A bus, a shuttle and a van

That is how many vehicles it took to get me and my daughter to Wal-Mart on Nicholasville Rd. last Friday!

So, it's Friday and we get on the bus.  As soon as I step on the driver asks if I'm going to Fayette Mall or Wal-Mart.  I say, "Wal-Mart" and he tells me that the bus is going to turn right at Nicholasville Rd. at Wilson Downing instead of left and go nearly two miles away from Wal-Mart to K-Mart.  He says, just get off and get on the support shuttle and it will take you back.

Oh great! Thanks for adding another 15 mins to my trip.  But, I'm not in a rush, so no big whoop so I thought.  So now, I've been on a bus and a shuttle and am doing a little shopping.

I leave the store and go to the bus stop and wait, and wait, and wait.  An hour later, around the time my fingers begin losing feeling and my daughter begins asking if we should just call Daddy to come get us, a bus comes. Of course it is not mine.

As it pulls off, here comes a LexTran van.  He rolls down the window and says to the pack of us huddling together for heat, "You going down Tates Creek? Get in!"

Luckily there were others there or I might have gone back in the building and called for a ride.  But it was a real LexTran van, with a real driver with ID and a blaring walkie talkie.  He said, the busses were running so slow he was sent out to support the support shuttles.
WTH?

At first I thought, "Wow! How nice!"  As a Serial Rider who has rode mass transit in many a city,  I've never gotten free van service.

But then I thought, how much money are we wasting right here?  LexTran and Lexington have to do something about the Nicholasville Rd. holiday traffic.  It is ridiculous  and obviously expensive because neither the support shuttle nor the support van took money from us.

We're always looking for guest bloggers!  Share your LexTran riding stories with us at: theserialrider@gmail.com