By Mrs. R. Levine Santa Monica
As a tax-paying resident of the City of Santa Monica for many years, I wish to issue a serious complaint about the Big Blue Bus service in our City. It took me quite a while to get to this point — lots of frustration, anger and disgust... and I am not alone at this point.
I take the first schedules No. 4 Blue Bus at 6:40 a.m. at the corner of San Vicente and Fourth Street every single morning when it appears. Down to Santa Monica Blvd., hopefully to catch the No. 10 freeway bus, which is another story with all the schedule changes made to it. The Big Blue Bus company happens to use the wonderful Thomas buses, which seem to break down every other day...what the company doesn’t do is send replacement buses right away when they break down. We have to stand and wait for the next pickup...20 minutes later at 7:10 a.m.! The breakdowns seem to be occurring on a regular basis. Case in point, last week one broke down and the week before again.
It is very, very difficult to get to work downtown by trying to catch the No. 10 freeway bus. Case in point, this morning the No. 10 was apparently late, and people were very upset all the way to the Bundy freeway exit. It seems the 6:40 a.m. never appeared!
I think this is ridiculous service for our wonderful city. People are really upset, and you can hear them carrying on about it on the bus itself. I know many have called customer service and are not happy with the replies received in those phone calls.
I would appreciate your looking into this situation very much.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 31, 2005. Read the original PDF.