Chapin Clark, a 40-year-old ad agency copywriter who lives in Upper Montclair, hates DeCamp so much that he started a blog called I Hate DeCamp in 2008. In it, he chronicles the daily indignities of being a DeCamp rider. It’s always been one of my favorite local blogs, but I knew I had to find the writer behind it, and interview him, when he published this picture on Day 1 of the DeCamp strike, along with this caption.
Change is never easy. But with patience and persistence, I think I can get used to boarding a vehicle at its scheduled arrival time and having someplace to sit down during my ride.
Here’s what DeCamp’s most vociferous critic has to stay about the current strike.
It looks like you’re enjoying the train.
I know the train has its issues, but for the most part it’s there when it says it’s going to be there.
Why have you been taking the bus, then?
My office is one block from Port Authority.
What do you think about the strike?
Really, there are no winners. DeCamp’s reputation suffers even further, if that’s possible. The drivers suffer. The riders suffer. My sense it DeCamp probably treats its employees not very well, and they take it out on the customers. All kidding aside, I think the strike’s too bad. I hope they settle it soon.
I’m not optimistic, but maybe this will open their eyes to customer service.
What’s wrong with their customer service?
Everything from stonewalling and outright dishonesty when you call their offices to their web presence.
They launched this new website. They promised an e-newsletter and collected people’s data, but never sent anything. They promised mobile alerts. [But the alerts that came] you can’t even call them sporadic.
In 2010, the internet is not some kind of nice-to-have afterthought kind of thing. To treat it in such a half-assed way is indicative of the contempt with which they treat their customers.
What’s the worst part of riding the bus?
About three days a week, I don’t get a seat. It’s treacherous. And you’re still paying a full fare. You’d think a seat would included in the cost of a fare.
Why did you start the blog?
It wasn’t any one thing that drove me over the edge. It was the daily accretion of absurdity. Buses being late, not knowing when the next bus was coming. There seems to be no communication between the drivers and the office. They don’t seem to use GPS.
If you’re taking the 66 on Valley Road and it’s standing room only, when the bus turns down Mt. Hebron, they won’t automatically radio to see if the next 33 has seats. You have to prod them to do it.
I started this thing, really, as a way for me to just vent. Indulging my little rants.
You didn’t publish much in the past few months.
I wasn’t feeling the hate.
So, when this is all over, do you think you’ll go back to DeCamp?
You can get used to anything. I really don’t know what I’m going to do. If the strike gets settled soon, I’ll probably just go back to taking the bus. If the strike drags on, I don’t know…
I used to get my DeCamp tickets sent to me in the mail. I already canceled that. It was nice to buy the monthly pass for the train instead of this ridiculous packet of DeCamp tickets that you have to tear off one by one, like you’re playing Skeeball at a carnival.
Bookmark I Hate DeCamp for Clark’s regular “Dispatches from the Highway to Hell.”
Nice to meet you, Chapin. Will start reading your blog regularly.
I suspect the much maligned DeCamp is marginally profitable. A full bus would gross about $500 ?? Subtract payroll, fuel, maintenance, fees, insurance, tolls etc. etc. and what is left? Perhaps someone who is familiar with bus business could do the math roughly.
This is what I love: The guy HATES DeCamp yet will continue to “suffer” with them when the strike ends?
So why does he expect DeCamp to change? They have a monopoly and have cared little about their customers since I used them in the 80. It’s a shame because looking at its history, the company is well placed to be an important member of the community, rather than the butt of jokes (“DECRAMP” has always been my favorite).
In that same manner, I’ve see/heard terrible behavior from their drivers that any self-respecting business would not tolerate (see I don’t just support workers…).
Add it up: customers who tolerate them and a company that takes advantage and you have the blog: I hate DeCamp!
Good luck Chapin, I’m sure DeCamp won’t let you down and will supply years of continued hate.
It’s a good idea to switch back and forth from the train to the bus, because after you’ve been riding each for half a year or so it starts wearing you down. Switching it up helps break up the drudgery.
I’d be curious if anyone from Decamp reached out to him. Its what any company that gives a fig about customer service would do, if even only on a PR basis (“We’re working on these things, customers should see improvement…yadda yadda yadda.”)
“My office is one block from Port Authority.” = “My office is nine blocks from Penn Station.” Interesting.
DeCamp is just your normal 21st Century American business. The suits don’t care about the workers and no one cares about the customers.
And the beat goes on …
Hooger, I thought the same thing.
If I take DeCamp/Community I end up 15 blocks from my job. If I take NJ Transit – which costs less per trip – I end up 23 blocks from my job. I do the walk either way. Last I checked it didn’t kill me.
So I take the 657 from walnut and wow it was pretty packed. Can anyone tell me how the 4:52 or the 6:18 for the return trip has been?
I took the 5:45 out of Penn Station last night. Pretty uneventful (although it was 5 mins. late in leaving for some reason). Got to the Upper Montclair station at 6:35. Not too bad.