The Adventures of Jessica Sideways

I complain to RTD when I feel that a complaint needs to be made about a driver and their conduct or the latency of what is happening on the bus. About a third of the time I phone RTD, I have to make a complaint because either (1) the bus was late as hell or (2) the driver was acting in a very uncouth or unprofessional manner. Sometimes, I do have a compliment about a couple of drivers, like what happened yesterday on the B to Boulder, I got a really good driver and I believe that she deserves a commendation. However, for the most part, RTD drivers and especially the drivers that are really pissy or in a mood are the ones that I write notes about and then fill out comment cards on or phone RTD about as soon as possible. Sometimes I get a response, sometimes I don’t and sometimes, I get a response that is truly and honestly delayed. Below, I got an e-mail reply to two of the comment cards that I sent out about a couple of RTD drivers and their conduct.

Ms. Jessica Sideways,

Thank you for taking the time to complete and mailed the two comments cards.

We are responding to your comment cards. Your comments were forwarded to the Transportation Division Manager for further investigation. Both drivers were addressed on the incidents, instructed on appropriate conduct, procedures and counseled on customer relations.

The bus driver on bus #9128 on the route 16L was running late due to problems with the fire extinguisher engaged, bus had to be traded and that cause 30 minutes service delay. Operator has been addressed on professional courtesy.

The bus operator on the bus # 2274X on the route 16 was reminded to refrain from religious comments to passengers on route. Operator did not intend to offend to complainant and apologize for any inconvenience.

We regret any inconvenience that you may have experienced with these drivers and appreciate you taking the time to bring this incident to our attention and for assisting in our efforts to provide more reliable transportation.

Thank you for riding RTD.

Sincerely,
Reina Cruz
Customer Information Correspondent
Regional Transportation District

To be honest, I am unsure about the first one, maybe it was because of the fact that I wasn’t able to catch it or I had to wait and insufferably long time for it to come by. The second one I remember very specifically. I was coming home from the Gender Identity Centre of Colorado support group and I got on the 16 at Colfax & Wadsworth. I rode the bus to my final stop at Colfax & Sheridan and just as I was getting off the bus, the bus driver said “May God bless you” over the loudspeaker. I, naturally, found this very offensive and wrote a report to RTD right away. This may have been one or two months ago since I haven’t gone to a Gender Identity Centre support group meeting for a couple of weeks. This is just because some of the facilitators at these meetings are real pricks (I have mentioned names before and I don’t feel that I need to now).

Do I feel that these complaints are necessary? Absolutely! I feel these complaints are necessary so that RTD can keep it’s own staff and it’s contractors in line. I mean, fare increases for the same service - this is getting kinda sucky so I need to recommend ways for RTD to improve it’s service and not rely on fare increases.