Re: Buses which travel in bunches
The subject is buses which travel in BUNCHES. You wait for the bus, and wait, and here come three of them.
This problem is easier to identify than to solve. Suppose we have bus A and bus B, traveling along at a normal spacing. Bus A runs into traffic and slows down. Bus B catches up with bus A, and we have a bunch.
Again, suppose we have bus A and bus B, traveling at a normal spacing. Bus A finds a fair number of people who want to board the bus. This slows bus A down, since it has to stop, open the door, and let the person board. Bus B is less affected, if at all. For one thing, bus A has already picked up a fair number of the passengers. So, bus B is traveling faster than bus A, and will soon catch up with bus A, giving us a bunch.
Not an easy problem to fix, since we have described perfectly normal situations in which buses operate all the time. What we can do is install benches (or shelters). At least people wouldn't have to wait standing up (hard on one's legs if one is 75 years old and has arthritis). Not having a bench can be a very real handicapped access problem.
Plug: Metro's most excellent RideGuide trip planner is a very cost-effective way of disseminating transit information. (See http://www.MetroOpensDoors.com )
Tom Jones
Until very recently Fairfax Connector did not take SmartTrip and thus required paper transfers. Murphy's law states that any time I have only one single it is a bedraggled one that is hard to get into the dollar bill accepter.
In one of my earlier Fairfax Connector trips I made the mistake of dumping a handful of coins into the farebox at once, thus jambing the farebox. Talk about embarrassing.
In a somewhat related note I remember there was discussion some years ago of implementing a discount when you transferred bus -> rail using a SmartTrip. Did that ever come to fruition?
I agree that bus bunching is a problem arising from "normal" circumstances, and is very hard to fix! One way to help keep buses rolling along close to scheduled headways is for passengers to expedite their boarding by having Smartrip. Every morning I witness buses slowed down because they have to wait for passengers to insert what seems to be the most wrinkled dollar bill they could find that morning, or perhaps a handful of coins. Metro should encourage Smartrip use by instituting higher fares for cash on Metrobus, and perhaps also at the same time eliminate the paper transfer(in my opinion). Of course, any switch to higher fares for cash would have to include a major marketing effort by Metro(to get the Smartrip cards in the hands of a majority of local riders), and perhaps some limited giveaway of the cards.
At the very least, increased use of Smartrip should help keep buses on schedule. And by the way, jones172- you don't have to be 75 years old and have arthritis for an extended wait for the bus to be hard on your legs- how about 53 with arthritis??? More benches and shelters would definitely be a good thing!
All very good points Tom.
The worst case of this I has seen was a bus that was supposed to be running on a 10 or 15 minute schedule. It was longish haul route somewhere in the depths of noththeast, I can't even remember where anymore. We stood and stood and stood for 45-60 minutes without any sign of a bus. Low and behold 5 or 6 buses suddenly materialized out of nowhere.
Two things that I think may help are:
1. More designated places on routes for the bus to pull over out of traffic and wait for schedule / spacing.
2. Shorter routes with fewer chances to get "tangled" in traffic.
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AMEN. This happens EVERY day, and it's even worse on Sundays when the buses run on a less-frequent schedule.
I once saw three #16 buses line up at a bus stop which had practically NO-ONE standing there. How ILLOGAL!!!!
I, unfortunately, was across the street waiting for the light to change. I ended up waiting another 20 mins for the next bus.