Я⊛ḶḶ model ☭

i drove my first route in revenue service yesterday. it wasn't too bad. i messed up on the farebox twice and didn't do the tires any favors with respect to the curbs, but i got through it without hitting anything or anyone. and by the end of the day, i was really feeling confident about the whole thing.

i didn't realize it would be so hard to stay on schedule. if your bus is late, it's because the driver had to deploy the wheelchair ramp at the last stop and the guy with the crumpled dollar bills needed some extra time to get them all into the machine. so, please be patient.

if you want the buses to run on time, calling your city counsel to demand free public transport would go a long way toward that. the ramp deployments can't (and shouldn't!) be avoided, but it's the cash transactions that really eat up the minutes.

#freepublictransit #takethebus #itsmyfirstday

Apr 4 at 11:08amWeb
Show threadKen Butler2d ago

@saltywizard congratulations! Sounds like you have most of the challenges under control.

Observations from elsewhere (not as feedback for you, for your management):

- I'm in Canada, where the smallest bill we have is $5 and cash bus fares are all coins. That seems to really speed things up (I remember riding in California where the fare was $4, and I had to scrupulously save all my $1s and then try to get the bill reader to read them one at a time. Ouch.) Here, we also have a tap card (tap when you get on and the fare is deducted from your card automatically, also a big time-saver, and you can pay with your phone, ditto.

(continued)

Show threadKen Butler2d ago

@saltywizard

- The last time I lived in the UK (20+ years ago), local bus fares were by distance, which (for riders that didn't know their fare) meant asking the driver for where they were going to, the driver tapping the stage for that fare into the ticket machine, the machine displaying the fare, the rider finding the coins and (possibly) the driver finding change. This was *unbelievably* slow (I'm looking at you, Stagecoach).

Show threadKen Butler2d ago

@saltywizard

- the last time I visited the UK, the fare system where I was had been greatly simplified: a one-ride fare, and an all-day pass that was less than two times the one-ride fare (so for a return trip or anything involving a transfer, you got a day pass). These were easily purchasable on a phone (even my Canadian phone) and you tapped them when you got on the bus.

Show threadKen Butler2d ago
@saltywizard last thing: if your schedules are anything like ours here, they seem to have been determined under ideal conditions, and once you get late, you're never getting back on time.