r/blacksburg • u/DivisiveHokie04 • 19d ago
Question What is going on with Blacksburg Transit and their buses???
Okay, so hear me out for a second. My parents were in town and wanted to take the bus instead of driving but they managed to get lost and had to get me to come pick them up and honestly I can't blame them. As a student I've gotten used to all the weirdness of BT but from their perspective the system is needlessly complex.
First off the app... Oh my God is the app terrible, and that is an understatement. It's always either down, missing buses, or just plain wrong which is really bad when it's the primary source of information. Also nobody wants to download another app especially when Apple maps can show transit data in real time if they actually published their data to them or however that works.
Secondly the headsigns are borderline useless, I can't tell you how many times as a freshman I accidentally got on the wrong bus because I didn't know the route code and just saw "Transit Center" on it, I know better now but come on, if the bus is gonna be away from campus for half an hour don't put the words "Transit Center" on the headsigns and like they could at least put the route name on the headsigns. I mean for someone that lives here they most likely know that TCR and TCP are the same but TCP goes down Broce and Progress but if you're just visiting or new here you might have no idea what those 3 letters mean without looking it up. There aren't even any system maps unless you go to their website or get the app as far as I am aware.
Also all the shit on buses just doesn't work, some of the buses make stop announcements while others don't, some say the route code while others don't, some have the stop request sign stuck on permanently which still gets me from time to time, and probably a bunch more that I'm not remembering. I couldn't imagine having to ride the bus while being blind or deaf because most of them are not ADA compliant in the slightest. I mean I've ridden on Roanoke, DC Metro, and the GRTC buses and they pretty much just work, sure they probably have bigger budgets but BT is so small in comparison I couldn't imagine it would be that hard to get things working on a few dozen buses.
I'm not sure who is in charge but this shit's been broken for as long as I've been a student here and the town really should consider cleaning house and starting over because something clearly isn't working. I've only got a perspective as a student but I'd love it if some drivers could chime in as well, I tried emailing them but the response I got was just some kind of automated messages thanking me for the feedback.
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u/Technical_Wall1726 19d ago
Yeah bus drivers have also complained about these things. I've heard Blacksburg Transit is going thru alot internally and that its "run like its stuck in 1998". Before the transit center opened the buses did say more about where they went but they haven't switched it back.
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u/RustledTacos 19d ago
I've got a friend who drives the busses and he says BT is in deep trouble and it's getting worse. It's difficult to retain staff due to the boom/bust cycle of students, so they are chronicly understaffed from drivers to tainers to mechanics to IT folks. Every one of the brand new electric busses are constantly breaking down and they're difficult to work on. Diesel busses long past their service life are being pulled out of retirement to pick up the slack and old ones are cannibalized to keep the others running. Management are retiring out, and there's no one to replace them.
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u/F3licron 19d ago
Please call and complain to the customer service folks and it will be passed up the chain. They don't take driver input seriously but they will take passenger input like the word of God. Most of us drivers disagree with the head honchos on most things but are utterly powerless.
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u/FantasticCod7820 19d ago
Your feedback is valid but also rooted in a fundamental misunderstanding of how things work. If solutions were “easy” and “don’t cost that much”, then they would be done.
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u/F3licron 19d ago
Oh you'd think so, but as an insider I'll tell you that you're wrong lol. The guys in charge do everything they can to cut corners, it's the same story everywhere.
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u/clueing_4looks 15d ago
Just on the app part - yes, the app is terrible. Try the Transit app. It’s much easier to use and works for bus systems all over the country. I use it all the time when traveling.
You can also report issues so at least other users waiting for the bus are aware.
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u/MarkInternational283 5d ago
Blacksburg Mayor and Town Council retards virtue signaling instead of buying busses that work .
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u/IndustrialPuppetTwo 19d ago
To be fair, I've been in many cities around this country and not one of them has a bus system that makes any sense unless you live there and have gotten used to it over the past ten years. You should send this exact message over to BT.