I arrived at my Fairfax Connector stop 15 minutes before the bus was supposed to arrive, hoping for a ride to the Metro. This stop is only serviced during rush hour, and I didn't want to miss the last pick-up of the morning. So the scheduled stop time came. And went. And 5 minutes passed. Then 10. Then 15. So I figured I'd call the number on the bus stop sign to see if I should expect a bus at all.
So, the automated greeting first ironically informed me theat "Fairfax Connector was operating on a regular schedule." I navigated my way to an operator, who told me that she didn't know of any delays from their dispatcher. Since I was obviously witnessing one, I kindly suggested that, I don't know, maybe she could check with the dispatcher since I just told her that there was a delay?
She put me on hold and returned to let me know that traffic on I-66 has caused my current predicament, and the bus should arrive "momenterally." Well, I've been in enough "we'll be moving momenterally" Metro delays to know better, so I pressed her to give me a time. "It should be 10 to 15 minutes," I was told.
After pointing out to her that delays on I-66 probably shouldn't delay a bus that never gets on I-66, I returned to waiting. And waiting. And more waiting. Until I gave up. Finally, I had a friend pick me up when there was still no sign of the bus a full 45 minutes after it was supposed to show, and after an hour of waiting overall.
So, I've confirmed first hand the horror stories you may have heard about Fairfax public transit. Aside from the ridiculously low amount of offerings, the level of service is far below average. WMATA buses I've taken aren't routinely late like this, and they drive in much more crowded streets downtown.
In the most populous county in the Commonwealth, which is gripped by traffic congestion, public transit needs to be top notch. Plenty of stops, high tech updates, some semblance of a schedule. Instead, we have the opposite: few routes and stops, operators who don't know about delays until customers call, and buses that never come.
Hopefully, someone will fix Fairfax public transit some day. Until then, I ain't riding.