Transportation Rules the World

As if relying on taxis for all my transport in Doo wasn't frustrating and expensive enough, I was greatly amused this week to receive an email at work that completed a long battle with the hospital bus service.

All staff who live on hospital compounds are entitled to a free bus service to and from work, unless of course you're one of the not-so-fair sex and have a vehicle in which to drive yourself to work.

Since moving to our large new compound a few months ago, the bus service has been terrible. The bus either leaves early or late on every occasion. The buses don't cover the entire 24 period which is essential when providing for hospital staff who work 24 hours a day....so many are forced to catch the hospital taxis and pay approx A$10 one way.

There have been numerous complaints and some screaming arguments with the transportation department about their inconsistency of service and their seeming inability to meet the demands of our contract. One of my friends even rang the department and demanded that they call her boss to explain why she was late to work for the third time in one week, considering that this is an offence worthy of termination at our hospital!

Then the email came. The email stated that the new contract with the bus company had been signed and the new timetable would be implemented in 4 weeks time. There would be no discussions, no arguments, no additional services to be added as the timetable was final. It then went on to say that if employees working hours were not covered by the service, their superiors should consider altering their working hours to the bus timetable. I kid you not. Of course there are no buses between 7:30am and 1pm during which time all the staff who start shifts at 9, 10 & 11am and 12pm will presumably have to fund taxis themselves.