The new transit rules and routes became effective a week ago. I utilized the bus Monday and Tuesday of this week. Here are some observations…
The closest stop to me is now within a half-mile, formerly it was two miles from my home. Special added bonus, the stop is a timepoint so if the driver is early they must wait at the stop to get back on schedule. In theory this means it’s unlikely I’ll miss an ahead of schedule bus, which has happened once.
The Public Transit Advisory Board minutes are now available from the city website. Within these minutes is confirmation that this route close to my home is the most under utilized in the system. Because of this the frequency of busses is less with the newly designed routes.
The new route passes within two blocks of daycare. The bad news here is the evening times that it passes: 4:40pm which means I depart work at 4:01pm which isn’t impossible but isn’t something I could make a habit, or 5:37pm which is seven minutes after my daycare provider puts the kids out on the street. (She doesn’t really do that.)
The big new rule is that the bus will stop at specially marked designated points only. I read somewhere about a two week transition where drivers will pickup anywhere but tell you of the new rule and instruct where the designated stop is. I took advantage of this after a lunch this week. The driver was none too happy when I mentioned that I knew the rule but was taking advantage of the transition period. The exchange began with him mentioning that if a driver sees me doing that again he won’t pick me up, and it ended with him saying at least he got me picked up this time. He wasn’t quite a jerk, but boy it was close.
If you look at the passenger counts you see that often there are only one or two passengers at 8am from my home. One of these passengers is often the same person. This week or maybe beginning with the new routes this person has begun bringing a bicycle along. Competition for the bus bike slots is heating up. Get yours today!
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