I've ridden the bus 3 times and I'm already pissed

Submitted by _RetroBear t3_z0cw8v in rva

Can someone explain to me how these stupid GRTC maps and apps work. Take the bus down to carytown no problem it was there on time.

Waiting for a bus that was suppose to be at a stop by 1:30.

15 minutes bus never shows up

I check the tracking apps and it says the bus will be there in another 15.

Wait another 15 and a bus that's not in service passes by

Check the app again and it says there are no scheduled stops for this one today and both busses are off the map.

Fed up I uber home.... now that I'm home the fucking tracker says busses ARE running for those stops today and both busses are back on the tracker.

What the hell am I doing wrong I just want to go places without needing to drag my car with me

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CBassTian t1_ix54b0k wrote

Regular rider here. Definitely a crapshoot taking the bus. 5 to Carytown is somewhat reliable, the app will usually tell you if how far away it is. However every so often the supposed arrival time passes and the bus essentially vanishes. Super frustrating! Also: the app will revert to DELAY once it falls behind schedule. Okay that's not super helpful since I don't memorize bus schedules. I mean, it is 5 mins delayed? 20 mins? 40 mins? Always best to have a backup plan!

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_RetroBear OP t1_ix5av95 wrote

I just want to get to and from carystreet without my car!!! I know its easier to drive there but this is the first time I'm living in richmond city proper and I shouldnt need to drive everywhere

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catbarfs t1_ix5bgu4 wrote

Get a bike, fam

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_RetroBear OP t1_ix5gbqg wrote

I have a bike. I only ride it for exercise because my anxiety doesn't let me leave it anywhere.

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Diet_Coke t1_ix6vgt4 wrote

The main thing is to get a nice lock. Nothing's unbeatable, but if it's enough of a pain in the ass then there will be easier targets around. Something like this is enough to keep your bike safe in Richmond. You can wrap it around the seat post, sling it over your shoulder, or toss it in a bag while you ride. Other important thing is don't have quick release hubs.

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catbarfs t1_ixehqfs wrote

Your comment reminded me I need to pick up a better lock. Thank you.

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VillageIdiotsAgent t1_ix60uhh wrote

Get a cheap bike if you can. I had a beater I used for errands and such, and a nice bike for riding for riding’s sake. It’s still not a guarantee it won’t get stolen, but it makes it less of a target. And then at least if it does you’re not out as much.

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CBassTian t1_ix5dh25 wrote

What time are you riding? In the afternoon before 6ish, service is fairly frequent and I've never gotten "stuck" in Carytown after taking the bus. The only time I've Ubered home was when it was late and/or pouring rain.

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_RetroBear OP t1_ix5gqp9 wrote

I took the 11am there from the stop by diversity. Tried to take it home going northbound from the stop off Cary and Sheppard. Suppose to be there by 130

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halfghan24 t1_ix6i9us wrote

Assuming that’s the 20 you’re talking about, I believe they recently changed the frequency that one runs. Used to be two or more times an hour, now im lucky if I catch it once within an hour

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lf_araujo t1_ix5892r wrote

Check out the transit app, it takes the live info from grtc and set a warning when it is time to walk to the stop.

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[deleted] t1_ix4v08f wrote

[deleted]

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Vajama77 t1_ix4w49b wrote

I don't see how taking the bus could be reliable for work purposes. At least you would have to get up early and just hope and pray that a bus comes and that you're not late.

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AlreadyShrugging t1_ix535tx wrote

It’s extremely reliable in other cities. Not this one.

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kneel_yung t1_ix6sn0o wrote

I dunno if that's true. I was on a bus in Boston not too long ago and a homeless guy peed on a lady and they stopped the bus and kicked everyone off and told us to kick rocks instead of sending another bus out.

I was told that wasnt uncommon.

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darockerj t1_ix8lh41 wrote

I've never had a significant issue taking the Pulse to work. Maybe a delay by a few minutes, but nothing too bad, especially if you're tracking with the GRTC app (not Apple Maps).

It's outside of commuting hours that I've had significant issues.

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youthdecay t1_ix6mp0m wrote

It was a little more reliable pre-COVID. I don't know if it's bad now because of a driver shortage or because it's free fare so they don't have the funding/will to improve anymore.

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[deleted] t1_ix4v2v1 wrote

[deleted]

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_RetroBear OP t1_ix4vn53 wrote

I just don't understand how the app says the route was not running with the Not in service bus passing me to somehow running normally once i get home???

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gamerthrowaway_ t1_ix59hs5 wrote

Buses not in service and buses that have the engine turned off (e.g. for the driver to make a pitstop) fall off the tracker. Buses that idle at their "reset stop" show up as DLY. Sometimes when a bus turns back on, the GPS fails to connect and it falls off the tracker. Knowing the schedule is imperative and be at stops ~10min before a scheduled bus as there are some occasions when drivers run a little fast (or start late because they know they will make up time).

In short, the app is more data, but much like the schedule, it's imperfect data. I've used the bus system since the revamp a few years ago for >50% of my in-town transit to various places, and that's what I've learned.

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froschkonig t1_ix5dqka wrote

Could have been a signal/timeout issue. It queries the server but didn't get a response on that route in time, maybe defaults to this route isn't active?

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AlreadyShrugging t1_ix52zrh wrote

GRTC just sucks.

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maybehomebuyeriguess t1_ix63ruw wrote

Somehow not on Stoney, though. Nothing is his fault or responsibly

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H-Resin t1_ix6apwv wrote

Fuck Stoney but GRTC is a private entity that receives funding from….it’s either the city or the state, I’m not totally sure

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SaidTheTurkey t1_ix6wr9h wrote

GRTC is owned by Richmond and Chesterfield 50/50 and sells services to Henrico and Hanover

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H-Resin t1_ix71yco wrote

Ah you’re right. Ok I see where I misunderstood - GRTC is managed by a private entity. So their staff is run by a private company essentially. Seems like a strange relationship but I don’t know much about mass transit

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anonymousart3 t1_ix8blln wrote

That's not really odd, at least not for the US. Conservatives HATE the idea of government programs, and love to privatize. So a compromise that the liberals have come up with is public-private partnerships. Government gives some money to a private company to do the service. It causes so many problems compared to if government just did it itself, but this is what we are stuck with until people stop voting conservative.

Of course,I don't know the specifics of Richmond's politics, so I could be wrong. This idea has pervaded almost every aspect of American politics, so it seems very likely to me that's what's going on.

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whw53 t1_ix8e7rt wrote

I'm not sure why you think that is odd - this is the prevailing model throughout most of Europe as well. Often times, private involvement is even more embedded in operations there.

For instance, unlike the U.S., private actors have a substantial stake in European airports ( over 40% have private shareholders) while in the US they are all government-owned,

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SaidTheTurkey t1_ix9h92q wrote

Dog there’s been like one Republican mayor in Richmond since the Civil war lol. Y’all just going to keep guessing in this thread or what

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anonymousart3 t1_ix9hse1 wrote

Technically that doesn't matter really. You can be a liberal who takes on a lot of conservative viewpoints. The overtone windows is really skewed to the right in america, so MANY liberals are more centrist than in other counties.

Democrats in america is just slightly moderate right wing people in the rest of the world. Bernie Sanders is even a centrist in the rest of the world. But in america he is considered a lefist. So...yeah, your point isn't as valid as you seem to think. Still a point to keep in mind, but...yeah

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SaidTheTurkey t1_ix9j9hi wrote

I don’t need to preface my comment to remind people of generalities of world politics in a Richmond Virginia subreddit. Especially when someone else just educated you that this is just as common if not standard around the world.

Maybe you just made assumptions about something you don’t know as much about as you thought you did?

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anonymousart3 t1_ix9jz5u wrote

And often the places that do have that public-private thing, even if common around the world, is a LOT more deeper than at first seems.

In Europe there is a LOT more regulations and things that they put on those partnerships than they do in america. As a result they run better. In america, we seem to be very adverse to the idea of regulations. And even that ignores the fact that no matter if its common in europe or not, when the government does it by itself without the partnership, it often does BETTEr and costs the people less in taxes.

So my point still stands. The democrats in america don't like to do things as well as they do in europe.

There is a really good video that discuesses this exact problem. Search up "how privatisation fails railways" on youtube. A channel by the name of Shaun discusses the issues with privitization and how it just doesn't work as well even with the partnerships.

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kneel_yung t1_ix6sd5e wrote

Both.

Also, don't you dare badmouth private industry. They're infallible. Only the government is allowed to suck.

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SaidTheTurkey t1_ix6wljy wrote

GRTC is owned by the local governments of Richmond and Chesterfield so idk what y’all are talking about

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10000Didgeridoos t1_ix88eul wrote

This isn't a defending Stoney comment, but GRTC sucked before him and will suck after he leaves. It's always been bad.

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halfghan24 t1_ix52rcv wrote

The chart with the times usually isn’t super reliable. If I know I gotta bus somewhere I try and start checking the app within the hour or half hour that I gotta get rolling to keep an eye on the bus time. That coupled with following the bus on the map through the app usually does me good. Been riding the GRTC since I moved here almost a decade ago, it’s not the greatest public transportation but believe it or not it used to be worse

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PM-me-ur-kittenz t1_ix5wl27 wrote

MUCH worse! At least you can take a bus to the airport now!

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kneel_yung t1_ix6s9ww wrote

Nice! When did they finally realize people go to the airport?

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[deleted] t1_ix7obc0 wrote

[deleted]

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PM-me-ur-kittenz t1_ix81hsf wrote

It's not too terrible if you don't mind going to the dystopian wasteland that is the downtown "transfer center"

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CapinWinky t1_ix5m4c7 wrote

You're talking about an organization that is so bad at understanding what good public transit is, that a private bus (2bnb) outdid them by offering obvious routes people wanted, using trackers that were more reliable, 15 years ago. They stayed afloat for years on donations and had a full bus most of the time.

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Ok-Difference-8696 t1_ix54zsb wrote

A few years ago I used to take the bus to VCU when I lived in Northside, but then I realized it was faster if I just walked the whole way. In the AM it would be super reliable, but the bus home in the afternoon would regularly be an hour+ late. The pulse functions a lot better than the other GRTC routes, but it only goes east and west. I’m forever jealous of cities with functional bus systems.

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10000Didgeridoos t1_ix88pay wrote

Yep. If you happen to live and commute along the Pulse line, it's a good option. Anywhere else? Unreliable, and even if it is, it probably involves changing buses at least once and takes 3 times as long as driving does.

That's the thing - if you want to get cars off the road, the public transit option needs to be at least comparable in reliability and transit time. I'm not spending an extra hour round trip waiting and switching buses for the sake of not driving. No one except college students have that kind of free time.

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Ditovontease t1_ix5b14u wrote

GRTC has always been shitty. This is why in transplant threads I say don’t come here expecting public transportation. We don’t have it.

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marginalmusings t1_ix6mjdd wrote

The bus is definitely not perfect, but as someone who lives a carless life by choice, it’s not terrible. I felt the same way at first but if you just stick with it and give it a little time to figure out it’s kinks and stuff it isn’t so bad. I take the bus to bus most morning in the winter and am only late on a very rare occasion.

But in all seriousness. Ride a bike. It’s much more realistic and convenient in the city. My bike is my primary form of transportation.

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JosefDerArbeiter t1_ix84lmy wrote

I've started riding the bus recently and it's exceeded my expectations. It's been very clean and not too late most of the time. But, you should always go by the real times from the gps bus tracking on the app. It's been good to me to substitute at least 50% of my car driving, not the best to rely on completely (since most of the bus stops don't have any shelter or benches).

My only gripe is that many parts of the city and county haven't developed sidewalks or safe areas to bicycle in. There's bus service out to the Broad street intersection of Innsbrook. But, so what? You get dropped off in a ditch or gutter on the side of the road.

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freetimerva t1_ix6ddgg wrote

GRTC is pathetic.

You're talking decades of mismanagent and grift.

Not the fault of the drivers.

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lf_araujo t1_ix57xfj wrote

Two useful tricks:

  1. Grtc app have real time info on the buses. You can see them as dots in the map if you add them, also save stops as favorites and you can see the predicted time for next bus at that stop
  2. The transit app! It has real time info from grtc, alerts so you have a message when it is time to walk towards the stop and the buses also appears in the map. If you share your info you help the predictions improve.

I feel dumb it took me one year to find out about these things.

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_RetroBear OP t1_ix5ae0b wrote

thats what I was using and why I'm so pissed off!!! I could see the blips on the live map. the bus passed me with not in service on. I check the map again and it has 0 scheduled stops for the one I was at when both GRTC and Google said it was suppose to be there by 1:30.

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lf_araujo t1_ix5chbc wrote

Yes, it sucks sometimes. When this happens I ride one of Uber scooters.

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_RetroBear OP t1_ix5ge5b wrote

I was tempted but my phone was on 2% as I got the uber home

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DefaultSubsAreTerrib t1_ix5t6dm wrote

I've been continuously frustrated by public transit in Richmond since moving here.

Generally, it's easier/faster for me to ride my bike than take the buses, but my kids can't ride along as far as I can go, so with them I'm stuck on the buses or stuck in my neighborhood. It's routinely depressing.

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Supergirrl21 t1_ix85lh1 wrote

Unsolicited advice: may I suggest a cargo bike with e-assist? The long-tail models are great for hauling older kids. @ rva.cargo.bikes on instagram hosts semi-regular meetups in warmer weather where you can test ride others' setups. We ride our kid around in a dutch style box bike and it's totally changed our family's happiness level for the better.

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10000Didgeridoos t1_ix88vht wrote

You're insane if you trust drivers around here enough to haul your children on the back of a bike in traffic.

It'd be one thing if there were bike lanes separated from traffic everywhere, but there aren't. Is it really worth that gamble? I'm gonna say no. This isn't Amsterdam. Pedestrians and bike riders get hit by cars here all the time.

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Supergirrl21 t1_ix8b1f2 wrote

Nice of you to call me insane while knowing nothing about my riding experience, where and when I will and won't ride with my child, and anything else about my lifestyle, safety precautions, etc. Sounds like we have different risk tolerance levels, which is fine.

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DefaultSubsAreTerrib t1_ix8f4yv wrote

I mean, you're both right.

Also, everything would be a lot easier if I lived in the denser part of town (somewhere between MD and CH). Northside is carsy, and because of the interstate/railroads, I need to get onto busy roads like Brook, Chamberlayne, Hermitage, or AA to reach anything.

Again, all these things are well within my ability as an adult cyclist, but they are big impediments to kids.

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RVAblues t1_ix7y1l0 wrote

I ride that route daily. Here’s what you do:

Use Google maps to find stops and routes.

When you get to a stop, look on the signpost for the blue square that has the stop number (ex: 1234). Text “GRTC 1234” to 228-27. You will receive a text back with the eta of each bus coming in the next hour.

Caveat: though the Cary/Main line used to run every 15 minutes, it’s now every 30 due to driver shortages. But some days they can’t get drivers for all of the buses, so that adds an element of unpredictability. Also traffic delays—especially around rush hour—can put things off schedule.

Most of the time things work well though and the text message will alert you if they aren’t. Sounds like you just got unlucky.

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GaySpaceRock t1_ix83dz1 wrote

GRTC’s board of directors obviously doesn’t use the service at all. The people running the organization don’t care about it running well. I tried using the bus when I wasn’t able to bike anymore when I got a blood clot earlier this year, got so fed up with the bus that I bought an e bike so I could get around reliably again.

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GaySpaceRock t1_ix83u3s wrote

An even sadder fact is that we still have much better transit than most other cities our size.

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fauz87 t1_ix56s0b wrote

I take the bus frequently on the weekends. Really nice way to get downtown without a car. It's usually, for me, very reliable. But yeah, every once and a while it screws up very bad. So I never take it if I have plans later that day.

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Bright_Revenue1674 t1_ix945pu wrote

Unreliable as hell but at least its unreliable and free now

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PimpOfJoytime t1_ix4zkx8 wrote

Are you sure you were looking at the weekend schedule and not the weekday schedule

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_RetroBear OP t1_ix51per wrote

yes I was looking at the weekend. weekend is every hour. Using their stupid website with the GPS bus trackers.

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piotrowskid t1_ix6l7ck wrote

Anyone know who to contact in government to voice concerns? City councilor? State legislator? Like who do I reach out to to say I want better public transit?

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Richmondisjustok t1_ix7s95j wrote

The GRTC board of directors hold a monthly meeting that I open to the public. You can speak directly to the leadership.

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lycosid t1_ix848qv wrote

Here’s how the tracker apps work, to my knowledge: Each bus is outfitted with a GPS tracker that links to the app and should give you real-time information on your bus’ location. If the app picks up a bus on the tracker, it will give a pretty accurate arrival time +- like a minute depending on traffic, number of stops, any special needs passengers, etc. If the app does NOT detect a GPS tracker, it will revert to the scheduled arrival time - the assumption is that the tracker is malfunctioning and the bus is actually on-schedule. What’s much more likely ime is that either the bus driver called out and there is a gap in the route or the bus got so backed up that the app thinks it’s scheduled for a later arrival time. If I don’t see a bus icon on the map, I assume it’s not coming at the scheduled time.

In general, bus service in Richmond is pretty reliable, at least compared to other mid-sized American cities. It sounds like you got really unlucky that multiple buses were out in a row.

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AHippieDude t1_ix6aaco wrote

It's been a few years now since I lived in carytown but I'm fairly sure there was 3 busses that went in or near carytown and were reliable enough. What you're describing sounds like the app is wonky. I know the maps and routes are a lot to remember, but if you're planning to go from point a to point b, it's probably better to at least know that route

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halfghan24 t1_ix6iwjc wrote

There used to be the routes that would go up from the Broad/the Fan over to Belmont, now the only routes that run through there are the 5 (up and down Main/Cary), the 78 (Cary but cuts into Randolph), the 20 (Southside to Northside cutting through Carytown), and the 77 (runs on Grove running parallel to Carytown)

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nightopian t1_ix6gg3h wrote

Try riding on a week day should be better.

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ThatSadOptimist t1_ix5p28n wrote

Always worth calling to check instead of relying on the app.

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scholarmage0 t1_ix6gv4q wrote

I’ve had to call sometimes when there was an excessive delay and the app was being helpful. Never got told why, but bus showed up soon after that.

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moto68040 t1_ix85ehw wrote

ya'll are pathetic

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