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Morning Roundup: After the Snowfall Edition
Earlier this month, we told you about a new discount bus service that planned to start offering non-stop service from D.C. to Wilmington, Philadelphia and Boston. Originally, TransportAzumah planned to launch all of its new D.C. lines by today, but an ominous message has since appeared on the company's web site reporting that all trips from D.C. have been canceled until further notice. That's bad news for folks who had been hoping to take advantage of the new service for the holiday weekend.
"The reason that your services are cancelled is because a major ticketing agency has not paid us for the tickets that they have booked on our services. This caused a major service disruption over the weekend as over 200 people were stranded because of this. We have been attempting to maintain service in certain corridors, but things have been too chaotic here to manage," reads the message in part.
Owner Joel Azumah assured DCist that all tickets already bought and paid for will be refunded automatically, but if customers have trouble with their refunds, they should call 718-233-2550. Refunds will be handled in two stages, he said, with the ticket refunded first and the booking fee separately.
As for whether TransportAzumah will ever get its D.C.-based business off the ground, Azumah says they will, but he's still not sure when.
"There still is a lot of carnage and confusion going on," Azumah said, but "we will not stop this episode from making a go of it again. These markets are viable and we will get it done."
With hundreds of potential regular customers jilted this week, it remains to be seen whether any of them will be willing to give Azumah another shot.
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"carnage"? really?
Welcome to the high-stakes rumble ground of cheap intercity bus travel.
"launch" "off the ground" "carnage" "chaotic" "Philadelphia"
These are not words that will make me want to get on that bus.
this service sounds sketchy even for chinatown bus standards. no thanks.
You mean the completely unmarked bus and very generic website hasn't drawn you in?
The bus is unmarked because they use a subcontractor -- it's no secret.
I emailed them some suggestions about their website, and within a few minutes I got a very thoughtful response from the owner of the company. That's just about the best customer service I could ask for.
Damn, I really wanted to see a screen door factory.
I'm not a stabbin' hobo! I'm a singin' hobo! (sings) "Nothin' beats the hobo life / Stabbin' folks with my hobo knife! / I gouge them..." You know, I do 400 sit-ups a day.
Oh, it shows! I was gonna say something, but I thought it might sound, you know...queer.
Oh, not at all. I like it when people say nice things about my body.
And it's important to feel good about yourself. Okay, spread your toes. Ew...do you know how much glass is in between here?
That bus company sounds about as trustworthy as a screen door on a submarine.
you only get one chance to make a first impression...
Ha, the sleepy backwater on the Potomac can't even get a bus to Philly? What's next? Frequent brown-outs? Cholera? Food riots?
Hi...we don't hide.
Let me throw out an anecdote for all to understand our thought process. Let's say that you get a new job. After you work for the first three weeks, the check is already late. Payday comes and goes and no one says a word to you. It takes you another four days to hear about your check and you are told "as long as you keep working, things will be ok". Do you hang out or cut bait?
In total 714 tickets were booked across the system. A ticketing site booked 514 of them and told us that as long as we run, everything will be fine. We have been in the bus business for 7 years and we have gotten the shaft before. Of course, they would never say that we were not paid as scheduled. They told people that booked that we cancelled.
We are an actual bus company that owns buses, but we are based in New York, so it made sense to us to hire someone closer to an endpoint. The Philadelphia contractor is one of the largest bus companies in that region. On the DC end, we have a contractor that is smaller, but operates very new equipment.
We will be up and running soon and I'll be sure to give your moderator a free round trip so that they can tell you it is safe. We will scale down the system in the beginning and then ramp up as we become better known.