The following is an ‘Ask The Mayor’ question submitted to TLS, and the Mayor’s response. Email your questions for the Mayor to [email protected].
Question:
My children were given bus stops that the bus company confirmed are illegal. They are forced to cross Ocean Avenue/Route 88, which has oncoming traffic on the opposite side, no sidewalk or crosswalk. Crossing is challenging and scary even for an adult. When contacting the LSTA for help, it took them approximately 3 weeks to respond and the children were given a bus stop that again involves them walking on Ocean Avenue where there is no sidewalk in all sections. This bus stop has been a nightmare for us and walking to the next stop is extremely difficult for most families, especially considering the weather in the coming months.
Question: If the system gives us an illegal and unsafe stop, who can we be in touch with aside from the LSTA to help us advocate for our children? Who is the so-called boss on top of the LSTA. I find it very difficult to get through to them and when pressed for a solution they give us one that is just as unreasonable. Who can I speak with to give feedback on the LSTA. Can you help?
Response from Mayor Coles:
Good afternoon,
I spoke with the LSTA & was informed that they did change the original bus stop so your child did not have to cross Rt88.
They also gave the the logic behind setting up the new stop and why they cannot meet your preference of at stop at the bottom of your street.
It is very difficult to make sure these buses get where they have to on time. Even a small change like circling around to pick up your child up at the corner would cause the bus to be late.
I’m sorry you are unhappy with the current stop. I did ask them to try to rearrange the route down the road.
Regards
Ray Coles
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So basically, the LSTA has no boss on top of them. And they answer to no one either.
Good luck holding them accountable for anything.
LSTA has been amazing and so helpful when I needed a switch made. They were quick to respond and quick to change it. Thanks so much!
Agreed. Glad someone voiced this. There is absolutely no oversight over the LSTA and they have no need to respond other than to say “we’ll look into it when we can”. There are so many stories like this.
To respond to the inevitable posts that we are ungrateful for all the good they do – those people probably never had to deal with the LSTA and their “who cares about your issue” attitude.
The LSTA needs to have some sort of oversight. They are uninterested in dealing with any issues with their routes and they have no normal way of tracking their payments. When I tried calling to see how much I owed/if I owed they could not come up with a clear answer unless I knew which method of payment I used and when (which, if I remembered that, I wouldn’t need their help). This could be why they are always needing bailouts… They have also charged me for one way for one kid, but two ways for my other kid when both of them had bussing both ways. They need a major audit and revision.