Editor, The Beacon:
According to Votran, their “mission is to identify and safely meet the mobility needs of the citizens of Volusia County. The mission is accomplished through a courteous, dependable, and environmentally-sound team committed to quality service.” (vague, grammatically incorrect)
Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no validity to the Votran mission statement. Votran is a failure; the administration is ripe with complacency, ignorance, shortsightedness and waste. In my experienced opinion, Votran is not a service, it is a multi-tiered abuse.
My experience with Votran is centered in the southwest corner of the county, and a lifetime with public transportation.
The total surface area for the city of Deltona is 41 square miles. There are seven buses. Two of these buses have DeBary SunRail as a destination. The area covered by all seven buses is outdated, insufficient, inefficient, and frankly makes no sense.
I would be astonished if the actual coverage area of these buses amounted to 15 percent of Deltona’s total area. Kindly consider this a formal request for the actual mileage of coverage should you be privy to it.
Allow me further elaboration: Outside of adding the SunRail buses, I suspect the original routes set up in 1992 are the same ones running today. If there has been any change, it is minuscule and solely amounts to complacency. Routes overlap substantially. The coverage area suffers dramatically as a result. Rather than straight routes (example: a route that runs the length of Saxon Boulevard), there are overlapping loops; yet another example of nonsensical complacency.
Furthermore, the decision to use standard city buses on winding Deltona roads further exemplifies Votran’s substandard policy on safety, traffic flow, and the work environment for the drivers. Negligence, complacency and ignorance impact the quality of life of every citizen in this county (be it directly or indirectly). A public hearing is your duty and obligation, because as of right now, Votran amounts to negligent waste of money and an insult to the citizens. It must be corrected.
Robert “byte” Wilson
Deltona
Agreed 100%. Coming from a Northern City using bus services constantly, it is unbelievable that Votran will not run Express Busses during the Morning and Evenings to allow people that work to utilize the bus. The current routings will have you on a bus for an hour plus to go where you could go in a car in ten minutes. There is NO need to travel through old neighborhoods and round and round in loops when the roads are pretty much in alignment to allow North South East West routes with transfers. No one at Votran wants to discuss it though.
Agree 100%
Have used “their” (they out-source) new service two times and both times were a fiasco. Their heads are in a place the sun doesn’t shine. Their failure to address this is indicative of their arrogance and complacency. INCOMPETENCE.