BALTIMORE — After months of having reliability issues with MTA Mobility, a Baltimore man and his family are fed-up with hours-long wait times with no explanation.
Reliability has been an issue. Floyd Harley who’s been riding these MTA buses for years now but he says after almost missing a crucial appointment yesterday something has to give.
“My level of frustration has gone sky high it doesn’t get any worse than what it is now," He said.
Harley is beyond frustrated with major delays with MTA’s Mobility Link.
He says while he’s adjusted his expectations to expect minor delays, he calls his wait time Wednesday completely unacceptable.
“Not for half an hour, not for an hour. We’re talking about for three and four hours at a time," he said.
When arranging his pickup to and from a doctors appointment yesterday, Harley was told to expect a van by 4:25. When that time came he was told they had no drivers that could pick him up.
He says he felt helpless and vulnerable spending nearly four hours waiting for his ride not knowing what could happen.
“I’m out at night, could have to go to the bathroom, could be maybe assaulted by someone. I’m standing outside. The building is closed,” he explained.
Harley says as someone with a disability trusting MTA to do their job— he feels let down far too often and as a result he’s kept from being as reliable as he’d normally like to be.
“Just like you have to get to work, we work. Just like you have to get to your doctors appointment, we have to get there. Just like you have to be at any type of place where you would like to be, the same applies so why should we be treated like we’re second class citizens feeling like we’ve been discriminated against because we can’t get the service that we need.”
His sister tells us Wednesday night she spent hours stressing, in a panic trying to coordinate a ride for Harley in case MTA couldn’t get him home.
Something she feels she and her family shouldn’t have that much concern about.
“It’s really upsetting when Mobility doesn’t do what they're supposed to do or they say they’re going to pick you up at a certain time and he’s out here waiting. He can’t get on a regular bus,” she said.
MTA is Harley's only means of transportation. He uses it to get back and forth to church, to work to meetings. He says if this issue isn’t resolved at the end of the day he’s going to be the person suffering.
