PRTC responds to riders’ complaints

I am in the Army working at the Pentagon and a regular OmniRide/Potomac Rappahannock Transportation Commission customer, riding every weekday twice a day over the last two years.

I have noticed a steady decline in customer care. The bus drivers do not tell customers what is going on when there are delays. Tuesday’s ice storm was a perfect example.

PRTC not only failed to check the weather and plan for the forecasted icing conditions that caused my five-hour ride home that night, but the driver didn’t make a single announcement to passengers to let them know what was going on.

Dispatch failed to keep him informed what was going on and the passengers had to help him find his way to the Interstate 95, Va. 123 commuter lot due to the normal Woodbridge ramp being closed. Through the entire five-hour trip (normally 30 minutes), the driver did not make a single announcement to the passengers.

Also, he let one passenger off the bus in the middle of the interstate so he could urinate. He almost let another pregnant passenger off the bus while on the interstate to transfer to a Metrobus ? but the other bus driver refused to allow her on the bus (due to the obvious danger).

The bottom line is that PRTC and [the] Virginia Department of Transportation failed its customers and the NOVA/D.C. communities. You did not pay attention to the weather warnings and forecasted conditions and you did not warn passengers boarding at the Pentagon of the delays.

We could have taken the Metro home and saved four hours! If I had a public transportation option I would never ride PRTC again, but unfortunately it is my only option at this time. Shape up PRTC!!

Marvin Iavecchia

Dear Marvin,

The newspaper reported your e-mail to Christine Rodrigo, Public Relations Specialist for PRTC. Here is her response.

Dear PRTC Customers,

[Tuesday’s] commuting experience was a nightmare for everyone. We have heard from many of you and want to take this opportunity to answer some of the issues you have raised.

? Why wasn’t PRTC prepared for this event?

On Tuesday at 3 a.m., we checked the National Weather Service forecast and confirmed that while inclement weather was forecast for later in the day, there was no indication of looming freezing conditions except for the far northern and western suburbs (Loudoun, Montgomery counties) We reconfirmed this at 10 a.m. for the afternoon service.

Having satisfied ourselves that the afternoon commute would be no worse than wet, we concluded that we should operate our normal service rather than implement the Emergency Service Plan (ESP). In fact, buses left the Transit Center a little early in the afternoon, anticipating slightly longer travel times into D.C. and Northern Virginia as a result of the wet roads.

Only at 3:05 p.m., after most of our buses were already in D.C. or well on their way, was the National Weather Service’s ice advisory expanded to encompass the rest of the D.C. area. Unfortunately, this was just about the time that the icing actually hit, and about 20 minutes later the damage was done. By that time, with most buses already in D.C., it was too late for PRTC to make a full fledged “mid-course correction” to activate the ESP.

Ongoing voice communications with VDOT and remote visual access to surveillance cameras along the interstates told us nothing more than we already knew—traffic was gridlocked. Nor was our global positioning satellite (GPS) tracking capability, which lets us know where our buses are real-time, any help.

We could see that the buses were stopped, but nothing we could glean from VDOT gave us any indication about when they might start moving again. Around 3 p.m., VDOT began taking the extraordinary step of closing down entry and exit ramps due to sudden icing conditions with no forewarning, a necessary step but one that compounded the back-ups. At one point, both the regular lanes and the HOV Lanes on I-95/395 and I-66 were shut down, resulting in massive traffic delays.

Tuesday’s nightmarish experience was not the result of PRTC failing to pay attention to weather warnings, or the Dispatch Office not keeping operators informed. It was a consequence of freakish weather and roadway conditions that took the region entirely by surprise and forced VDOT to take highly unusual actions “on the fly.“

? What actions did PRTC take to manage this situation?

PRTC Dispatchers made several “all-calls” to operators stating that all routes were experiencing extreme delays, and the operators were instructed to relate that message to passengers. Operators are routinely urged to let passengers know whatever they know, no matter how uninformative that might be, and in some cases it was apparent that this did not happen. PRTC and First Transit will reinforce the importance of this to all operators.

Supervisory personnel were on site to direct passengers at Franconia-Springfield Metro since a number of PRTC passengers opted to make their way to Franconia-Springfield thinking this was a way around the problem. Those who did so were similarly hamstrung, however, because PRTC had very few buses at its disposal, having already committed itself to the normal afternoon mode of service with most of our buses bottled up by the same traffic north of Franconia-Springfield. Supervisors were also on site at the Pentagon, and although they were in touch with PRTC dispatchers, the conversations were not as frequent as they should have been. That’s a problem we have now remedied.

Multiple buses that had not yet departed the PRTC Transit Center were redirected to the Franconia-Springfield Metro Station to accommodate the increased passenger load. Also, one additional bus was able to reach the West Falls Church Metro Station before traffic volume overwhelmed the area and before road conditions became too treacherous for others to attempt the trip.

? Why weren’t buses allowed to exit the HOV lanes?

The sudden-changing weather conditions led VDOT to close ramps with virtually no warning. PRTC was leery of advising operators to switch between the regular and HOV lanes because no one knew where ramps were being closed.

In fact, one PRTC operator did leave the HOV lanes in an effort to join the faster-moving regular lanes and got stuck on the ramp. As a result, police had to assist the operator in backing up the off-ramp.

? What should I do if I need a restroom?

There are no restrooms on PRTC buses, and under ordinary circumstances passengers are expected to plan accordingly. However, Tuesday’s commute was far from ordinary.

In emergency situations, when traffic is at a standstill and there is no danger in allowing a passenger to exit the bus, PRTC operators have the discretion to allow a passenger outside the bus to relieve themselves. While it isn’t the ideal situation, we believe our passengers shouldn’t lose their dignity while simply trying to get home.

? Why didn’t PRTC send additional rider express advisories?

In retrospect, we should have. Although we couldn’t have said much that was informative since every route was at a virtual standstill, it would have been far better to say “We don’t know” than to remain silent.

Again, we know Tuesday’s commute was one of the worst in this region’s history. PRTC is committed to examining what we could have done differently and learning from this experience.

Please send questions or comments on roads, rail and transit to: Lane Ranger, c/o Potomac News, P.O. Box 2470, Woodbridge, VA 22195; e-mail: .