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Members of the AC Transit Alliance and the Bus Riders Union support and advocate for funding for AC Transit. They are also the bus system’s most severe critics. 

“It’s the worst I’ve ever encountered with AC Transit,” said Charlie Betcher, president of the Berkeley Bus Riders Union. Betcher said that although delayed service has been a regular problem, problems have become chronic in the past six months. “Every day I hear from people who say they’ve waited an hour,” he said. 

Jim Gleich, Deputy General Manager for AC Transit blamed recent delays on a driver training program that took drivers off their regular lines for a temporary period. That problem has been eliminated, he said. 

But some local residents say the issue deserves deeper examination. 

“There is really only one problem with buses in Berkeley: People perceive our bus service as not reliable enough to depend on for local transportation. For those who are dependent on transit, this produces a sullen acceptance. For the rest, it produces the familiar congestion of cars on our streets and parking places,” wrote Steve Geller of the AC Alliance in an e-mail to the Daily Planet. 

City Council member Miriam Hawley used to be Ward 1 representative to the AC Transit Board. She agrees that reliability is one serious problem facing the system. “The buses have moved markedly slower each year because of traffic,” she said. She mentioned two possible ways to alleviate some of the problems: dedicated bus lanes and traffic signals that respond to buses. 

Gleich said that delays are a normal part of bus service. “A bus breaks down, something’s found faulty, something like the lift doesn’t work,” he said. Other normal problems include traffic problems and no-show drivers.  

Finding and keeping drivers is one of the most expensive and essential parts to keeping the system running smoothly, according to Hawley. “It’s not a shortage of buses,” she said. “It’s a shortage of drivers and keeping (buses) maintained and on the road.” 

The previous contract with the union allowed for new part-time hires, which, said Gleich, made it harder to hire workers in a tight labor market. The most recently-signed contract requires AC to hire only full-time workers. 

One of the major complaints of members of the Bus Riders Union is AC Transit’s non-responsiveness to complaints. Julian Frederick is the secretary of AC Alliance and a former member of the Bus Riders Advisory Committee. He feels particularly frustrated by the system’s grievance procedures. 

“It’s in shambles,” he said. “I’ve had the experience of trying to provide insight into how they operate from the standpoint of the bus rider. It’s like talking to a wall.” 

Gleich said that the grievance procedure has recently been changed. 

Before, he said, they wouldn’t take complaints unless the caller had extremely specific information, but now they’ll take any information the caller can provide. In addition, said Gleich, “people who were calling in complaints were told someone would get back to them, at best they would get a letter a month later.” Now AC Transit makes no such promises.  

Another change to the system is the disciplinary procedures, any complaint made about a driver, even if the driver is not found to be at fault, will stay on that driver’s record. “We now have an incentive program, a cash stipend for not accruing complaints over a specified time,” said Gleich. 

Frederick of AC Alliance said it causes drivers stress when they try to remain on schedule, while fighting traffic and dealing with riders who fumble for the correct change. He said they often find themselves without time to eat and break at the end of the line. 

Betcher placed blame wholly on management. “It’s hard for me to believe that AC Transit can not solve this problem,” he said. “We have no beef with drivers, it’s those schedules.”