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An hour of waiting under heavy rains is a long time to wait for a bus. It is much worse when in this one hour, you see seven buses going in the opposite direction.
This happened to BCT riders recently. I was there. We waited, we checked our cell phones, we complained among ourselves, wondering whether the bus we needed to catch was late, was canceled, or was never going to come. We didn’t know.
It is not an unusual situation in Broward County. It is precisely the reason why this is a problem.
Broward County Transit is unreliable, infrequent, and slow, but more than anything else, it is unaccountable.
Transit schedules should mean something. However, riders often complain about buses being delayed, long intervals between buses, buses that disappear without a trace. In South Florida, being late for a bus means that you have to wait under the heat of the 90-degree weather or in heavy rains for another 30, 45, or 60 minutes.
The responsibility for BCT's shortcomings lies almost always with the rider, but never Broward County's government. A delayed bus means a cancelled appointment, a delay at work, or a student missing class. BCT can apologize for the problem, but it will still cost the rider an hour or more.
This is an unsustainable expectation for a major metropolitan county.
BCT needs to be transparent with route-level information, including on-time performance rates, number of missed trips, number of cancellations, and average wait times. These chronic problems need to result in an investigation with an explanation and a plan of action. It should not fall to citizens of the county to determine whether their transit is working properly or not.
But reliability is not sufficient. BCT simply operates too slowly and not frequently enough. Waiting another hour just because of missing the bus is simply not acceptable. What takes 10 minutes to travel by car should not take hours to travel by bus. Broward County requires far more frequent routes, as well as rapid transit and transit priority lanes.
Riders should get basic infrastructure. High-ridership locations should provide shelters, seating, lighting, sidewalks, and ADA compliance. Countdown clocks should give accurate information about upcoming arrivals. If a bus is canceled or is running late, this information should be communicated to riders. They should not be stranded because the bus never arrived with no warning.
None of this would be out of the ordinary. This would be a basic requirement for a functioning transit system in a county run by competent people.
Broward County is experiencing growth in population, growing congestion, and increasing cost of transportation for working residents. Public transit is not a bonus given to people who do not have a car. It is a public infrastructure that is absolutely vital. Broward County doesn't need any more promises about improved transit services in the future. It needs to make its current transit system work now.
Transit should operate on schedule. It should be frequent enough to be reliable. It should be fast enough to offer a good alternative to driving. Information should be provided to riders in case of a problem. And in case a series of problems happens, somebody should take responsibility for addressing them.
Broward County's transit riders are not asking for miracles. They are asking for a bus. And to date, they can’t seem to get one.
