annoyedHey, buddy, I know you blew a lot of money on a lightrail that isn't quite making up the cost, because passengers keep sneaking on without paying and you can't afford to pay enough security guys to check tickets better. I get it. You're hurtin', and you had to raise the prices on us, even higher for those of us so unfortunate as to have to pay on board the bus as usual (because we can't make it to a ticket-dispensing locations).
I get that maybe you can't afford good drivers who actually look around their surroundings to pay attention for things like transferring passengers, and pay attention to people waiting at the bus stop in broad daylight, who openly complain and laugh at passengers who either come on smelling like sweat (In AZ, in the SUMMER!? MADNESS!) or are obviously homeless. I mean, they've gotta vent their frustrations at someone, right? So they really ought to get away with outright yelling at passengers who ask a question about their stop.
But when I'm transferring from one bus over to another, a route that is always at that stop ten of the hour- that is, Hour:50, or even later, and get there at 10:47 only to see the other bus already at the stop, I don't expect that I should have to run after a bus that's pulling away even as I'm right alongside the bus, right outside the driver's DOOR.
I am not a quiet person when I yell, and yet the driver never once looked at me, despite being inches from the door (unable to knock on/hit because it was moving and I had my arms full), pulling off and away, leaving me to rot in the sun for another half hour. This kind of heat isn't a joke for anyone, but I will experience real trouble if I'm in it too long. Plus, I was half an hour late meeting my friend.
I also didn't think that it was necessary to treat me like an idiot on the phone when I called to complain about the bus being early. See, my assumption was that since the bus was ALWAYS there at ten of the hour or later, that one who arrived and departed at 10:47 would be considered early. First of all, telling me that I "should have been at the stop" was not needed, since I already told you I was transferring from your other bus; I literally couldn't have made it there any sooner than I had. Secondly, telling me that the bus was, in fact, ON TIME perplexed me, because it's NEVER there that early. Either you were lying to me, lady, or the buses are always late. Either way, there's a problem here.
tl;dr: Valley Metro hates passengers. No, really.
Edit: I actually think that the passengers who sneak on the lightrail are displaying massive customer suck. I can understand why, but it's not fair to anyone.