Had to choose between a late bus or an expensive ride-share today

I was at the bus stop in downtown Austin at 5:45 PM and my bus was already 15 minutes late on the app... then it just disappeared from the schedule. I had to pick between waiting another 30 minutes for the next one or dropping $22 on a ride-share home. I went with the ride-share because my back was killing me from standing all day. The driver took a weird detour through South Congress and added 10 extra minutes... ended up costing $27 total. Has anyone else had a bus just vanish like that? I'm wondering if the app is glitching or if they cut the route.

2 comments

2 Comments

jamie94015d ago

Man, that is rough. I feel for you with your back hurting too, that makes the whole thing way worse. The weird thing nobody mentions is those detours drivers take. I've had ride shares go down streets that made no sense, and I swear sometimes they're padding the fare on purpose. Did you check if that route was even the fastest way or did they just take you on a scenic tour to bump up the cost?

the_wesley15d ago

Yeah the app does that sometimes, it's super frustrating when it just drops a bus like that. I've had it happen a few times around downtown where a bus just vanishes off the tracker. Usually means the route got cancelled or rerouted last minute without any warning. Those detours are sketchy too, I had a driver once take me way out of the way just to avoid a traffic light that wasn't even backed up. Ended up costing me an extra $4 for no real reason. Sometimes I wonder if they're just messing with the meter on purpose or if the GPS is just that bad.