Colorado Springs Downtown — Attraction in Colorado Springs

Uhhhggg. I'm handicap and was actually just recently ADA Certified via the Metro ADA Paratransit office in Colorado Springs after being duscharged from the rehab hospital I was in after a freak accident that let me unable to walk for some time. I applied for the ADA Paratransit service and a few weeks ago have begun to walk unassisted. I have been riding the city bus since I have started walking again and I find my biggest obstacle is keeping my balance as it is much different with no wheelchair/walker/cast/boot and I continue to have lots of pain and swelling which does not help the situation so my focus is largely on not falling and/or reinjuring myself. My injury was pretty bad, at least that's what the docs told me. My surgeon said I had the worst injury of this type he had ever seen in his 30 years of practice! I'm prefacing this so the readers and hopefully Mountain Metro will understand how serious what happened to me is-

So last weekend, Saturday to be exact- It was 3 o'clock in the afternoon and I was at the terminal downtown waiting for the number 3 going to the W side/Manitou. There were 2-3 other riders in front of me who got on and everything was fine until I got on and told the bus driver I needed to set the things I had down to put the change in the receptacle, it was just aplastic bag with some snacks and I think a water bottle. It would have taken me all of 15 seconds to set my stuff to the left where lots of people regularly set their things to free up hands. The obviously angry and very impatient driver misunderstood or didn't care to listen to what I was trying to say and told me to get off the bus because I didn't have my bus fare! WRONG! I had my bus fare in my hand! I just needed to set my bag down to free up a hand to put it in the receptacle! The driver immediately started screaming at me doing her best to belittle me and told me I had to get off the bus immediately because I didn't have my fare ready. I couldn't get a word in edgewise but followed her instructions kindly without any negative words or actions on my part the entire time this driver shouted at me in front of all the other riders on the bus with my fare in hand. I finally told her that was quite enough and that she had no reason to shout at me and degrade me in front of other people and that I understood what she was saying but that I in fact had my change in my hand. Before I could finish she shouted, "I'm 25 minutes behind you should have had your money ready!" She then shut the bus door and drove off leaving me standing there with my money in my hand. UNBELIEVABLE! It happened so fast I didn't even realize that she intended to leave me and not listen at all! I immediately called Metro and left a message saying I wanted to file a formal complaint and NOTHING. No response, no callback, nothing at all. I was left there humiliated, crying, and abandoned for no reason. Another rider witnessed everything and said that bus driver was WRONG. She had also been rude to her as well. She encouraged me to file a formal complaint but generally the public doesn't ever see those complaints. I want everyone to read this to stick up for your fellow man! When you see someone being treated wrong SAY SOMETHING! DON'T LET IT BE OK! That driver being 25 minutes late had nothing to do with me but she sure took it out on me like it was! I've seen quite a few people take lots of time paying their fare, handicap people, blind people, people with children and strollers and bikes, wheelchairs and walkers, people with hands and arms full with grocery bags. NEVER have I seen a bus driver behave in such a horribly negative, disrespectful and rude way! I plan to follow up with a 'formal complaint' although I doubt it will do much good since I hear they are currently short drivers. A shame really that no one said a word - it's a bad day for ALL when a bus driver has that much power. I am disabled and I did nothing wrong - I'm also not a victim but rather a survivor! I WILL STEP-UP if I see this happen to...

I see that the Downtown Bus hub hasn't changed much from the reviews here. When I went to the Springs in 2019 to visit some Army buddies one last time before moving to Minnesota noticed that the station in question was homeless central smoking pot or whatever else. Back story here when me and family moved to the Springs in 1984 because my parents PCSed to Fort Carson and I was just turning 18 years old. We lived in Cimarron Hills on Galley Rd. My first experience with Colorado Springs bus system was okay at first then later noticed that buses didn't always follow the scheduled time indexes. The downtown hub was always crowded and buses were always dirty. What is sad is that buses stop running after 8pm on some routes back then. I had a job one time that ended at 9pm and had to get a cab ride home every night. Colorado Springs is just a poor excuse for a city even Soldiers on Fort Carson would rather live on base than out in the...

Drivers are friendly but some of them are not reliable especially in middle of winter after a driver skipped last round that's when I were on bus for 30 minute before go home. I can image customer stand outside with freezing temp to try stay warm in evening, scary. Monitor drivers and give bonus out if they run on time. All the bus routes n schedules aren't update online with bus 16 is missing. Bus need their payment upgrade on the bus with credit card to pay for bus fare and allow customer buy bus fare on bus not just at bus station as well. Make WiFi available for free on the bus will attract...