Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority

I am a frequent user of the local public transportation system in Buffalo, New York. There are numerous problems with the system to the point that the organization itself is actively soliciting feedback about its own deficiencies. Yet, when you go on their website there is no place to write this general complaint, and there are no email addresses listed for the management personnel. So, I am writing this for the public to see and know that this transportation system needs to be overhauled and selected people there replaced. Other passengers have voiced similar concerns. Here they are:

1. System is inefficient. Need to change buses to continue down the same street in one case. Not well thought out. Inconveniences customers. Needs to be rethought and redone.

2. Poor communication. No signage when there are outages, latenesses, etc. Need signs posted at the stops alerting passengers. Comes across as lazy and incompetent when not done. I find the main office downtown this way as well, including personnel often not at the desk when needed, early hours that they close, not available by phone or in person on weekends when most needed, and especially I have been given wrong information several times for basic information that the staff should know. If these people are not major league ready - and a few are not - then don't put them on the field handling customer situations. This is par for the course in Buffalo in general which is why this city has a deserved poor reputation, among many other reasons. If the city cannot find competent people in its own borders, then reach out to other cities to attract the needed talent. I was relocated here because the talent was not available, and regret coming to Buffalo. I am now seeking to leave because it is pathetic.

3. The trains and buses need to run later hours. Once again, Buffalo fails to recognize its own scale and scope. It is the second largest city in New York state yet acts like a small town. There needs to be more express buses to key destinations, more frequent buses for several of the lines, and especially better connections to the north towns (upscale areas) although I heard that the residents there do not want the downscale city residents coming there so that's why there is no direct connection and few connections there in general.

4. The one train they have goes basically nowhere, down only one street, back and forth all day but does not go the most of the key areas. The system needs to be expanded. They are talking about what to do with the crumbling skyway bridge that connects Buffalo to the south towns. A much better use of the billion dollars is to re-do the transit system per the above, and get intelligent, competent people to run it. Scrap it the way it is now, get consultants in and do it right. That's what happened with the skyway, bad idea that they now need to fix. That ugly eyesore should not have been done that way in the first place.

5. Need much more police presence and protection on the train and buses. Many people get away without paying the fare on the train. Teenagers and low-lifes put their dirty feet across two or three seats, and litter. Instead of this being a quality experience, it is dreadful and often stinks. In many cities the public transit system is a source of efficiency, effectiveness, pride and a badge of honor. In Buffalo it is a poorly thought out afterthought that is wasteful, inefficient, ineffective, incompetent and dangerous at times.

Buffalo needs to get its act together if it is ever to be a respected city. The high crime, poor education, corruption, *** sports teams, weather, and now bad transit system are among the many reasons even the immigrants who were put here leave after the minimum amount of time needed to stay once admitted. The only good thing I can say is that if the right leadership came here they could potentially fix the city's deficiencies and failures. Buffalo is not a totally lost cause, just very lost and has no identity. I repeat: you are the second largest city in New York state, act like it, show intelligence and competency, and if you can't or won't then get people in here who can and will. What I have stated here is mild compared to what others have stated about this place (including craphole). I hope Buffalo gets fixed, and soon! The good people here deserve much better.