Monday, September 18, 2006
Is it On Purpose That Buses And Trains Don't Wait?
It ought to be mandatory that a bus or train that's about to take off, waits for arriving customers before doing so. For example if there's one train arriving on the upper section in a Metro station, it's quite absurd for a train in the lower section to leave without picking the arrivals up first. Don't know if this is a purposefully neglected point, like another area of imbecile incompetence, or if it's just a co-incidence.
Clearly, as pointed out earlier, the bus drivers often don't give a dime whether passengers are hurrying in from another bus or not. They just blatantly take off without them, which is one of those fundamental points that render MTA a lousy transit service. I bet not even black market cab drivers do that. Things that are so EASY to do something about, yet aren't. The subway is much better than the bus in terms of timeliness, consistency etc, but one can never be sure when it comes to the MTA, that they actually didn't ignore something very basic about their customer service. (That's right, ignore. It doesn't take 20 years to fix something that fundamental to good service unless you ignore it.(
Sometimes it's appeared on the subway as well, that one incoming train is ignored by another one taking off, or, the operator waits to take off just before the transferees have had time to reach the train. I just find that very rude to do against all kinds of people.
Anyway, with the subway, it may be that they've fixed that, but as far as the buses go, it seems to be a literal policy of the MTA to not wait for transferees. Of course someone will say if they did they would fall behind schedule. Sure, if they waited just an extra 10 seconds or so, before taking off, it would "significantly" alter their arrival times. But what schedule, anyway? Nobody in the city knows the bus schedule. Unless you collect a bunch of pamphlets or memorize 9 dozen calls to 1800-COMMUTE or jot down schedule times from www.mta.net, there's no way in the world that you're going to know the bus schedules, so what difference would it even make in that regard to be a bit more polite?
This blatant ignoring surely can be avoided. Better fix the fundamentals first, before you go on to flash fancy narcissus ads. To be polite, is Free.
Clearly, as pointed out earlier, the bus drivers often don't give a dime whether passengers are hurrying in from another bus or not. They just blatantly take off without them, which is one of those fundamental points that render MTA a lousy transit service. I bet not even black market cab drivers do that. Things that are so EASY to do something about, yet aren't. The subway is much better than the bus in terms of timeliness, consistency etc, but one can never be sure when it comes to the MTA, that they actually didn't ignore something very basic about their customer service. (That's right, ignore. It doesn't take 20 years to fix something that fundamental to good service unless you ignore it.(
Sometimes it's appeared on the subway as well, that one incoming train is ignored by another one taking off, or, the operator waits to take off just before the transferees have had time to reach the train. I just find that very rude to do against all kinds of people.
Anyway, with the subway, it may be that they've fixed that, but as far as the buses go, it seems to be a literal policy of the MTA to not wait for transferees. Of course someone will say if they did they would fall behind schedule. Sure, if they waited just an extra 10 seconds or so, before taking off, it would "significantly" alter their arrival times. But what schedule, anyway? Nobody in the city knows the bus schedule. Unless you collect a bunch of pamphlets or memorize 9 dozen calls to 1800-COMMUTE or jot down schedule times from www.mta.net, there's no way in the world that you're going to know the bus schedules, so what difference would it even make in that regard to be a bit more polite?
This blatant ignoring surely can be avoided. Better fix the fundamentals first, before you go on to flash fancy narcissus ads. To be polite, is Free.
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That used to happen on the Red/Blue connection at night all the time. So I started going to the website and complaining about it.
Someone from the website would answer my letters and promise that they would address the problem within the next few days. Then to my surprise, a few days later, there was actually a man on the platform when the Red Line pulled in to 7th Street station (late, like usual) saying "Blue Line to Long Beach upstairs, we're still waiting for you!" They did that for a couple of weeks, and for months afterwards, they actually slightly adjsuted the schedule so that missed connections were fewer.
So my point is, go to the MTA website and write a complaint. Include your name, address, and phone # so they know it's real. They actually do respond. If you don't write, they won't even know that anybody out there cares.
Someone from the website would answer my letters and promise that they would address the problem within the next few days. Then to my surprise, a few days later, there was actually a man on the platform when the Red Line pulled in to 7th Street station (late, like usual) saying "Blue Line to Long Beach upstairs, we're still waiting for you!" They did that for a couple of weeks, and for months afterwards, they actually slightly adjsuted the schedule so that missed connections were fewer.
So my point is, go to the MTA website and write a complaint. Include your name, address, and phone # so they know it's real. They actually do respond. If you don't write, they won't even know that anybody out there cares.
# posted by 
: 12:43 PM
: 12:43 PM
That used to happen on the Red/Blue connection at night all the time. So I started going to the website and complaining about it.
Someone from the website would answer my letters and promise that they would address the problem within the next few days. Then to my surprise, a few days later, there was actually a man on the platform when the Red Line pulled in to 7th Street station (late, like usual) saying "Blue Line to Long Beach upstairs, we're still waiting for you!" They did that for a couple of weeks, and for months afterwards, they actually slightly adjusted the schedule so that missed connections were fewer.
So my point is, go to the MTA website and write a complaint. Include your name, address, and phone # so they know it's real. They actually do respond. If you don't write, they won't even know that anybody out there cares.
Someone from the website would answer my letters and promise that they would address the problem within the next few days. Then to my surprise, a few days later, there was actually a man on the platform when the Red Line pulled in to 7th Street station (late, like usual) saying "Blue Line to Long Beach upstairs, we're still waiting for you!" They did that for a couple of weeks, and for months afterwards, they actually slightly adjusted the schedule so that missed connections were fewer.
So my point is, go to the MTA website and write a complaint. Include your name, address, and phone # so they know it's real. They actually do respond. If you don't write, they won't even know that anybody out there cares.
# posted by : 12:18 PM
: 12:18 PM
I suppose I should do that.
I've complained in the past.
Once, I walked up to a parked bus to ask the MTA operator(s) inside it, who were on a break, about a certain bus schedule. They told me to leave and shut the door in front of my face.
I then called the MTA customer line and complained. It's hard to verify if they care though unless you see some remarkable improvement after, like you described happened.
Now several years later drivers still keep dodging passengers though, which gives the impression that the MTA doesn't care, at least generally.
Complaints might actually help, but it's weird that they're even needed. Timely connections are such a fundamental aspect of public transportation, that we need to even complain to see see them happening, is the issue. I mean it ought to be default.
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I've complained in the past.
Once, I walked up to a parked bus to ask the MTA operator(s) inside it, who were on a break, about a certain bus schedule. They told me to leave and shut the door in front of my face.
I then called the MTA customer line and complained. It's hard to verify if they care though unless you see some remarkable improvement after, like you described happened.
Now several years later drivers still keep dodging passengers though, which gives the impression that the MTA doesn't care, at least generally.
Complaints might actually help, but it's weird that they're even needed. Timely connections are such a fundamental aspect of public transportation, that we need to even complain to see see them happening, is the issue. I mean it ought to be default.
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