wasn't just the route 1's that were stuck in traffic...delays were reported all over the city and additional buses would also become quite delayed. I suggest you call Ride Guide at 722-9400 before heading for your bus stop, whenever possible, and find out the latest information about a particular route by pressing zero and speaking directly with an Information Services Representative. These employees have access to real-time information about the operating results of all buses in service. We are presently testing a web-based version of the software they use and once completed, we will be making the information available through our website and on Ride Guide so all customers can easily find out real-time information about their buses. This should help cut down on some of the waiting times during inclement weather.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/11/2003
Subject: Shelter in the Goulds
Comments: The wind along the Backline Road in the Goulds is enough to skin a cat, especially in winter. It gathers considerable speed over the fields and, at Route 8's stop between Della Drive and Keith Drive, there are no trees or homes to dampen its force. People waiting for the bus are completely exposed to the chill and to anything the wind brings with it - be it rain, sleet, hail or snow. Would you consider placing a shelter there where bus goers are so vulnerable to the elements? Thanks for your attention.
Metrobus Response: We usually erect about three shelters each year. All of the shelters that were in stock in 2003 have now been placed. However, we will include your request on our bus shelter priority list for future consideration. We routinely conduct surveys to determine bus stop usage as part of the criteria for the placement of shelters and route 8 will be surveyed on Friday December 12, 2003.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/5/2003
Subject: Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) System
Comments: The City has recently introduced a system to track snow plows etc via computer. This is a great service and I would think that a similar system for tracking buses would also be well received by customers. Is it feasible to do this?
Metrobus Response: Our AVL (automatic vehicle location) system has been installed and we are actually in the middle of a six-month evaluation (software debugging, equipment testing). Once final system acceptance has been completed in February, we will be making real-time route information available on our website and through Ride Guide...stay tuned…
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/3/2003
Subject: Route 10 & Bus Stops
Comments: First I have to say that I take the 8:10 am bus every morning on Carrick Drive and the Driver is a delight. He always has a 'good morning' for us and on one occasion he arrived early but waited there patiently while all the "regulars" got on. I thought that was very nice of him since the bus stop was empty when he first arrived. The one complaint I have is with the first stop on Carrick drive. While there is a house across the street, the bus stop sign is on a light pole that is backed by woods. I find it very dark there and sometimes when I get home after 5:00 pm or go to catch an evening bus I find myself nervous of standing alone in the dark. If there was some way to install a light that would make me feel better. Also I was wondering if you were going to start running on Sunday's now? With the new subdivisions, more and more students and families are moving into the area and not being able to leave on Sunday's can be frustrating. Just a few questions but I am really pleased with the promptness and service of this bus system. Great Job!
Metrobus Response: That particular bus stop may be a good location for one of the new solar powered 'I-Stops' that we are evaluating in a few locations around the City. I spoke with our Transit Scheduler about the route 10 service, and he said that ridership on the route 10 would have to increase quite a bit before adding it to our Sunday service could be considered. He monitors all routes, all the time, and if circumstances warrant, service is adjusted to reflect what is actually happening on a particular route - usually service adjustments are made at the start of our Summer or Fall schedules.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/2/2003
Subject: Service to and from St. Phillips
Comments: I think if you have a bus coming from St. Phillps to the Avalon Mall it would be very helpful... I know a lot of people in St. Phillips and they all agree that it would be great. People would use it a lot because people are always looking to go to the mall and they all worry about rides. Please do something about St. Phillips.
Metrobus Response: In actual fact, St. Phillips would have to do something first; such a service to Donovan's would have to be provided and paid for by the Town of St. Phillips/Portugal Cove. We do not have authority to provide the service without the approval or that town council. You should contact your representative on town council. We have had similar requests for service in Paradise, however, that town council has placed water and sewer services well ahead of transit services in the region
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/20/2003
Subject: Larger Buses on Route 9
Comments: I am a MUN student who uses the Route 9 everyday to get to and from class. My concern is the actual bus used for the route 9, especially in early morning and late afternoon. I'm asking that the buses with the single line of seats not be used on this route during these times as the bus is terribly crowded. Most people have to stand and while I understand that people use the bus on their own risk, it really isn't a safe practice and I think you should use buses with as many seats as possible. Thanks for your understanding.
Metrobus Response: The buses with the single seats are not the smallest buses that we have in terms of seating. Actually, our new buses (1998's) have the fewest seats of any of the buses in our fleet (39). The buses you are writing about have 42 in them. We do have other models that have 44, 46, and 50 seats. I have forwarded your e-mail onto our Dispatch office for consideration, however, I think that no matter what bus we use at that time of day, some people will end up having to stand, and transit buses are designed with the expectation of standing loads.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/7/2003
Subject: Park 'N' Ride
Comments: I would like to know why the park and ride to the Mile One Stadium only seems to be in effect for hockey games. Why not for other major events as for example tonight's Magic of Dance? Surely concerts are as well attended as hockey games. Thank you.
Metrobus Response: Certainly there are many full venue events that attract as many people as do the hockey games. Contrary to popular belief, Metrobus does not make 'the call' regarding park 'n' ride services for any event at Mile One Stadium. The Leafs and us have an agreement in place that covers hockey, however, the other events are decided on a 'per event' basis at the discretion of Mile One Stadium management. Please understand that the St. John's Maple Leafs and Mile One Stadium are two entirely different entities. The way it works for non-hockey events is Mile One advises us within 10-days of an event as to whether or not they would like service for the event, and if they do, we provide it and invoice Mile One Stadium for the difference between our cost to provide the service and the revenue collected on the event night - probably this is the reason why there are not more non-hockey events covered by Park 'N' Ride service...there is a shortfall that needs to be paid for by someone in order for us to be able to provide service. I am not sure what criteria Mile One uses to decided whether or not to request service. I will forward your e-mail onto my contact at Mile One Stadium.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/30/2003
Subject: General Comment
Comments: We were recent visitors to St. John's and used your service. Your Drivers were most helpful and the wonderful people you have on the phones were great. Everyone made it very simple for us to understand how to get from one place to the next. Again, thank-you!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/23/2003
Subject: Route 10
Comments: Will Route 10 continue to operate until late at night through the winter months? Also, there should be a shelter on Stavanger Drive, especially at the bus stop site near MacDonald's; possibly two shelters. Stavanger Drive is a long road - there should be one at the bus stop near Staples.
Metrobus Response: We don't have any intention of changing the route 10 schedule. It will be evaluated again in time for our Summer schedule next year. Our Transit Scheduler has been negotiating with Staples to have a shelter installed in that area. We would like to have a lot more shelters around the city, however, it is often difficult to convince the land owners to allow us to erect a shelter on their land, as has been the case in the Stavanger Drive area.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/4/2003
Subject: Route 12 Service Hours
Comments: Just dropping a line to say that I travel on Metrobus at least 3 times every day. Most of the drivers are really friendly and helpful. The routes serviced are great, I get wherever I need to get to usually on time except the winter months with all the snow. I find the cost to be very adequate, much cheaper than owning your own car or taking a taxi. Just two questions: Why doesn't Route 12 run after 6 pm and not on Sunday and what would it take for it to run after 6 pm and on Sunday?
Metrobus Response: We usually don't provide evening and Sunday service until a bus route is recovering about thirty-five percent of the cost of providing the service, unfortunately, route 12 is one of our worst performing routes and is well below the thirty-five percent requirement.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/23/2003
Subject: Route 12 Late
Comments: I have been traveling with Metrobus for approximately 4 years now and I have never had a complaint about the services until now..I travel from the Avalon Mall to Brookfield Road everyday. For approximately 2 weeks route 12 has been late picking up on Brookfield Road. The bus is scheduled to leave the Waterford at 5:00..I am on the bus stop at this time and I have waited for 1/2 hour up to 45 minutes for the bus to arrive. Is there a reason why route 12 is late? Could you please let me know if the schedule has been changed or if there is a reason for the delay. Thank you for your help. I still enjoy the services.
Metrobus Response: Sorry to hear of your trouble. We started on our Summer schedule in late June, but there weren't any changes to the route 12. You mentioned that it has been late for the last couple of weeks...has it been late every day or are there a couple of days that you can remember this happening (this helps when I'm trying to find out why a bus was late). Any more information you can provide would be great. In the meantime, I'll send a copy of your complaint to our Dispatch office for review and I will follow with them tomorrow to see if there is a reason why this is happening. I know of two days over the past two weeks that we ran into problems with construction and other detours that put the entire system behind schedule, but if this is happening more frequently, we'll have to find out what's 'broken' and take steps to fix the problem and get things back on track.
Customer Follow-up: Thank you so much for your prompt response. Just after I emailed you yesterday regarding the delays, route 12 was on time. Route 12 was late 3 days last week and 3 days this week. I was concerned because I didn't want to have to wait on the bus stop for 45 minutes when I could be still waiting at work (where there is air conditioning)...it has been pretty hot outside these past few weeks. I understand the bus being late because of construction and traffic...I just wanted to express my concerns. Once again thank you for your help.

Date Received: 7/8/2003
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Due to a developmental disability condition affecting two of my children, I have been using Metrobus to commute this past year. Going without a car for a while has been a great way to save money which can be put towards services that my children need. I just want to say how pleased I am with Metrobus. The drivers are very friendly and courteous, as are your customer service staff. Buses remain on schedule virtually all of the time, which is fantastic in view of some of our weather conditions. The transfer connections at the Village are managed quite well - my bus made its connection every day this past year with the exception of one understandable construction delay. The buses are kept clean and in good condition. Last week I dropped my new glasses on the bus. A call to Dispatch quickly had them checking the bus, and my glasses were dropped off to me at work later that day. Sincere thanks for that excellent service. All the best. Any awards Metrobus receives are well-deserved!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/5/2003
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I was in St. John's on Saturday evening, May 17th and had the occasion to ride the Metrobus. Although I am from St. John's, I have not lived there for a number of years and was no longer familiar with the routes and schedules. I knew if I, and my 8 year old son, who was very excited about his first real bus ride, waited at a stop something would come along. We waited at the north side stop across from the Scotia Centre on Water Street and a number 3 bus came along after a short wait. I wanted to pass along how accommodating and friendly your driver was, especially when I told him it was my son's first ride. I was trying to get to LeMarchant Road West and the driver kindly contacted another bus that he would connect with at Freshwater Road and gave us transfers for it. My whole point is, the drivers that evening were great. I now live in the Stephenville area but whenever I make it back to town it's a great way to get around. Thanks.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/3/2003
Subject: Use of Cellular Phones
Comments: I just wanted to let you guys know that the other day I was on a route going home from the Village Mall and your Driver was using a cell phone. He was not equipped with a hands-free unit. I thought you should know considering that cell phone use while driving is illegal and I mean it must take a lot more attention to drive a bus rather then an average car or truck. I think this was very unreasonable and that this should be dealt with immediately.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for sending in your comment. Cellular phone use by Transit Operators while behind the wheel was prohibited long before the new law took effect in April We will investigate the incident and take the necessary corrective action.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/25/2003
Subject: Transit Operators
Comments: I want to thank the Bus Drivers of Metrobus. They have been a great support for me as I just completed my two-year program at CONA on Prince Philip Drive. The guys/gals (bus drivers) have been supportive and encouraging. They always helped me when I needed that boost of confidence. I found them all to be kind, considerate, friendly, understanding, very professional like with the atmosphere, and funny; that helped break my stressful days. All this and more, for I am a 39 year old and found school quite an intense challenge and the Drivers didn't give up on me when I did. They always had something nice to say and spoke with a sincere heart. So thanks to the Metrobus Drivers for all your wonderful genuine kindness and unfailing support.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/13/2003
Subject: Route 10 Service to Stavanger Drive
Comments: I would like to comment on Route 10 servicing the Stavanger Drive area. I have to rely on public transport on a daily basis and am discouraged at the fact that Route 10 ends every day at 6 pm. As most business hours in that area extend until at least 8 pm, I am curious as to why this route ends so early. I can imagine that at the time this route was established the Stavanger Drive area was not well developed, but as there are more and more businesses going up in that area all the time, perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the number of runs and the ending times for this route. As it stands now, the route ending at 6 pm makes it very difficult for a lot of people to get to and from work in that area. I hope this encourages you to give this situation some thought.
Metrobus Response: When we started the route 10 service a number of years ago, it operated late into the night. The ridership was extremely low and we were forced to scale back service. Beginning with our summer schedule, effective June 23, the route 10 will operate from 6:45 am until 10:45 pm, Monday to Friday and from 8:45 am until 6:00 pm on Saturday.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/9/2003
Subject: Web site
Comments: Great web site. We are visiting from June 9th to 14th and this site will make it easy to get around.
Metrobus Response: Thanks. Enjoy your visit!
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/5/2003
Subject: Airport Route
Comments: Is there a Metrobus route to/from the airport in St John's? I prefer taking transit over hiring a cab or paying big bucks to hop on the airport/hotel shuttle.
Metrobus Response: Unfortunately, we do not provide service to the airport as the Airport Authority will not allow us to do so.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/16/2003
Subject: New Non-smoking Policy
Comments: I just read the on-board newsletter. Great job bringing in the new non-smoking policy. I hope it works.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 3/26/2003
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I recently read in the feedback section where someone complained about the price and service provided by Metrobus. I just want to say that while I hate when things go up in price, I still receive great value for my monthly pass. I'm not saying the service is perfect, but overall you guys do a pretty good job. Keep up the good work.
Metrobus Response: Thanks for the feedback. I'm not a big fan of price increases either. Unfortunately, the customer you wrote about doesn't feel he is receiving value for his money. A price decrease is not an option and without providing more details about the 'too little' that we provide, we can't take action to address any of the other concerns he must have. I encourage all customers to contact us with details of problems or other concerns they may have. We will do our best to address any issue raised by a customer, however, general statements about our service are of little use when attempting to rectify a problem experienced by a customer.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 3/25/2003
Subject: Fares
Comments: Just thought that I would let you know that for $58 a month for a pass, you guys are a rip off. Edmonton is $58. Ottawa is $60.50, and Calgary is $65. All of these have buses, transitway, and trains, much better service and fair price. You guys charge way too much and provide too little. Takes almost a half hour to get from The Village to Avalon Mall. That is pretty lame.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your comments. Our operating costs, on a per vehicle basis, are a lot higher than the three properties you mentioned and nor do we have the operating budgets that those properties can boast about. If we did have similar financial resources, we would introduce express routes, 24-hour service, and more frequent service. Overall, though, I think $1.75 to go from the Price Club to Mount Pearl is pretty hard to beat. I'm sorry you feel the way that you do about our service, but it appears that anything short of a fare reduction will not address your problem. Our public transit service doesn't appear to be an adequate solution for your transportation needs.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 3/15/2003
Subject: System Route Map
Comments: I have been in St. John's for two weeks now and have found the bus service to be very good and the drivers to be friendly and helpful. I especially appreciate that the bus drivers always seem to wait for connections. However, as a newcomer to the city, I found the first few days frustrating in terms of trying to figure out how to get where I needed to go. There are a few things would make life easier, especially for people like me who are new to the transit system here. For example, having one map with all the routes on it would make it much easier to visually see where all the buses go, and would help to figure out connections much more quickly than having to spread out all of the schedules and try to compare maps. Second, it is a little disconcerting to stand at a bus stop and not know what will stop there until the bus comes. Route numbers on the bus stop signs would really be helpful. Finally, although your schedules are really easy to use, it would be nice to have a small book with all of the schedules together, rather than having to carry fifteen or so different schedules around all of the time. All in all though, I have been really pleased with the bus service here and how easy it is to get around. Thanks for the great job.
Metrobus Response: Let me say welcome to St. John's and thank you for the feedback. I agree that we aren't doing a good job educating new users about how to use our service. I also agree that one system route map would make things easier for people that are new to our system, but that it offers very limited benefit for our regular public transit customers. Most of our customers use one or two routes and want to be able to keep a small schedule in their pockets and refer to it at a glance; a large, multi-fold map is not practical for these people. Customer surveys indicate that users are happier with one 8.5" x 14" schedule than they would be with a 3 foot by 4 foot system map. Another problem we find with the system route map is that it is not very accommodating to change. If a schedule changes, or a route is altered, introduced, or eliminated, immediately a new system map has to be printed, usually at a substantial cost. We are working on developing a full-colour pamphlet-sized booklet that will contain all routes maps and schedules and other information about our transit service. We will be soliciting advertisers to purchase space in the booklet so we can reduce printing price and eliminate having to charge the customer for the booklet. Our plan is to distribute one to each household in St. John's and to keep stock to distribute to people upon request. We are thinking of printing them annually as this would allow us to make necessary changes once a year. I would like to have this project completed before August of this year and ready for distribution in early September, but that might be a little bold. I think this would be a good solution from a 'new user' perspective. With reference to the bus stops, we will be rolling out 120 new bus stop signs this year that will indicate which routes service the stop and where, in general terms, those routes travel. We have close to 1,000 stops, but this will be a start. Installation will begin in early April. We hope, over the next couple of years, we will be able to replace all of our bus stop signs with the new ones.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/17/2003
Subject: Service to Donovan's Industrial Park
Comments: I was wondering why Metrobus doesn't have a route that goes through Donovan's Industrial Park. I know of people, including myself which work in the park and can only ride the bus to the closest location and then walk the rest. Couldn't you extend perhaps route 22 to make a pass through Donavan's once in the morning (8am) and again in the evening (5pm) for all those workers in the part who use the bus daily.... just going along the main drag would suit most people just fine. Could you give me some feedback on if you have tried this before or just feel that there's not enough interest.
Metrobus Response: Service to Donovan's would have to be provided and paid for by the City of Mount Pearl. We do not have authority to provide the service without the approval or the City of Mount Pearl. A couple of years ago, we provided a proposal involving route 22 that would see it service a portion of Donovan's, however, the City of Mount Pearl did not want to make any changes at that time. We do receive a number of requests similar to yours and we pass them all onto the City of Mount Pearl. We will forward your e-mail to Mount Pearl City Hall, you should do the same, and maybe, if enough people are interested, the City of Mount Pearl will take a serious look at servicing Donovan's.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/31/2003
Subject: Buses Running Late
Comments: It is understandable that Metrobus may not always be on schedule, due to weather conditions, mechanical problems, etc. A majority of people depend on the Metrobus services for transportation throughout the city. A delay of 5-7mins can be expected during the winter months and that is acceptable, but it is unacceptable when the bus is 20-25 minutes late from the scheduled stop times. Metrobus should try and prevent these delays especially when they are late for no apparent reason. Metrobus is suppose to be a dependable bus service but it is quite obvious that they are not meeting the expectations of dependency.
Metrobus Response: We need more information before we can investigate why a bus was 20-25 minutes late. Which route(s), on what day, at what time? A general complaint like the one you submitted, while of great concern to us, is actually of little use because we cannot take steps to pinpoint problems. The majority of trips during a day do operate on or close to schedule and if a bus is 20-25 minutes late there is a valid reason for the problem. This winter, like the winter of 2001, has been difficult. The fact is, Metrobus cannot drive through traffic...we have to wait our turn just like everyone else in the City. I encourage you to call Ride Guide or click on Metrobus.com before heading for the bus stop to get the latest service information. While understandably a frustrating situation for customers, it is also a frustrating situation for us as the service provided because there is nothing we can do during these extreme and rare circumstances.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/31/2003
Subject: New Customer's Comments
Comments: To do my small part to save the environment, I've just started using the Metrobus. I would like to say that over the past three weeks I am completely impressed and very happy with the morning service on routes 5 and 4. I have never missed a transfer connection at Torbay Mall which makes for a better day all round.
Metrobus Response: I'm impressed with your environmentally responsible decision. I hope your experiences continue to be pleasant ones. If we ever do fall short of your service expectations, please contact us.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/31/2003
Subject: Route 3 Service
Comments: I've been reading through the comments made about the routes being late due to weather. A response back to one of those comments was that the buses, particularly downtown buses, cannot get around due to the snow pile-up. The roads downtown are clear now, and Route 3 is still incessantly late. In the afternoons I usually wait for the 4:55 bus. I am usually waiting until 5:15 or 5:20 for any Route 3 to come along at all. I expect lateness due to bad weather, but 20-25 minutes every day is a little much. Route 5 gets to my stop everyday on time, and even in times of bad weather it is usually only 5-10 minutes late. It is quite frustrating waiting for a service that is continually poor. I have been a user of your service for quite some time now and appreciate the effort of your drivers and I have never had a problem with any of the other routes. The primary downtown users are business people, like myself. Because we have a dress code that does not generally permit denim (which is much heavier than dress clothes) we do not appreciate standing in the cold for so long each day.
Metrobus Response: Route 1 and route 3 service has been a real problem over the last couple of weeks. Aside from road conditions, we have recently addressed a problem at the University Centre where cars were blocking buses from getting out of the centre in a timely manner. MUN Security has agreed to monitor the area and have vehicles removed that are in the way. This should allow these routes to keep better time. I agree that waiting for buses is frustrating especially when weather conditions are less than ideal. I think you will agree, however, that the route 3's run quite well during all other times of the year. We don't like making excuses, we like correcting problems. We are close (within a couple of months) to implementing new technology that will allow customers to obtain real-time information, either through Ride Guide or online at Metrobus.com about buses in service so there will be no guessing about buses that may be delayed to due weather or other conditions. Unfortunately, there are no simple fixes for the problems presented on certain routes during this time of the year and with present conditions. I encourage you to call Ride Guide or click on Metrobus.com before you head for your bus stop and we'll do our best to let you know if there is a problem with the route 3's.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/22/2003
Subject: General Comments
Comments: I want to make several comments about your service. First of all, I have been a rider for the past two years and rely on Metrobus to take me pretty much anywhere I have to go. I have recently started a work term and was afraid of the transition of switching routes. However I was highly appreciative to see how accommodating and helpful the Drivers have been, and how greatly serviced this city really is. Secondly, in response to comments made about being late for work due to routes being late. In my experience I have been late for work once, due to the fact that I overslept and had to take a later bus. Buses begin running before 8 a.m., therefore, it is easy enough to get an earlier bus - one that will get you to work on time. It is in no way Metrobus' fault if someone chooses to take a bus they know might run a few minutes late, particularly when there are earlier buses available. Thirdly, although I have been very pleased with this service, I have a few questions about Route 9. From what I gather from the comments section an effort has been made to increase the hours, however this failed to make a difference in ridership. I have often had night classes at MUN and find getting home just as fast (if not faster) by taking a route 3 and getting a transfer. So the extension on hours may not be justified. However, why doesn't this bus run on weekends? Students from University Avenue have no service running to the mall on weekends, and many of us do go to school on weekends. I suspect this probably also has to do with lack of justifiable support in terms of ridership, but I was more or less wondering if it's been looked into before. Finally, The next time the weather's bad and the bus cannot service Water Street can you ask the person responsible for putting the sign up not to wrap it around a pole? Keep up the good work, your service means a great deal to this city!
Metrobus Response: Thank you for the comments. I have forwarded them onto our Transit Scheduler and have asked him to prepare a response to the questions you asked about the route 9.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/21/2003
Subject: Route 3 Service on January 21, 2003
Comments: I know that it is winter and that the roads are slippery and not completely cleared, but this system of yours is outrageous. I am a student and no, I don't have any other commitments besides Memorial University, but I don't like to have to wait for a bus for over an hour. Today, I went to get route 3 to downtown at 3:25pm (a scheduled time) and I didn't really expect it to be on time because of the weather. But I waited and waited and waited some more, and ended up watching at least all other buses come twice and even more for certain routes. Route 3 to the Avalon Mall came two times, yet no route 3 to downtown. People, not only me, were getting really uptight about this by this time. Finally, after waiting for over an hour, the route came. When I asked the Driver how come I had to wait this long, he said, "ah, the weather has to do with most of it". I replied by telling him that the weather did not stop all the other routes; even route 3 to the mall. I don't know what happened today, but I can tell you that Metrobus missed out on a big amount of money today that was gladly taken by the cab drivers. So why was route 3 so late; missing 7 time slots to pick up people at the university center? Why can't a huge organization like Metrobus have a better system created so that this kind of stuff doesn't keep happening? I really would like to hear your input on this situation as well as the questions I asked.
Metrobus Response: I have forwarded your comments onto our Dispatch office for review. I can tell you that the route 3's were all delayed today because of trouble on Water Street. We eventually had to detour all downtown buses from Water Street because of the trouble caused by snow accumulation. It got to the point today that two cars traveling in opposite directions on Water Street could not pass each other which led to gridlock on Water Street. Once that situation seemed to be under control, the route 3's were held up downtown due to a fire on Water Street. I know you don't want to hear this but the answer the Driver gave you was the right one, it is the weather and the incredible amount of snow downtown. When there isn't snow accumulated downtown, the route 3's keep very good time. Waiting an hour for the bus is not a pleasant experience and I'm sorry that you had to do so today. Regardless of the size of our organization, we cannot drive through traffic...we have to wait our turn just like everyone else in the City. I encourage you to call Ride Guide or click on Metrobus.com before heading for the bus stop to get the latest service information. While understandably a frustrating situation for customers, it is also a frustrating situation for us as the service provided because there is nothing we can do during these extreme and rare circumstances
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/14/2003
Subject: Music on the Bus
Comments: Hello there! I just wanted to give a compliment to a Driver who was driving the bus on Monday January 13th, 2003. I sat down on the bus and got ready to listen to the regular old music that's normally played and to my delight...there was classical music playing! It was such a nice change. I hope to hear it more often. Thanks again.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/21/2002
Subject: Route 21 Starting Time
Comments: Why don't you have earlier buses on Saturdays? Do you think that people don't go to work early on Saturday? They run early on every other day of the week for route 21.
Metrobus Response: Metrobus does not set the schedule times for routes 21 and 22. These routes are paid for and provided by the City of Mount Pearl. We simply supply the equipment and Operators. You should contact Mount Pearl City Council with your concerns about route 21.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/21/2002
Subject: Shelter on Stavanger Drive
Comments: I think a bus shelter on Stavanger Drive would be a great idea. It's so bitter cold up there, I have froze many times while waiting for the bus to arrive. The ideal location for me would be in front of Staples, but anywhere would be great. Thanks for your time, I absolutely love Metrobus, I would be lost without it.
Metrobus Response: I spoke with our Transit Scheduler about a shelter in the Stavanger Drive area. He believes that the stop on Stavanger Driver close to Staples would be good for a shelter, however, he has to obtain permission and then make arrangements to run the electrical feed. He said if it is approved, it would likely be installed in the spring of 2003.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/17/2002
Subject: Shelter on Stavanger Drive
Comments: I think you do a good job of providing public transit service to the St. John's area. Just two suggestions though, one is for your website and one is for a shelter. I think you should add the time to your website. I know there is a clock on the computer but its not always right. Maybe a clock on your site would be a good idea. You should put up a shelter in the Stavanger Drive area. I know shelters require permission before they can go up, but it is definitely needed down there as it gets pretty cold waiting for route 10 to come along. Great site, great service, thanks.
Metrobus Response: It's a good idea to have the time displayed on our website, but unfortunately right now, it isn't feasible simply because our Ride Guide server is separate from the server that hosts our website and there is a good chance that the times would not be synchronized, because computers tend to run fast or slow over time causing more trouble than good. We are in the process of consolidating all of our Information Services systems so that the time displayed to Operators in buses matches the time announced on Ride Guide that will match the time displayed on our website. Like I said, it's a good idea and we're working on it. I have passed your comments about the shelter on to our Transit Scheduler, Don Callahan for review. When we decide to install a new shelter, two conditions have to be met. First, there is a formula we use that takes into consideration the number of people using a particular bus stop, waiting times at the stop and the like. The other condition is that we have to be able to secure a small piece of private land in order to install the shelter. This condition is usually the most difficult to meet. I will talk it over with Don and see if there is any consideration being given to a shelter in the Stavanger Drive area.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/17/2002
Subject: 10-Ride Cards After December 31, 2002
Comments: I was wondering about the 10 ride bus pass that I bought last week. It doesn't expire until 2003, but will I still be able to use it in January when the fares change and I paid the current price of $13.50? Keep up the good work.
Metrobus Response: You certainly can use it next year...the farebox doesn't know how much you paid to purchase the 10-ride card.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/14/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I find your services to be professional and any complaints are handled usually right away. For many years (since 1988) I have been taking advantage of the Metrobus transportation system and each year I get more and more impressed with the upgraded and improved services. Keep up the great work.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/2/2002
Subject: Earlier Buses
Comments: I've read the comment section, and I keep seeing a response that you cannot have earlier services because not enough people ride that early. But if your going to be raising your prices you should have earlier service. Considering that this service is for the public, you should be accommodating the public as needed.
Metrobus Response: The fare increase taking effect in 2003 is required to maintain the present level of service. With a $600,000 increase in insurance premiums and a 20 cent per litre increase in diesel fuel over the last two years, we require an additional $1.3 million dollars to keep the same service as we have right now. Our Transit Scheduler is right in saying that we can't provide earlier buses because right now there are only a handful of people riding on our entire system early in the morning (7:00 a.m.). We received numerous requests to have service extended into the evening and we did extend a number of routes until after midnight. Unfortunately, ridership on those routes has not been adequate, to this point, to justify the additional service. It's an expensive proposition and unfortunately we are not in the position to consider earlier buses at this time.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/28/2002
Subject: Service to Airport
Comments: Are there any plans of operating a route to the airport?
Metrobus Response: We receive this question quite a lot. Unfortunately, the airport authority won't give us permission to provide service to the airport so there is not much we can do about it right now.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/18/2002
Subject: Smoking in Bus Shelters
Comments: The non-smoking signs in the bus stop shelter at the Village Mall have been removed. Surely smokers are able to vacate this bus shelter when lighting up. Smoking near open bus doors is not a good idea either.
Metrobus Response: We have contacted the administration office at The Village Shopping Centre and let them know of the situation. The shelter at The Village is actually owned and maintained by The Village. Maybe some of our customers that smoke will read this comment and make it a habit to smoke outside of the shelters as smoking is not permitted inside of them. It's a courtesy that smokers should extend to non-smokers.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/22/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I find routes 1 and 4, for the most part, good. The drivers are friendly and helpful. Route 1 is late sometimes, but I guess it's because of the traffic. This is my first year in St.John's going to college, and I've heard people say that Metrobus is terrible in the winter. They said that the buses only show up half the time, and are always late, and sometimes don't even show up at all. I find that hard to believe. Can you give me more info about what happens in bad weather or a storm.
Metrobus Response: During bad winter weather and when there is excessive snow on the ground, our routes will operate a few minutes behind schedule...there's not a lot we can do to avoid that. What you've heard about buses showing up half the time or not at all is false. There may be an occasion during severe weather that a bus falls behind and is caught by the next bus, giving the appearance that the bus never showed up. Let me assure you, however, this does not happen very often and it is only due to severe weather or traffic conditions caused by accidents or construction sites. During a storm, we make every effort possible to stay on the road. If, in the event that we have to remove service, we endeavour to provide at least 2 hours notice to customers through our website, Ride Guide (722-9400) and local radio stations. Our Supervisors stay on the road for a little extra time once service has been removed to monitor bus stops to make sure no one has been missed. I think you will find our service to be quite good. I have been using it for a number of years and aside from the odd traffic delay, it is a very reliable system. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied, please contact us to let us know your concerns. It is only through our communication with customers that we can learn of problems and take the steps necessary to correct them.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/21/2002
Subject: Fee for Park 'N' Ride
Comments: I just found out that I will have to pay $20 now to take the bus to mile one at Leafs games. I thought a part of the deal with Mile One and its lack of parking was free shuttle services. That doesn't seem to be the case this year. Me and my buddies are very disappointed in this change and it would probably be just as cheap if we all went on taxi, would be a lot quicker anyway.
Metrobus Response: It seems you only have half of the story. There was never a deal with Mile One to provide free shuttle service for events held at the stadium. For $20, you can purchase a pewter, St. John's Maple Leafs Park 'N' Ride key chain. This acts as your Park 'N' Ride pass for all Leaf games this year, including the playoffs. Or, if you do not want to purchase the keychain, the Park 'N' Ride fee is $2 return; deposit $2 into the farebox on the way to Mile One Stadium and this pays for the trip to and from the game. I don't agree with "...would be a lot quicker anyway." I used my car, a taxi and the Park 'N' Ride to attend different hockey games last year and Park 'N' Ride was easily the most efficient way for me, especially after the game.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/17/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Hello, I have been riding the bus for almost 30 years and in my opinion it is always at its best. I just read the comments about 15 running late. I have to disagree, I have taken route 15 many times and if it is late on occasion, it is only by two minutes. Bear in mind that the posted bus schedules clearly state that all times are approximate. 15 is not the only one that is late sometimes. There are usually reasons for this, school children, heavy traffic, possible fire trucks and ambulances, it has happened; accidents do happen. The time the customer mentioned is a very heavy traffic time and 15 coming from Cuckholds Cove Road at that time is bound to encounter heavy traffic with people going to work and school and also school buses. I only have good things to say about the Drivers, they are and have always been very helpful and professional. As I said I have been riding for 30 years and some of the things the Drivers have to put up with is unbelievable. They deserve their wages and should get a raise. No, I am not a bus driver but being a frequent rider, I see many things that other passengers do not. .Hats off to all bus drivers. Well done people! I only have one question, when are you going to get day passes like Edmonton and Toronto has. I don't use it often enough to warrant a monthly pass, yet use it too much to make a 10-ride feasible. I am very pleased with our transit system overall. Thank you for an excellent job.
Metrobus Response: I agree with your thoughts about our Operators and I feel, personally, that they are the best in the country at what they do. As a frequent rider, you certainly understand some of the variables that can interfere with a bus arriving at a particular stop at the exact minute it is scheduled to do so and I appreciate your understanding and patience. Like you said, we post that our times are approximate and we endeavour to be as 'on-time' as possible under normal conditions. We have received a couple of inquiries about the day pass, and I have been talking to other properties in Canada (Edmonton being one of them) trying to get more information. I can't say that we will or will not adopt such a fare medium, however, I can say that we are investigating it as an alternative.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/16/2002
Subject: Route 15 Running Late
Comments: I am concerned as I have to use the Bus system every morning to get to and from work. I have been using the system for the past 4 years and I am now concerned as I have a full time job and have got several complaints from my employer for being late in the morning. Route 15 is supposed to be at the Scotia Bank on Cornwall Ave at 8:05 a.m. and not once yet have I ever seen it there on time! It is never there until 8:10 a.m. and on ocassion have not shown up until 8:15 am. If (I may be dreaming) but if the bus driver would get there at 8:05, I could make the connection at the Avalon Mall for Route 4 and I could be at work on time! You are a public transit system, I think its about time you started acting like it! People depend on you to get them where they are going-on time. I personally am disgusted with the operation of this system. Nowhere else in the country is the Public Transit System as downgraded and poorly ran. I personally think that the Bus drivers are uncaring about peoples needs, and don't give a hoot about getting people there on time. As long as they get their breaks, and go at their pace, nobody cares. I know a lot of people here in town who are as fed up as I am with the whole operation. The bus will never be on time or early, but carve it in stone...they will always be late. I think the drivers need to take a crash course in reality! They can not continue like they are doing! This morning for example, the bus showed up at 8:10 am where it is scheduled to be there at 8:05, and all the way to the mall, it was doing less than the speed limit! As a result, once again this morning, I got spoken to about being late! Your bus slogan is "Taking It Easy....Take The Bus!" Live Up To This Slogan.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your comments. If your feelings were this strong about our service, or lack of, you certainly should have contacted us earlier so we could have investigated your complaint about scheduling and perhaps have avoided your 'disgust' with our operation. I have to disagree with your comments about our Bus Drivers. Admittedly, there may be one or two that don't have a great enthusiasm for the work they do, but the majority are excellent in terms of customer service and professionalism. It is not fair to paint all of them with one brush like you have done. Our Operators receive numerous accolades from customers and tourists regarding their friendliness and helpfulness while on the job. Again, if an Operator has done something you disagree with in terms of customer service, you should bring that forward through our complaint resolution channels like you have done today. It is only through this interaction with customers that we can take steps to improve the service we provide to customers.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/16/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I am writing to tell you how much it means to a foreigner in town to take the Metrobus. Your drivers take the extra time and effort , and beyond, to help everyone to get where they would like to go. These drivers are courteous, knowledgeable and warm-hearted and an excellent introduction to the culture and people of Newfoundland. Thank you so much to each and every one of these special people and thank you, Metrobus, for conducting a business that encourages good people to do good work. It is all about integrity and your drivers speak worlds of it. Thank you also for the excellent price on newspapers. You and your business are yet another reason that I would be happy to call Newfoundland my home (PS...this is not said for contest purposes, I just clicked on the "Contact Us" icon...I truly wanted to give you feedback on your services and drivers).
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/4/2002
Subject: Extended Service Hours
Comments: I would like to say that I am delighted to see the busses running later at night. For the first time in a number of years I am getting my money's worth. Now I don't have to walk half the way home in cold or wet weather This is really great for people who work late shifts. Keep up the good service you now have in place and give it time to work out.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/4/2002
Subject: Service to Kenmount Road
Comments: Rumors have it that Wal-Mart Avalon Mall will be moving to Kenmount Road in the near future. If this is the case will the busses that serve the Avalon Mall now also serve in the new area.
Metrobus Response: Before the new Wal-Mart stores on Stavanger Drive and Old Placentia Road were opened we were in contact with the owners about providing transit service to their buildings. At that time they indicated they would not make any special arrangements for us and did not really want the buses on their parking lots. We will be in touch with the manager of the store on Kenmount Road and if he or she doesn't allow for the buses on the store parking lot we will schedule our service as closely as we can.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/2/2002
Subject: Bicycles
Comments: I recently visited Orange County California and was most impressed how they accommodate and encourage the transport of bicycles on their busses (see link with movie and instructions http://www.octa.net/busrail/geninfo/movies.asp). I think this would be of great benefit to the members of our community and thus submitted it for consideration.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for the information. If we receive more requests about transporting bicycles, we will certainly take a serious look at adding this feature to our service.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/2/2002
Subject: Route 7
Comments: Great job guys on the service. Thank you for putting Route 7 back on Jensen Camp Rd. I have been using the busses to get back and forth to school now for 2 years and I feel confident when I'm on-board because the Operators I know can be trusted. I'll be looking forward to using the bus for years to come. Thank you for taking time to read this.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/30/2002
Subject: Route 21
Comments: I don't think that it is very convenient for route 21 to run every hour and not only that it then only makes a circle around Mount Pearl. I work on one end of Commonwealth Ave. and live at the other end and for me to take the bus home I have to go back to St. John's first. and I work 9-5 so I have to leave work early to even catch the bus. The other problem with route 21 is its Sunday service I think that it should run until at least 8 p.m. If you work at the Avalon Mall and have to work until 6 p.m. how are you supposed to get home if you live in Mount Pearl?
Metrobus Response: I agree with many of your comments about Mount Pearl service. Unfortunately, we do not have the authority to make changes to routes 21 and 22. The City of Mount Pearl contracts us to provide the service it stipulates. Metrobus service is provided and paid for by the City of St. John's. You should forward your comments to the City of Mount Pearl.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/5/2002
Subject: Route 21 Running Early
Comments: I take route 21 to get to work every day. It seems recently that the bus is coming early a lot. The buses should come on time. They get there early and then we sit at Sobey's Square for 5 minutes. I miss the bus sometimes because of this. I waited out in the pouring rain today for about 20 minutes! It came 10 minutes before it was suppose to come. I wish you could do something about this.
Metrobus Response: We certainly will investigate your complaint. Running buses ahead of schedule is the worse thing we could possible do as a transit service provider. In the meantime, please call Ride Guide at 722-9400, listen for the time, make sure your watch is synchronized with the time that you hear. This is the time we use as our 'system time'.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/3/2002
Subject: Route Map
Comments: I'm new to St.John's, and although I have had no real problems getting around using the Metrobus system, I find that the maps are very confusing. Perhaps, you should have all the routes indicated on one map? Also, it would be very handy if all your stops were marked with something to indicate which routes it serves. Not knowing the City, I've found it extremely difficult to plan any trips, and think that one main map would be so much easier, for everyone, not just the new-comers or travellers. Nonetheless, once I've chosen my routes for the day, I must say that I've been very pleased with the promptness of the buses...it seems they actually follow the schedule! Fantastic. Thanks for considering my opinion.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/3/2002
Subject: Route 7
Comments: I wanted to thank you for trying the route 7 on Jensen Camp again. I am moving to Jensen Camp Place on the 10th of September and I was concerned about having to walk a distance to find a bus. I have lived in the downtown area all my life, and used your transit system since I was 5 years of age. It has been a very convenient way to get from point A to point B for me. I hope that the route 7 can stay in the Jensen Camp area.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/28/2002
Subject: Service Hours
Comments: Since there are people who work evening shifts, I think the buses should be running later. I work an evening shift on Torbay Road and use route 4 regularly from the Avalon Mall to get to work, but my shift ends at 1:00 am and the last bus stops at the Torbay Rd. Mall at 12:10. This is VERY inconvenient. There are many others, besides myself, who are experiencing these same inconveniences. Not everybody works daytime shifts.
Metrobus Response: Effective with our Summer 2002 schedule, we extended our Monday - Saturday evening service by more than 1 hour on a number of routes. Late night ridership is extremely low, even with the extended service hours resulting in a high cost to provide the service. It is unlikely that operating hours will be extended any further in the near future given the poor results so far.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/8/2002
Subject: Web site
Comments: Wow, it has been a long time since I viewed your web site. It has improved greatly, more easily viewed menus and general web site improvements. Keep up the good work.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 6/26/2002
Subject: Route 1 Summer Schedule
Comments: With regards to your summer schedule for Route 1 I'm not impressed with the new morning times for the above mentioned route. If I get the Village (7:30a.m) I end up at the Confederation Building 45 minutes before work starts . If I get the Village (8:25a.m) I end up being a half an hour late for work . I know it's too late to change your schedules , but next summer it would be nice to leave the Village at 7:45 a.m like I do all winter and still get to work on time . I notice that Route 25 leaves at that time so I may give that a go . Apart from that I must say that I really appreciate the service you provide and the majority of your drivers are quite courteous and very professional.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your comments. We will keep your suggestions on file for next summer's schedule.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/22/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I am now a frequent rider of Metrobus. Previously I had ridden the TTC in Toronto for 10 years. The times may not be the best but you cannot beat the service. The drivers are fantastic and go out of their way to help you.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/19/2002
Subject: Web site
Comments: I like your website. It doesn't slow me down with the 'latest and greatest' Internet technologies. It's straightforward and easy to use and the information is presented in a very clear way.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 4/18/2002
Subject: General Comments
Comments: I would like to file a complaint about the driver of bus no 5. He stopped in the middle of the lane on Waterford Bridge Road to get a coffee. It is not only illegal but extremely dangerous. People trying to get in or out of the gas station had no vision whatsoever of the oncoming traffic and an accident almost occurred because of that. I think it is really unprofessional for a Driver to not follow road regulations. I must confess that I am surprised to see how many positive comments there are. I was also surprised to learn that when a bus breaks down and is sent to the garage, it is not replaced immediatey. Users have to wait for the next one, even at -30C. The fact that the bus system shuts down in stormy weather is just unbelievable. If there is one thing you want to keep running, it is the bus system, so that people can get home safely. I have travelled from coast to coast and I have used the transit systems of Victoria, Vancouver, Ottawa, Montréal and Québec city. I have never seen a bus system shutting down or anything like that. I came to St.John's expecting a good transit system. I am very disappointed. It is the worst of all. I am here for 2 years and I can tell you I will not stay one day more.
Metrobus Response: We are very sorry to hear of your experiences while using our transit system. Most of the comments that we receive from visitors are positive when they compare our system to the one from their home towns. I have forwarded your comments onto our Operations Manager for review. It does sound like an unsafe practice to park in the middle lane on Waterford Bridge Road. I encourage you to call our Operations Manager directly to discuss this with him in further detail. Just a couple of comments on the rest of your e-mail. When a bus fails for mechanical reasons, it is replaced immediately. Of course, the customers on the bus that has failed will have to wait until the new bus arrives, there is not much that can be done to avoid that and we can appreciate that the wait can be quite inconvenient. Our buses do get pulled from the road in extremely stormy weather conditions, and only after the major centres and employers have announced that they will be closing. We provide two hours notice to customers before we do so, and we monitor all bus stops after the two hour notice to ensure no one is left standing out in the cold. Service is removed for the safety of our customers and our employees. In addition, service is pulled to allow the City to deal with the major snow clearing task that lies ahead. By removing public transit vehicles, people are encouraged to stay home, where they should be, during extreme weather. It would be difficult to find one transit company in the country that would leave vehicles on the road in blizzard and white-out conditions. We welcome your comments about our service. It is only through the customer complaint process that we can be made aware of how we are doing and take steps to improve.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/12/2002
Subject: Route 9
Comments: I noticed in the customer feedback that there are a lot of suggestions on increasing route 9 especially on the weekends and evenings. I know that you increase this route during the summer months - which is when a number of students return home. Gloucester Street is filled with students who go home - which is one of the streets that Route 9 takes. Wouldn't it make more sense to increase this route during the school year to accommodate students - who seem to be the bulk of passengers along this route?
Metrobus Response: It has been our experience that many students try to have their accommodations finalized long before the start of the new school year and that is why we make many of our route changes at the end of June. It gives students a chance to locate close to a bus route and the opportunity to become familiar with the routes. Any changes we make in June continue into the fall and we don't monitor the changes until after they have been into effect for about four months. I hope this explains why many of our service changes are made at the start of our summer schedule.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 2/5/2002
Subject: Route 9
Comments: I think that your service is great. But I feel that route 9 sound extends it hours. Many students use # 9, and they have to resort to #4... Which is quite a distance and a long ride when we leave MUN and have to go to all the way to Torbay Road etc, when all we want is to get to Crosbie, or Terra Nova Rd. I just think that during the school season that it would be a good idea... But other then that, your bus drivers are usually really sweet, and that makes the long ride seem a bit shorter…
Metrobus Response: We have three buses on route 9 during peak times and last year we asked the Commission to increase the operation hours by about two hours which they did. We have been monitoring the route since then and ridership has not increased. It is difficult to keep asking for service increases when we see no benefit from it.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/30/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I began travelling on the Metrobus four months ago when my car died. I had no other choice but to use Metrobus to get to work because it's hard to bum a ride from Mount Pearl to Torbay Road every day. I still have not purchased another car because the bus costs me a total of $50.00 per month as opposed to the $200.00 car payment, insurance, repairs and gas. Now I realize how stupid I've been and now look at how much money I save. Now that I can afford to go out more, I wish there was a route running downtown Saturdays on George Street at 3:00am.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/22/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I am new to the area and the bus service is great. I can get just about anywhere I need to get and when I get lost the bus drivers always help me. Keep up the good service!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/17/2002
Subject: Customer Service
Comments: Hats off to the bus driver on Route 1. I am a frequent user of the metro bus service and yesterday during the storm the driver ensured three passengers, including myself, that he could get us to our destinations before the buses went off duty 10:30 AM because of road conditions. While I find most drivers VERY friendly and helpful, yesterday during the confusion, this particular driver went beyound the call of duty that I have ever seen in my 23 years I have used the system. One passenger was en route to Mt.Pearl and was advised at first he could not get there, but later on he worked something out to ensure the passenger was able to make a connection. I have often missed a bus due to a missed transfer and the driver, sometimes, was not helpful at all , so it was nice to see this particular driver really going out of his way in a desperate situation. Thanks.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/10/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I have been using the bus for many years and have always found the Drivers to be very friendly, courteous and helpful. Keep up the good work! I also think that having Route 22 on a half hour later than the route 21 is great for me with regards to getting off work. Before the schedule was changed, I used to have to take a taxi the rest of the way home. Now I get off the bus at a bus stop very close to my house and I love it.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/8/2002
Subject: Service to Donovan's Industrial Park
Comments: I understand that Donovan's Industrial Park is not exactly under your jurisdiction, but there are plenty of people in St. John's who work there, and there is no way to get there without a car. None. What is a person who lives in St. John's supposed to do? We are forced to own a car because my husband has no other way to get to work. We would be thrilled to get rid of the car and use the bus service, but that is absolutely not an option. The cities of St. John's and Mount Pearl should quit their bickering and jointly fund a route for people to get from Donovan's Industrial Park into St. John's and back again. I know we aren't the only people who need to travel in that direction!
Metrobus Response: As you indicated in your e-mail Donovan's Industrial Park is part of Mount Pearl and I know they have, in the past, investigated the possibility of providing service to the area. Cars entering or leaving Donovan's were surveyed and the majority were either from Mount Pearl or Conception Bay. We will make Mount Pearl aware of your request and suggest they continue to survey companies in the industrial park.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/6/2002
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Very good transportation service. Drivers are very friendly.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/5/2002
Subject: Route 10
Comments: Most of the time things are great. I just wish that route 10 was on in the night time.
Metrobus Response: Route 10 did, at one time, operate in the evenings until 11:00 p.m. and on Sundays, but it was discontinued because not many people were using it. We monitor our service daily and if there is any improvement in route 10 the service will be increased.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/3/2002
Subject: Route 8
Comments: I am a regular user of Route 8. There about two years ago, you had an extra bus running between 3:30 - 5:30. It used to run at 3:50 and 4:50. That used to be very convenient for a lot of passengers and to also cut down on the number of people having to stand. Just wondering if possible if this service could be provided again.
Metrobus Response: We do have patrons standing on most of our buses during peak times and would need about an additional twenty operators and buses to eliminate this problem. All transit properties allow standing during peak times because it is usually only a short while before a seat becomes available. We monitor all of our routes daily and service will be increased as extra funding is available. We will keep your request on file for future schedule changes.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 1/2/2002
Subject: Bus Shelters
Comments: More shelters at bus stops in open areas.
Metrobus Response: We would also like to have many more bus shelters placed along our routes but at times it is very difficult to get permission for their placement from the City and the property owners. If you know of any bus stop where there are about 15 to 20 people per day using the stop and there is land available please let me know.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/23/2001
Subject: Web Page
Comments: Recently, when logging on to your website, a window has opened up containing your newsletter. I find this greatly slows down access to your website. I don't know about anyone else, but my brother and I often check your website in a big hurry. This window has actually caused us to miss the bus and seek an alternate route. For two students without licenses and very little money, this is not easy. Thank you for taking the time to address my concerns.
Metrobus Response: We use the popup window to bring attention to items of interest and importance to our customers. We don't use it very often throughout the year, just when we want to get the message out about something. You can close the window before the image is finished loading by clicking on the "X" in the top right corner of the popup window. This will allow you to get the information you need without having to wait any extra time.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/19/2001
Subject: Route 10
Comments: The route 10 really has to begin running until at the very least 11 P.M. Plus, all buses need to be running later, especially to accommodate the large number of people in this city who work past 10 P.M.(i.e. Route 10 @ Convergys, Route 3 Downtown). In major cities not only in Canada, but in the rest of the world, public transit usually runs until 2 A.M. and often 24 hrs. I would be willing pay a little extra for late night runs only. Also, why is there no bus service to the airport? This is the only place that I have ever heard of no bus service to and from the airport. It is very expensive to take a taxi there.
Metrobus Response: We monitor all of our routes daily especially route 10 with the information obtained from our computerized fareboxes. As the number of patrons increases we try to also improve the service. Route 10 does not do very well from a ridership perspective. We receive information from other transit properties on a regular basis and although larger cities have later service we do provide more service than most cities our size. Our buses are not suitable for service to the airport because for safety reasons patrons luggage would have to be carried in a separate vehicle. Also like the taxi companies we would need permission from the Airport Authority and then we would have to pay an expensive fee to the Airport Authority to provide service to the airport. We will keep your e-mail on file and review your concerns again for our next schedule change in June.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/18/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I've been in Moncton for the past 10 months, and I have got to say that I really miss the Metrobus system from home. Keep up the good work. Merry Christmas.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/15/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I would like to send a big THANK YOU and Merry Christmas to the fine group of men and women that drive for Metrobus. Thanks to them, the service can't be beat.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/12/2001
Subject: Website
Comments: I like your website. I am not a frequent bus rider. I found your website very helpful especially the maps of the routes. Thanks.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/5/2001
Subject: Buses
Comments: I love your buses, especially the new ones. I use Route 3 to take me to and from school. It's a pretty long ride (From Avalon Mall to Water St.) but it's worth it, especially when we go by scenic/historical places such as the harbour. I also like route 3 because it goes by several different high schools and malls, convenience stores, downtown, etc. Thank you for the excellent service!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/5/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: The service is really good. I find that for the most parts the buses keep fairly good schedule. Good job.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/2/2001
Subject: Route 15
Comments: Very reliable source of transportation. Route 15 should run more frequently, or even on Sundays. I work in the Avalon Mall, and I find it quite difficult to get there on Sundays.
Metrobus Response: It's good to know that you find our service reliable; we continuously try to make improvements. We will keep your request for a more frequent service for route 15 on file, however, we will probably add route 15 to our Sunday service starting with our summer schedule in June.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 12/2/2001
Subject: Metrobus Drivers
Comments: The buses are usually always on time and that is great when I am trying to get to work on time. I've come to realize in the last three years of living on my own in St. John's that you can always count on the Metrobus Drivers to be helpful and patient. They are always willing to help you with finding out where you need to be dropped off if you're not familiar with a particular area and they don't mind being asked questions.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/27/2001
Subject: Service to Mount Pearl & Paradise
Comments: I really like this service to get around St. John's and Mount Pearl and there should be routes going out to Paradise and Conception Bay South and Donovan's Industrial Park.
Metrobus Response: Metrobus service is provided and paid for by the City of St. John's. You should forward your request for service in these areas to the appropriate municipal government.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/21/2001
Subject: Route 10
Comments: This route could use some changes. It needs to run more than every hour and continue running past 6 in the evening. I'm not saying this for just my own personal needs (it is part of the reason.), but also because Stavanger Drive is becoming a bigger and busier section of town and really could use a better bus service. Also it wouldn't hurt to have the bus run on Sundays as well seeing most places are open on Sunday.
Metrobus Response: Route 10 did, at one time, operate in the evenings until 11:00 pm and on Sundays, but it was discontinued because not many people were using it. We monitor all of our routes daily and if there is any improvement in route 10 the service will be increased.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/21/2001
Subject: Removal of Route 1-6
Comments: Why was route 1-6 taken off its morning schedule? The 1-2 bus is jammed packed every morning when it leaves The Village, and it still has at least 20 more people to pick up along its route before it reaches MUN. I am sick and tired of being crushed like a sardine. It's dangerous and very uncomfortable.
Metrobus Response: At the same time we removed route 1-6 we also discontinued three other special runs. These buses were not covered in our Operators' schedule and it was difficult to find funding for them when buses were leaving The Village with seats available. Buses leave The Village going to MUN every ten minutes ( 7:45, 7:55, 8:05, 8:15 and 8:25 ) with empty seats. If ridership increases on these routes we may again need to put out extra service.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/19/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Very good service. The Bus Drivers are friendly and helpful.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/18/2001
Subject: Bus Stops on Middleton Street
Comments: I think that Metrobus should place another stop between the one on Middleton Street and the one on Montague Street. I get route 2 all the time and during the winter it is harder to walk further; I get really wet walking down. Plus I have to leave earlier to walk down because my house is such a distance away from both the stops. This upsets me very much. Everyone in my area thinks there should be another stop placed between the both of them. I would appreciate it very much, and so would a lot of other people.
Metrobus Response: We use the same spacing for bus stops on ever street in the city where our buses operate. I will, however, have someone check to see if any changes can be made. It seems that the problem in your case is that your house is located between two stops.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/18/2001
Subject: Extra Buses During School Times
Comments: I would like to see Drivers have more control over passengers, i.e., the right to kick off teenagers who are being troublesome. I would like Drivers to also stop picking people up when there are no more seats left and you have to stand up. There needs to be more buses put on the road during times when there are students getting out of school. I've almost fallen on top of people because the bus is so crowded and I've had to stand. I wonder too how the Bus Driver can see anything with the buses being so crowded.
Metrobus Response: We send an extra fourteen buses out to help with overcrowding during school times; about every bus that we have available. In all transit properties that I know of, standing is permitted during peak times because usually people have to stand for about ten minutes or less before a seat becomes available. Your complaint about troublesome teenagers was sent to our Operations Manager and he will be checking into this problem for you.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/18/2001
Subject: Service in Paradise
Comments: Metrobus should be in Paradise.
Metrobus Response: Metrobus service is provided and paid for by the City of St. John's. You should forward your request for service in your area to a member of the town council of Paradise.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/14/2001
Subject: New Policies
Comments: I find some of the new implementations in your service weird like the paper transfers and no photo i.d. on the monthly Metropass. I hope these save you guys money in the long run but are you loosing money somewhere? Other than that service is good. Thanks.
Metrobus Response: We reverted to paper transfers for two reasons: the first was the high cost of the magnetic strip cards and the second was the fact that they were always getting jammed in our card readers causing us to have to change a bus in the middle of service, which has its own associated costs. The decision to discontinue photo I.D. cards was made to make buying passes in the city easier for customers. The old way meant a person had to purchase a pass at an outlet and then come by our office to have the photo I.D. taken. In addition, eliminating I.D. cards allows us to sell monthly passes on our website. We're not losing any revenue on the photo I.D. cards. We charged $3.00 per picture and incurred expenses over $4.00 per picture. Both of these initiatives are presently on a trial basis. We can certainly go back to the way things were if circumstances warrant.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/13/2001
Subject: Mount Pearl Service
Comments: I suggest a better bus system in Mount Pearl, a bus on every half hour instead of every hour. Mount Pearl is growing and expanding, and soon Wal-Mart will be part of our city, so there may be an increase in bussing needs.
Metrobus Response: Any changes to routes 21 or 22 need to be made by the City of Mount Pearl. It is unlikely they will increase service at this time, however, we will make them aware of your request.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 11/1/2001
Subject: Photo I.D.'s
Comments: Can you please explain why bus passes no longer require a photo ID. At least when a photo ID was required I felt a little better about losing my bus pass. Someone could have given it to the bus driver to be picked up and the number on the pass had to match the number on your ID. Now, if my pass was left behind, there would be no way of determining whether or not the pass was mine to begin with. I don't understand the reasoning behind no picture ID.
Metrobus Response: In actual fact, of all the bus passes that are lost over the course of a year (and there aren't too many), we seldom receive them back from the people who find them. If a customer loses a bus pass on a bus, our Operators or cleaning crew will turn them in...that doesn't change. The 'number' you refer to really wasn't any form of security as it was very easy to alter the pass. The decision to discontinue using I.D. cards was made to make purchasing bus passes easier for customers. The photo I.D. required a customer to make a special trip into our office to have a photo taken to use with a monthly pass. In addition, a number of customers wanted to be able to purchase passes on our website and not having a photo I.D. card allows us to do so. We have received a number of compliments about the policy change, and now, one complaint. Things have been going quite well since September 1, however, please understand, we can easily go back to I.D. cards for any reason, at any time.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/31/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: It has been many years since I've used Metrobus. To my surprise it was a very pleasant ride.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/30/2001
Subject: Website
Comments: I do not live in St. John's right now, but i'll soon be visiting, and on September 2002 I will be living there. Your bus route info helped me a great deal in seeing how close my apartment will be to a bus stop and to the school. Thanks.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/29/2001
Subject: Website
Comments: Informative, straight-forward website!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/23/2001
Subject: Route 10
Comments: Increased runs to Stavanger Drive via route 10
Metrobus Response: Route 10 did, at one time, operate until 11:00 pm and on Sundays but is was discontinued because of low ridership. We monitor all our routes daily and if there is any improvement in route 10 service will be increased.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/23/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Always great service, buses always on time, drivers are very friendly and helpful.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/20/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Definitely a great way to get from place to place! Makes it easy on a student with no wheels in this city!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/20/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I think that buses are very convenient, especially for work because there are different routes that will take you just about everywhere.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 10/20/2001
Subject: Metrobus Drivers
Comments: I am new to the city.. I moved from Corner Brook where the bus system there had only four buses. The Drivers are very helpful when I get on the bus and I want to know if the bus is going to certain places. A big thank you to the St. John's Metrobus Drivers.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/23/2001
Subject: Service to Stavanger Drive
Comments: Please look at the transportation for Stavanger Drive from Virginia Place (Virginia Park Subdivision). There is no transportation available in the evenings or Sundays and with all the retail business in the area, it should be available, also maybe a bus could continue from Torbay Road\Stavanger Drive to Logy Bay Road and on to downtown and return same way. Thank you for your consideration.
Metrobus Response: Route 10 did at one time operate in the evenings until 11:00 pm and on Sundays but it was discontinued because not many people were using it. We monitor all of our routes daily and if there is any improvement in route 10 the service will be increased.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/23/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Very good service.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/22/2001
Subject: Service to Academy Canada
Comments: A suggestion is to try and get a Route closer to Academy Canada.. It is hard trying to get across Kenmount Road Every single day. Maybe a route or a bus stop up closer to the school would really help out the students.
Metrobus Response: It would be difficult to provide service closer to Academy Canada, since it is doubtful our buses would be allowed to stop anywhere on Kenmount Road. We are also required by the City to have bus stops placed away from intersections so the bus stop at Pippy Place is about as close as we can get.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/21/2001
Subject: Route 9
Comments: Not enough route 9's and when it does come it's usually late.
Metrobus Response: Since we made an adjustment to route 9 in June we have not received any reports about buses being overcrowded or late. If you want to provide more information about the time these problems are occurring we will have them checked out for you.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/21/2001
Subject: Route 4
Comments: This morning I was waiting for route 4 on Elizabeth Avenue. The bus was full and the driver told us there was another bus coming right behind. We waited 45minutes for the next one. I was late for school because of this. It's not good enough.
Metrobus Response: The operator was right...there should have been another bus on the route. The extra bus left the garage on time but had mechanical problems and it was about thirty minutes before we could send a replacement bus. There is a second bus scheduled at approximately 8:10 AM every day, but unfortunately there was little we could do this morning.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/21/2001
Subject: Service in the East End
Comments: Need more routes going to east end or better changeover stops. Route 9 is good but it doesn't run late enough.
Metrobus Response: We increased the hours for route nine in June by ninety minutes and there was very little increase in ridership. It is difficult to justify extending the hours again when there is no increase in the number of people using the service. There are two buses on route 4 and one on route 2 providing service to the east end until approximately 11:30 p.m.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/17/2001
Subject: Service to Downtown
Comments: I have been riding Metrobus for years, and it has always served me well and kept me away from big car payments! I too would like to see the LeMarchant Road and Downtown areas serviced by one route again. Could I also suggest that route 10 operate more frequently? Thanks for everything!
Metrobus Response: It is unlikely that we will restore direct service between Water Street and LeMarchant Road again unless there is an increase in the number of people transferring to make this trip. We monitor route 10 daily and if there is any improvement in ridership we will look at providing a more frequent service.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/17/2001
Subject: Connections at The Village
Comments: It would be great if you could synchronize the times that Route 1 arrives at The Village (from Cowan Heights) and when Route 5 arrives at the Village on it's way toward Water Street in the evenings. For years, I\'ve had to wait a full half-hour at the Village for Route 5 to arrive after getting off Route 1. It's not so bad in the summer, but in the fall and winter when it's cold it's a real pain. That's all.. Thanks!
Metrobus Response: It takes route 1 about 80 minutes to make a full trip and 60 minutes for route 5, therefore, it would not be possible for them to connect on every trip. If there is only one particular trip that you are having a problem with then maybe some adjustment can be made.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/15/2001
Subject: Bus Shelters
Comments: More shelters along the routes.
Metrobus Response: We would also like to have many more bus shelters placed along our routes but at times it is very difficult to get permission for their placement from the City and the property owners. If you know of any bus stops where there are approximately 15 to 25 people per day using the stops and there is land available please let me know.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/15/2001
Subject: Sunday Service
Comments: I am very pleased with your service. The only complaint I have is you do not run early enough on Sunday mornings. I work most weekends doing over night shifts and get off at 8:00 am. Sundays I can not get a bus home and need to pay a cab $15.00 to get home. Other than that keep up the good work.
Metrobus Response: If you are traveling around the City early on Sunday mornings you know that there are not many other people going to or from work, etc. Today we completed a review of our Sunday routes and there is an average of eight people using our buses before 10:30 a.m. We would need about four times as many in order to justify having the service out. We did recently extend the hours for our Sunday routes so we will keep your request on file for future schedule changes.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/15/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I take it easy when I take the bus! Thanks for the great service.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/10/2001
Subject: Route 9
Comments: I work at the Confederation Building and the worse thing I found about the summer schedule was the fact I had to wait until 5:10 just to get route 9 home and I got off at 4:30. I hope that the next summer schedule will be a little more accessible to people who work and get off at 4 or 4:30.
Metrobus Response: The information we received from the Confederation Building indicated the departure times for different departments could start as early as 3:45pm and every fifteen minutes until 4:30pm. It would be hard for route nine to meet most of these times and still provide service to many other buildings along the route. We will keep your request on file and maybe you could have someone update our information on departure times at the Confederation Building before next summer's schedule.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/10/2001
Subject: Routes to MUN and Miller Centre
Comments: Please create a direct route from MUN and Hillview Terrace to the Centre for Nursing and the Miller Centre.
Metrobus Response: We have in the past tried to operate a service between the university and Miller Centre. After about a month the forty people who started using the service dropped to about 2 or 3 people using the service on a regular basis because 5 or 6 people would get together and arrange for a taxi to pick them up. If you could provide me with more information about the number of people involved and time of day etc. I would be willing to look at your requirements again.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/8/2001
Subject: Earlier Service
Comments: I think you offer a very good service with friendly drivers. I would like an earlier 6am service on route 1 and 7 to the Avalon Mall because I have to be at work at 7am.
Metrobus Response: If you ride our buses between 6:30 am and 7:30 am you know there are not many people using the service during this time. We monitor our service daily and the number of riders on the buses helps us to determine the starting and finishing times for these buses. We will keep your request on file for future schedule changes.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/2/2001
Subject: Service to Downtown
Comments: A bus from the LeMarchant Road area to downtown and Water Street would be good.
Metrobus Response: We did operate a route from downtown to LeMarchant Road for many years but the number of people using the service was so low that we discontinued it. It is unlikely this service will be restored, however, you can make a good connection to LeMarchant Road from either routes 3, 5, 10, 12, or 15.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 9/1/2001
Subject: Bus Driver
Comments: I was getting on the bus on Water Street and the bus driver helped an elderly lady off the bus and to the crosswalk and commented "have a nice day". The driver was so thoughtful and considerate. The lady had a smile from ear to ear!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/29/2001
Subject: Route 9
Comments: I suggest that number nine be extended to include new penney well road. It would only take a minute and would service a large amount of people. Maybe even a couple times a day. There is no bus that currently goes up that hill.
Metrobus Response: We did operate a route to New Pennywell Road and Beothuck Street for many years but the number of people using the service was so low that we discontinued it. Route nine could not presently service New Pennywell Road and still keep on schedule but we will keep your request on file for future schedule changes.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/28/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I use the bus everyday for transportation to and from school. I moved to St. John's last year from a small community out around the bay. The help that I have received from the bus drivers regarding finding places in town has been tremendous. They are always willing to answer any of my questions and direct me in the right direction to the place I want to go. Thank you for your patience and knowledge.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/27/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I'm someone who would like to make greater use of public transit, but your routes don't suit my needs. From looking at this guest book (which is great) I get the impression that you survey existing users, but not the people who aren't using the busses. This will get you information on the strengths of your services, but not allow you to address the weaknesses. Why not use your website and other resources to find out what would turn those of us who walk or drive into Metrobus riders?
Metrobus Response: We survey customers exclusively when we are planning to make changes to an existing service. Every two years, we complete an image study through an outside agency. This comprehensive study provides insight from customers and non-customers, and specifically asks users what they like and don't like about the service and asks non-users why they are non-users and what would need to be in place for them to become users. When asked why they don't use our service, the overwhelming majority of non-users respond 'because they already have a means of transportation', usually a private automobile. We have to concede that in this city, there is no more convenient mode of transportation than a private automobile. St. John's is somewhat unique in that, in relative terms, we don't have a traffic problem, we don't have a parking problem, and we don't have the negative physical environmental indicators to cause people to consider a cleaner means of transportation. When working people were asked why they don't take the bus to work, the majority responded because they need a car at lunchtime or at some other time throughout the day. It would be nice to have buses running every 15 minutes on all routes, however, our budget doesn't permit that. With limited marketing dollars, we have made a decision to spend a limited amount on attracting new riders while spending the majority on encouraging existing customers to use the service more often. Users and non-users are encouraged to provide comments about our service and I like your suggestion about soliciting more input from non-users through our website. There are many benefits to using public transit, they're just not as obvious in a city like ours. This coupled with our limited budget, means there will always be a segment of the market that we will never be able to accommodate and that's a shame. I'm interested in hearing how our service would have to be changed in order for you to begin using it. In closing, customers have never been afraid to voice displeasure about our service when it doesn't meet their expectations...you can find evidence of that in these pages.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/23/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: In the past, I have not used Metrobus in St. John's that often. When I have, I have found it to be very useful. In September, I will be enrolled full-time at Memorial University. I believe that Metrobus will become a part of my every day life. Keep up the good work.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/21/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: I like our friendly bus drivers.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/21/2001
Subject: Service in Paradise
Comments: I am a resident of Paradise and I am curious why there is no Metrobus service in this area. There is certainly a need for it given the population. Are there any plans for this?
Metrobus Response: Metrobus service is provided and paid for by the City of St. John's. We do not have the authority to operate in Paradise without the approval of Paradise Town Council. The Town of Paradise would have to set up a similar arrangement to that of Mount Pearl which is basically a private charter arrangement. You should forward your inquiry to a member of the town council.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/21/2001
Subject: Exact Fare Policy
Comments: There should be a way to get change from a toonie. I'm a University student and even 50cents makes a difference.
Metrobus Response: I agree - 50 cents does make difference but we are not able to provide change. If you are attending the university and using the bus frequently you should be considering a 10-ride, monthly, or semester pass. All of these options allow you to save a lot more than the extra 50 cents you are paying right now and you never need to have the exact change with you.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/21/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Metrobus is one of the best ways to travel around town.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/19/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: This is a very cost efficient and convenient way to travel throughout the city. It also gives me the satisfaction that by using the metrobus I am helping to decrease the emissions of harmful gases given off by using a car.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/15/2001
Subject: Service to MUN
Comments: I would like to see more buses running to MUN.
Metrobus Response: Starting in September we will have six routes making over two hundred trips each day to MUN which averages out to about a bus every five minutes. This is a more frequent service than to any other building in the city and we have not received any complaints from the University. If you are having a problem at a particular time of day and want to provide me with more details I will have it checked out for you.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/15/2001
Subject: Route 3
Comments: I work at 152 Water Street. I get off work at 5 pm along with a lot of other people who get route 3. I was wondering if the bus could wait on that stop every day at a couple minutes after 5. There are several people who get the bus at this time but she just passes on by at 5 pm.
Metrobus Response: Sometimes when buses are on an hourly schedule we will ask the operator to wait for connections but with a route 3 scheduled to arrive on Water Street every fifteen minutes it should not be necessary to delay the service. We have a bus scheduled at Water Street/Waldegrave Street at 5:10pm and 5:25pm and either one of these buses should be suitable for anyone getting off work at 5:00 pm.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/14/2001
Subject: Bus Passes & Route 9
Comments: I think that you should really consider letting all the colleges sell bus passes... It would make for an easier time for the students. And Maybe letting Route 9 run a little longer in the evenings?
Metrobus Response: In response to other requests we increased the hours for route nine in June by ninety minutes. We have monitored the route since then and ridership went up by an average of three patrons per day. We would need an increase of about fifty patrons in order to recover about forty percent of our cost. It is difficult to justify extending the hours again when the number of people using route 9 is so low.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/13/2001
Subject: Night Service
Comments: I do not get off work until 12:30 at night. I think the bus should be more like Ottawa. The bus runs until 2am. I think it's ridiculous that the buses stop at 11:00. It's awful for night shift workers and those without any other transportation. I think buses should run until at least 1:00 am.
Metrobus Response: Buses operating after 10:30 pm recover less than ten percent of their cost, therefore, it is unlikely service will be extended at this time. Any changes to routes 21 or 22, however, would require approval from the City of Mount Pearl so we will make them aware of your request. Unlike either St. John's or Mount Pearl, Ottawa receives funding from the Provincial Government which would help pay for the cost of their increased service.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/13/2001
Subject: Route 21
Comments: I travel on Metrobus a lot. I find the bus drivers are very friendly. The only problem I really have is that 21 only runs every hour but the new schedule for 22 is very helpful now. Other than that I think your service is good.
Metrobus Response: Any changes to routes 21 or 22 would require approval from the City of Mount Pearl. It is unlikely they would increase service at this time, however, we will make them aware of your request.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/13/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: The bus service is really good.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/13/2001
Subject: New User
Comments: I will be using Metrobus on a regular basis very soon!
Metrobus Response: We're glad to hear you will soon be a customer. If you have any questions about our service, please contact us at infoservices@metrobus.com.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/13/2001
Subject: Long-time User
Comments: I have been using your bus service for years.
Metrobus Response: We appreciate the loyalty. If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please forward them to us at infoservices@metrobus.com.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/9/2001
Subject: Extended Service Hours
Comments: I was wondering if there was the chance that Metrobus would be continuing service later into the night anytime soon?
Metrobus Response: We just extended the operating hours for some of our routes in June especially Sunday service. Buses operating after 10:30 p.m. recover about 10 percent of the cost of providing the service so it is hard to justify making extra trips. We do, however, monitor the service daily and review the level of service provided about every four months.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/6/2001
Subject: Information at Bus Stops
Comments: I have recently started using Metrobus. I think the service is very good overall. I would like to see the bus number written on the bus stop sign. A couple of times I waited for a particular bus thinking that the bus stop was the right one and of course missed the right bus. Had the bus number been written on the bus stop, I would have known that the bus would be across the street. In any event, the correct bus had passed by while I waited at the bus stop and then the wrong bus came by so I had to wait for the next bus. I used to take the bus when I lived in Ottawa (several years ago) and each stop had the bus number on it - it makes it very simple to know which bus stops at that particular location. I usually check the paper guide for a particular bus before I leave but am not always certain if I'm on the right side of the street. Sometimes it is difficult to get to the front to speak to a bus driver before the bus stops and I don't want to delay the driver because I know what it's like to wait in bad weather.
Metrobus Response: We had to discontinue placing route numbers on bus stops because vandals would alter and destroy the numbers. We feel a better solution is to have the bus arrival times placed on most of our bus stops. We presently have about 15 percent completed and will increase this amount as funding for material and staff becomes available.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/3/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: My 12 year old uses Metrobus often. I rarely use it myself, but I want you to know I am quite satisfied with the service and treatment my son receives. Thank you.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/3/2001
Subject: Route 22
Comments: Much better if Route 22 ran a few more times especially in the morning past 9 am.
Metrobus Response: Any changes to route 22 has to be approved by Mount Pearl City Council. We will make them aware of your request.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/2/2001
Subject: Route 11 Connection with Route 1
Comments: I was wondering why the Route 1-2 couldn't wait for the Route 11 I was travelling on this morning. My driver called in and got a response that it was at Blackmarsh Road/Cashin Avenue, however, when the 11 got there the 1 was nowhere in sight and didn't come by after I got off the bus. I had to wait for the next route 1 and was 20 minutes late for work.
Metrobus Response: If both buses were on schedule and your driver requested the connection then the route 1 should have waited. They do not connect on every trip, however, because they are both on different schedules. Starting in September we will have five buses on route 1 so it should be easier for you to make your connection but if you continue to have a problem before then please let us know.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 8/1/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: You have very polite and helpful Drivers. Inside the buses are clean and smell fresh all the time.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/22/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Keep up the good work. Your drivers are the most friendly people around. Thank you.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/21/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Excellent service and friendly staff. It's my transportation to work everyday so it makes things better when you get good service! Thanks.
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/17/2001
Subject: General Comment
Comments: Great service. Cheaper than insurance!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/17/2001
Subject: Route 10
Comments: Will (route 10) service be running later in future?
Metrobus Response: Any increase in service on route 10 will depend on the number of patrons using the route. We monitor our buses daily and even with the opening of the new Wal-Mart the number of riders on route 10 is still very low.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/16/2001
Subject: Park 'n' Ride Service
Comments: I attended my first event at Mile One last week and took advantage of the Park and Ride service. Fantastic! It was prompt, easy, efficient and very professionally done. Your Drivers were great, friendly and very helpful. What a great service. Hats off to everyone!
Metrobus Response:
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/16/2001
Subject: Route 1
Comments: The only problem I had was that Route 1 was never on time when coming and going to school (MUN). This led to many cold days waiting by the bus stop.
Metrobus Response: Thank you for your comments. We will monitor the performance of route 1 closely this fall to determine it's on-time performance results.
Customer Follow-up:

Date Received: 7/14/2001
Subject: University Centre Information
Comments: I was a little put off when I had been waiting for a bus (route 3) at the university center for a long time (because there is an old schedule up with different times) and when the bus finally pulled up, it said downtown (which I didn\'t want) so I did not get on that bus. However, the bus was actually going to the mall. I knew this because it turned in the direction to go up along the hospital. Boy was I peeved. I ended up walking in the rain.
Metrobus Response: Thank your for bringing this to our attention. We've discovered that there were two sign locations in the University Centre - one showing the correct Summer schedule and one showing the older Fall schedule. We have removed the incorrect information. I have forwarded your e-mail onto our Operations Manager for review. We will be taking steps to ensure that a similar incident does not re-occur.
Customer Follow-up: