Charm City Circulator: a bad experience (Never again) (Baltimore, Towson: credit, homes)

[LouisDS]

Originally Posted by picardlx

I'm sorry, but strollers have to be folded for safety reasons. Ideally, you would have had already done that prior to boarding. A good proportion of riders who take the Circulator are tourist and not commuters. Your bus arrival delay could have been caused by traffic/construction/increased ridership due to its overwhelming success. I don't ascribe to blaming the victim but in this case, I don't see you as a victim. The only aspect of your story that troubles me is the lack of consideration of passengers not relinquishing a seat for your wife and kids, but that's hardly a knock on the Circulator service.

I understand your point, but again, it shows the total lack of consideration of people in Baltimore (and in the US in general, I have to say...) for young families. It is totally unrealistic to think that a young mom with 2 or 3 kids will be able to board by herself, stroller folded, without the floor of the bus lowered.

You guys are probably right about traffic for some occasions, by I can guarantee it was not the case last saturday.

[deandre]

Originally Posted by LouisDS

Last Saturday, I wanted to show my cousin around and get to the Harbor using the circulator, as advised by some of my friends and highly recommended by the city websites. We were 3 adults and 4 kids (5.5, 3, 10 months, 3 months) with 2 strollers.

Well, to say that I was disappointed is a strong euphemism.

We first waited 35 minutes for a bus to show up (I thought they run every 10-15 minutes). The first driver was very rude and unhelpful. She did not lower the floor of the bus to let us in, (it is clearly demonstrated on the website that it can be lowered to the ground if needed, to help people with disabilities) and immediately summed us to fold our strollers, even if both babies were sleeping and even if there was plenty of space in the bus. It is supposed to be kid-friendly. My *****.

I was also surprised to see that even if they promote it as a tourist-friendly mean of transportation, the bus ended up jam-packed with locals commuting to work, seniors and possibly homelesses. I am perfectly ok with that, but don't say it is a tourist-oriented transportation system. Additionally, nobody would leave their seat to allow my wife, carrying our 3 month old baby in her arms, to sit. Baltimore is a leaper, veteran, handicapped-oriented city. Nobody cares about families, which is pretty repulsive.

On our way back, the driver, again, did not lower the floor and other passengers helped us to get in (People in Bmore are actually quite nice, but not the drivers apparently). Again, the driver asked us to fold our strollers. This time, we took the kids out and tried to fold the strollers, but the driver would not give us time to do it, especially with the kids in our arms. He left immediately and we chose, for our own security, not to fully fold our strollers and quickly take a seat.

10 minutes later (why did he wait so long...), the driver stopped to ask us for the last time to fold our strollers. I asked him if he would ask a handicapped person using a wheelchair to fold it. He answered no, because they have dedicated space for wheelchair, but no space for strollers. Than he asked us to leave the bus. We were between two stops, in a neighborhood we were not very familiar with. I thought it was very unsafe to leave us like that, despite the protests of the other passengers to let it go, that we were not disturbing anyone anyways.

In brief, I would change their slogan from fast, friendly, free to unreliable, rude and free.

A complaint has been filed on their website, I'm curious to see what their reply will be.

aint nobody asked you to come to Bmore. Why dont you use your own car? The people on tha circulator use that everyday to get to where they need to be and you got no business on there. Next time use you own car or a taxi SMH

[LouisDS]

Originally Posted by deandre

aint nobody asked you to come to Bmore. Why dont you use your own car? The people on tha circulator use that everyday to get to where they need to be and you got no business on there. Next time use you own car or a taxi SMH

Thank you for your humor.

[westsideboy]

Originally Posted by LouisDS

Thank you for your humor.

This may sound like a stupid question, but where are you from? City, suburb, rural? Knowing this may help explain the situation. I have a hunch....

[L in sobo]

Sorry that you had that experience on the Circulator and that you are not getting any love from the other posters.... c'mon Baltimore! "Charm of the North, sophistication of the South" - lets prove them wrong! This guy and his wife were trying to get around town!

The Circulator is much beloved in this city because the alternative - the city buses- are horrible. I used to ride the 10 line, 11 line, 7 line and the 64 line prior to the circulator and let me tell you- the Circulator feels like pure luxury. I was nearly puked on, saw many fights, was on the bus right before a stabbing... not to mention being yelled at or having food spilled on me a few times. The 10 line was the worst- the 11 line and the 7 were not so bad. The 64 is okay most of the time. I once had a homeless person tell me that he would never ride the 10 line "I wouldnt take that raggedy ole line! NO way!"

I did remember strollers that had babies sleeping in them - not folded- but those bus lines were so chaotic at commuter times and the drivers might not have been into enforcing rules... the buses are unreliable- I was late to work at least once a week because a bus that was supposed to pick up between 705-720 didnt show up until 8am or later. I love the Circulator because of the alternative. And it is Free!

I would agree with one point- the city needs to make an effort to be more kid-friendly- that bus driver should have been kinder. More young families are staying in the city instead of moving out and we all need to make an effort in helping retaining this group because a healthy, growing city has young families as a stable foundation. Next time you see a women on the bus with a baby- give up your seat people!

[Mahatma X]

Originally Posted by deandre

aint nobody asked you to come to Bmore. Why dont you use your own car? The people on tha circulator use that everyday to get to where they need to be and you got no business on there. Next time use you own car or a taxi SMH

Lmao

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

The return of Deandre!!! Hallelujah!

The Circulator is somewhat useful and I'm glad it exists; however it's mostly a political tool to reward the neighborhoods favored by the administration. It's most useful to those whose time is not especially valuable: Tourists and drunks. Its routes are easy to understand for tourists, too, and it allows them to spread their money around a bit.

[testdawaterz]

Soooo; I was looking for a reason as to why the Charm City Circulator would not let people keep their strollers up. It looks like there is a Federal Transportation Administration law that requires strollers be folded because in the event the bus stops short or finds itself in an accident, the stroller (and the child in it) becomes a flying object. Imagine if a bus got into an accident and a child was killed in the process...I guess it's safe to assume that, despite the customer service, the Circulator was following federally mandated laws for the safety of the baby...NOT THE MOTHER! Makes sense to me.

[HandsUpThumbsDown]

Originally Posted by testdawaterz

Makes sense to me.

Me too. With flat floors, an unlocked stroller could roll right out of an open door, too, if the street is angled a bit to the right. Additionally it's in the way of other riders.

On MTA buses those with strollers get a lot of assitance from other passengers. Part of the unwritten code.

[Woodlands]

Originally Posted by HandsUpThumbsDown

Me too. With flat floors, an unlocked stroller could roll right out of an open door, too, if the street is angled a bit to the right. Additionally it's in the way of other riders.

On MTA buses those with strollers get a lot of assitance from other passengers. Part of the unwritten code.

The one I hate though is when people take the stroller on the escalators....especially the ones deep down in the subway.. One wrong move and your child can take a hell of a tumble.. Please folks.. use the elevators.. thats what they are there for