🚀 go-pugleaf

johansen@portal.ca (George Johansen) wrote:

>> So, you're saying a bus driver isn't capable of calling in when he's
>> late?   Or if he looks ahead and sees a jam?   Give them a little
>> credit. 
>Give "them" a little credit?  <g>  I'm one of "them". :-)
I've gathered that through your posts.... so you should know...   I
realize it's tough enough as it is to drive buses (with all them
personal cars cutting you off all the time, pedestrians stepping in
front of buses, irate passengers, etc).   But is it that much more
work?   (Hey... how about a raise for all the drivers for this extra
work? =)  )

>> Anyways, wouldn't this
>> information help BC Transit in their planning?  
>There's planning and there's trying to anticipate acts of God.  Planning
>says that at an "average" speed, a bus can do it's route in xx minutes. 
Fair enough.   But if you know that at certain times of the day, 9
times out of 10, the bus is late.... you know something has to be
changed.

>That is the planning aspect.  Planning does not involve keeping extra
>busses waiting here and there "just in case".  When an accident closes
I wouldn't expect that.   Buses ain't cheap... nor are keeping unused
manned.

>part of the tunnel, one bridge lane, a roadway in any particular
>direction, or some moron in a dump truck takes out a trolley wire
Or of the City of Vancouver increases the allowable commercial truck
height without telling Trolley Overhead....   As soon as tall truck
drives by... thump, thump....

>someplace... all of these cannot be anticipated or "planned" for.  Similar
>when there are equipment shortages or manpower shortages.  You can plan
>contingencies for just about anything, but you can't plan for the
>unexpected.  That's why the system is not perfect and never will be.
I wouldn't expect any transit system to be able to have every bus on
time all the time.   But it would be nice to have most buses on time
most of the time.   And when they're not, the riders are informed
somehow....

>As for relaying information to people on the route, maybe that's an
>opportunity for some entrepreneur.  Provide a cheap and easy relay system
>to keep everything up to date.  BC Transit has a program called "Trapeze"
Hmmm.....  

Patrick