CAPITAL METRO OFFICIAL DEFENDS AS 'LEGAL' A VERY RECENT 15-CONSECUTIVE-HOURS-BEHIND-THE-WHEEL WORKSHIFT ON SUNDAY, APRIL 2, 2017, BY AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN MALE CAPITAL METRO BUS DRIVER

Customer Service

To

John McMillan

Apr 4 (2017) at 2:14 PM

Dear Mr. McMillan,

Thank you for contacting Capital Metro regarding the #383- Research Route. In your comments, you stated the operator mentioned he was nearing the completion of his 15-hour work shift.

We appreciate the feedback and understand your concerns. The identified operator in your comments volunteered for the extra work in order to fill in on a route that needed an operator. The D.O.T regulations regarding work hours do not apply to local bus operators.

At Capital Metro, we understand the importance of a safe, reliable ride and excellent customer service. All Capital Metro operators are to follow proper rules of the road as well as operate their vehicle in a safe manner.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact Capital Metro. Please feel free to contact us in the future if you have any questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding our service. You may reach our Customer Relations Department at 512-385-0190 or via our website at www.capmetro.org.

Thank you,

Sondra Williams
Customer Relations Representative
Capital Metro. Transportation Auth.
512.385.0190
customer.service@capmetro.org
cc: MV Bus
SWILLIAMS/CCR-15841-P9Y8L4
___________________


John McMillan (mcmillanj@att.net)


To
Capital Metro Rep. Francine Pares Cap Metro Rep. Sandy Vaswani Customer ServiceTexas Dept. of Transportation 2016 Gina Hinojosa Amanda Foster Kirk WatsonSenator Kirk Watson Constituent Services Rep. Walcott (2016)Texas DPS Office of General Counsel CountyAttorneyDavidEscamillaGovernor's Office of Texas Open Records Administrator APD Officer James TurnerBrian Thornton Austin Mayor Steve Adler brian.mcgiverin@austintexas.govFBI Dallas Bureau U.S. Department of Homeland Security David MaxwellKXAN TV News Investigations Unknown National Gerald DaughertyCBS News '60 Minutes' Editors and Reporters bwear@statesman.comAustin American-Statesman Editor Debbie Hiott Statesman NewsWhite House Fellows Program 2017 Nicole Huff Austin Chronicle Editors

Apr 2 (2017) at 11:10 PM

Dear District 49 State Rep. Gina Hinojosa in the Texas Legislature in Austin,

This Sunday night (April 2), I was told by a polite African-American (Carribean-American?) male driver for Capital Metro mass transit authority in Austin that he was nearing completion of a "15-hour workshift" behind the wheel of a Cap Metro Route 383 bus (bus ID number 2634) this Sunday, he stated.

One top official for Capital Metro has recently told me that a driver is prohibited by law from driving a Cap Metro bus for more than 12 consecutive hours, if I remember correctly what that first-rate Cap Metro official helpfully informed me about.

The male driver whom I briefly spoke with inside his bus at 9:45 p.m. this Sunday, April 2, stated to me that he began that workshift this Sunday at "7 a.m." and that his workshift was expected to end at "10 p.m." today, he stated.

The same male Cap Metro driver this Sunday also stated to me that "somebody called in (sick)", with the driver I spoke with indicating to me that he had agreed to substitute for the Cap Metro driver who called in sick today.

Rep. Hinojosa, I am hopeful that you will ask the Texas House of Representatives to help protect the safety of (Cap Metro) drivers and of passengers---as well as the safety of other motorists---by helping to prevent excessively long workshifts from ever occurring in the legislative district (49) that you yourself serve and represent.

Driver fatigue, as you must be painfully aware, is one of the leading causes of motor-vehicle accidents in Texas.

The male driver I spoke with this Sunday did, in fact, appear and sound fatigued when I spoke with him inside his bus at about 9:45 p.m. tonight.

Incidentally, the polite male Cap Metro driver made his factual disclosures to me at a time when his southbound Route 383 bus was temporarily stopped at a bus stop along Braker Lane, between Research Boulevard and Jollyville Road, in northwest Austin.

I then politely exited Cap Metro bus 2634 at that bus stop at 9:45 p.m. this Sunday--15 minutes before the approximate expected conclusion of the driver's workshift today.

(The Cap Metro Route 383 northbound bus travels from the North Lamar Boulevard transit center in north Austin to the Lakeline Mall area of far northwest Austin, with that same bus in its southbound return trip traveling back to the North Lamar transit center.)

Thank you in advance, Rep. Hinojosa, for any public-policy recommendations you are willing to make that might help to eliminate excessively lengthy workshifts for Cap Metro bus drivers that are in alleged violation of the law.

Sincerely and Best Wishes,

John Kevin McMillan.
Home address: Village Oaks Apartments, 10926 Jollyville Road, Apt. 902, Austin, TX 78759.
Home phone: (512) 342-2295.
My Blog: John Kevin McMillan: A 21st Century Conservative Left-Wing Agenda
John Kevin McMillan: A 21st Century Conservative Left-Wing Agenda
Observations for a rationally religious and implicitly deistic modern religion, public-policy writing, creative ...