🚀 go-pugleaf

kundarew@unixg.ubc.ca (paul kundarewich) wrote:

>: Since Skytrain's startup in 1986 they have achieved slightly better
>: than 98% on time performance.  Hard to believe because the breakdowns
>: affect so many and are well publicized, but it is true.
>
>Hey.  I'm been caught numerous times by slow and breakdowns.
>Sometimes very late at night when i'm trying to catch the last
>bus home.  (Note to mention the suidsides ever now and then)
>98% for an automated system is not good enough.

Perfection has not been achieved is this world.  When people jump in
front of trains and mechanical breakdowns occur, delays enivitably
result.

>And when 
>they do break down there is no communication between sky train and
>the bus services so no one knows what's going on.

Wrong.  With any delay expected to exceed 10 minutes Skytrain control
calls Transit Control.  Plans are in place to accommodate people but
since Skytrain can handle more people faster than buses, it takes
slightly longer to move them.  Prior to them being moved, the buses
have to drive to the stations from wherever they are (either in the
garage or, if it's rush hour, from the various routes that they're
taken from) or drivers have to be assigned to shuttles.
In a major delay it takes roughly an hour to set up a 'bus bridge'
between the affected stations.

>Plus when the new skytrain extension came in they 
>increased my time to get home by 10 minutes!  150 million dollars
>to increase my time.  (The time they saved by the new extension they
>gave to bus drivers for a longer breaks)

I think the drivers would argue that point.

>Last gripe:
>
>If a bus does breakdown and can't make it to ubc.  Why
>don't they tell the other bus drivers at ubc so that people can
>stop waiting for a bus that will never arrived.  

There are 6 bus lines running into UBC (a couple more in rush hour).
Each line has an average of about 10 buses on it (the Broadway service
has quite a few more).  So that's 60 drivers so far.  Now UBC is not
Transit's only concern (it might be yours but there's a bigger picture
here).  SFU (the competition) has 3 lines comprising about 20 drivers,
so we're now at 80.  Of course not all people waiting for those
missing buses are standing at the end of the line so we'll have to
tell them as well...equal time, you know.  Then there's BCIT, those
downtown workers......well, you get the picture.  In a perfect world
everyone would get what they want...this world is not that place.