West Orange Ridership Community
# Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa 2/1/2006 6:28 PM Brett
OK, so who didn't expect some bumps in the road this morning? I would like to thank the mayor and Mr. Lepore for reactiong very quickly to the problems of this morning. I was on the first shuttle out of Orange where Mr. Lepore personally made sure the shuttle was on Route (He rode the shuttle with us tonight).I must admit when the shuttle wasn't at the station I was a bit worried, but it did show. I hope that the rest of the evening went as smoothly. Now...
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Mr. Mayor and Mr. Lepore,
Things have gotten very bad again with the Shuttle Service. The Ridership feels like it is being ignored. We have taken many steps over several months to let you know of our plight. I understand the frustrations you must be having in managing the Occupational Center, but if it means have a Township employee on sight to oversee operations until something can be resolved then it must be done. Something must be done.
I have been told that emails are not being...
West Orange Ridership Community
The West Orange Ridership Community is a group of concerned citizens who enjoy the benefits of the West Orange Townships Midtown Direct Jitney Service. The Community was formed during a time of service disruptions in November 2005. These disruption were not addressed by the Township and it was apparent that there was a lack of communication between the Township and the third party who was contracted to run the shuttle service.
Since it is in our best interest, the communities main goal is to be the conduit for this communication. Aside from this main goal, there are...
W.O. Ridership Community Representatives
Morning Runs
Route 1
Trip Station Train (Arrives) Representative
1-02 Orange 6612 (7:01)
1-04 S. Orange 6614 (7:28)
1-06 S. Orange 6620 (8:15) Brett Kaiser
Route 2
Trip Station Train (Arrives) Representative
2-02 S. Orange 6612 (6:57)
2-04 S. Orange 6614 (7:27)
2-06 S. Orange 6620 (8:15)
Route 3
Trip Station Train (Arrives) Representative
3-02 S. Orange 6612 (6:58)
3-04 S. Orange 6614 (7:30)
3-06 S. Orange 6620 (8:17)
Evening Runs
Route 1
Trip Station Train (Departs) Representative
12-01 Orange 6343 (5:17) Brett Kaiser
1-03 Orange 6614 (5:50) Brett Kaiser
1-05 S. Orange 6651 (6:26)
1-07 S. Orange 6655 (6:52)
Route 2
Trip Station Train (Departs) Representative
12-01 Orange 6343 (5:17) ** Does this Run Exists?
2-03 S. Orange 6431 (5:56)
2-05 S. Orange 6651 (6:26)
2-07 ...
Names of Shuttle Drivers and Backups
Morning Runs Evening Runs
Route 1 Jackie/Carlos
Route 2
Route 3
Brett,
That's terrific! I'm glad to hear that the riders of your community now have a voice. Here is a link to our reports http://www.straphangers.org/reports.html. The website holds all of our reports dating back to 1998.
Again, congratulations and don't hesitate to contact us should you need assistance in the future.
Sincerely,
Charity Carbine
Field Organizer, NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign
9 Murray Street, 3rd floor, New York, NY 10007
Phone: (212) 349 6460 Fax: (212) 349 1366
e-mail: straphangers@nypirg.org
Thank you for contacting the Straphangers Campaign. We are glad to hear that you are interested in establishing a local advocacy group for transit riders.
Much of the success that the Straphangers Campaign has experienced is a result of our reports and research. We have established ourselves as an authority on mass transit thanks to this research and that has given us the credibility to influence change.
While I don't have the specifics on your goals and resources, you may want to consider some research of your own. Perhaps you could conduct a public opinion poll on the shuttle service or come...
Charity,
Just wanted to take a moment to say thank you for your correspondence. It seems it took very little effort to affect change once we formed as a community. While we are small in numbers, I would assume that the majority of the West Orange Ridership Community are also straphangers as well. The Shuttle service is also growing to include other parts of the township. I would imagine it is important for us to keep the momentum that we have built up.
Thanks again, and any of the reports that you have mentioned below would be useful to us if you...
Captain Feula,
You know, it actually helps when you actually read emails more clearly.
To correct my statement. I misread about the date of the incident. The date of the incident was November 9, 2005 at
6:48 a.m., or roughly 3 weeks ago. The August date I mentioned was your thoroughness in checking back to August.
Sorry for the confusion, and thanks to Paul for pointing that out.
One other item that the ridership community would like to know is, what are the Police departments suggestions for handling these situations? Some of the Riders are out there alone on the route, and any comments on...
02/13/2006 The Route 1 Shuttle, Bus Trip 12-01 Got stuck in a snow bank. The second run took 20 minutes to get unstuck. I have not received any email, but the shuttles were out there. The plowing of the streets however seem to have been overwhelmed.
01/09/2006 The Route 1 Shuttle, Bus Trip 12-01 did not show. Also, the ridership has informed me that we have lost another driver. Jackie, the Route 1 driver is no longer with us. Please see the comments below. While consistent, reliable service is our #1 goal, driver retention is part of that goal.
01/05/2006 The Route 2 Shuttle, Bus Trip...
Captain Feula,
Thank you for the timeliness of your response. I want to also confirm that I did receive your voicemail yesterday, but had to leave work yesterday afternoon to take care of some personal business.
It is very good to hear that this is an isolated incident that took place many months ago. Thank you for sharing this information. I'm sure the Ridership Community is grateful for this knowledge as well. I am also grateful that this should dissuade any rumors that might spiral out of control. We are very appreciative of the open lines of communication you have provided.
We are...
Dear Mr. Kaiser:
I am in receipt of your e-mail with regard to the above subject matter from
Chief James P. Abbott. I apologize for the delay in responding back to your
e-mail. Since I have taken over as the Patrol Commander on November 7,
2005, a computer problem occurred that I was unaware of; therefore, I did
not receive any e-mail correspondence.
I left a voice mail for your today, November 28, 2005, on your business
telephone (973) 802-2816.
I completed a computer check of the Gregory Avenue area of the Township,
dating back to August 1, 2005. The incident that you are referring to in
your e-mails is...
Chief,
Just to supply some background.
The West Orange Ridership Community has heard of several stories going around about the shuttle riders being accosted. They are very concerned about this, especially in the early morning hours. It became even more of an issue when there began a series of unexpected shuttle service outages and people were stranded at the Orange train station.
I did receive a voice mail yesterday from Lt. Brennan (sp?), and I will shortly return that call. Lt. Brennan was asking for the date and time of the event for which I have no answer.
I was merely trying to communicate...
I have forwarded this to our police chief to answer for you.
ShariAnn Quirk -Mayor's AssistantMayor John F. McKeonTownship of West Orange66 Main StreetWest Orange, NJ 07052973-325-4100973-669-0238 (fax)
Mr. Mayor,
It has been brought to my attention by several riders asking if I knew of any information regarding the mugging of shuttle riders waiting for their morning and/or evening shuttles, or at the stations themselves.
I have not heard of any of this and would like to address the issues with WO Ridership Community.
If they are nothing more than rumors, I would like to ease the collective minds of the community. If they are not, then this would be a serious matter that would need to be looked in to.
Thanks you for your time
Brett Kaiser
West Orange Ridership Community
(973) 802-2816 (Bus)
(973)...
News Update 11/18/2005: The following email addresses are getting bounced. If it looks like one of yours, please contact me so I can correct it. nelsone23@aol.com, debcalalng@yahoo.com, myersjay@hotmail.com, rfdoven@comcast.net, mkriton@dc37.net
Please Note! To be accurate with our reporting of service interuptions, for morning pickups, please be at your pick up points at least 5 or 10 minutes before the arrival of the shuttle.
The town of West Orange, NJ, has a very convenient service entitled “Midtown Direct Shuttle Bus Service”.
Click Here for the West Orange Midtown Direct Shuttle Service Schedule
Current List of our Drivers Name's, what Route and times they have
Ridership Community...
Mr. Mayor,
Thank you for your quick response. I'm sure the WO Ridership Community will be very pleased to hear that drivers have been arranged to resume the shuttle service.
We appreciate the fast manner in which you have taken action to resolve this number one concern of the community.
The Ridership Community is indeed a hearty bunch, and will definitely bear with the situation. I suspect they are also an easygoing bunch, and as such tend likely not to complain. That may have been one our problems. I know it was/is one of mine. Now that we have come together as...
Dear Brett:
Thank you for your communication regarding the deterioration of the Jitney
Service. We are extremely sorry that this happened so quickly and are
working to solve the problem. We have made arrangements to have drivers for
the service so that they will be running for the foreseeable future. We are
also looking for an alternative contractor to provide the service to the
ridership. We know how important this service is to you and our community.
We ask that you bear with us until the problem is solved which we hope will
be within the next week. Once this current situation is resolved, we can
plan a meeting...
Peggy emailed this to me, and since it falls under the guise of communication with the township I though I'd put it out there. Thanks Peggy for the info. However, if you look at the Mayor's response, it appears to have come from his assistant rather than the mayor himself.
By the way, Brett, here is a copy of the message I sent on Oct. 13 and the
response I got from the Mayor¹s office. I also spoke to Len Lepore that same
day, by phone. They have know about this situation for at least that long.
This is documentation.
Hello Peggy, Your comments are...
Mr. Mayor,
I just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that the West Orange Ridership Community received a phone response to our email, addressed to you, from Mr. Lepore. Mr. Lepore conveyed his apologies for the situation and explained that there appears to be some lack of responsiveness from the Occupational Center in his office's attempts to communicate with them. Mr. Lepore also went on to discuss the sensitive nature of the relationship between the town and the Occupation Center, and the other contracts the Center has with the town. For example the Occupational Center is contracted to...
Mr. Mayor,
The riders of the Midtown Direct Shuttle Bus Service would like you to know how much we appreciate the effort you have put in to provide us with this great service. I've grown up in West Orange all my life and am now raising my family here as well. West Orange offers a great many of services, and they are all handled well and professionally. It's been awhile now, but it became apparent, that while the shuttle service is supplied by the town, the same level of quality we are used to from our township employees was just not...