Blogger Disses Drivers
Transit blogger Adron Hall aka "TransitSleuth" has began a Twitter campaign against late buses - his main target of blame: bus drivers.
Yesterday beginning with a post on his blog and following up on Twitter, Hall began by pointing out that his bus yesterday was 13 minutes late getting to his stop, and 8 minutes late arriving downtown. What Hall was unaware of (or simply doesn't care about) was that a major arterial (Aurora Avenue North) was closed at a choke point due to an accident, causing a lot of diversion to other N-S surface streets including those used by his route.
Also ignored (deliberately it seems) are other factors involved in on-time operation. Instead, Hall has chosen to place the blame (ignorantly and angrily) at the feet of bus drivers themselves. From his tweets:
"A driver can affect their timing, there are multiple criteria that affects the pattern. It's a fact and measurable.""If a driver messes around and stops for greens waiting for reds, waits for every "runner" entering, etc...they WILL BE late."
Aside from apparently arguing that drivers should exercise less care when approaching cold greens (risking running a red light and/or splattering a last-minute pedestrian) and that drivers should simply ignore all those customer complaints that result when pulling away from an intending passenger with the customer service phone number on their cell phone's speed-dial, hall takes further shots at drivers:" That's a lot more than I can say for a lot of drivers, who just mope about, slam on the gas, slam on the brake and are generally smart ass jerks. Building no confidence or backing from the public they're supposed to serve. I'm not talking about safety... a LOT of drivers just screw off and end up late. Probably under facade of Union protection."After some criticism from myself and another Operator, Hall fell back defensively, claiming we were out of line for "praising" a driver. This "praise" however took the form of a backhanded compliment:"Bus driver on #17 this morning is awesome, and driving well enough to stay on time!"Continuing his implication that the reason that buses can run late is that the driver isn't "driving well enough", Hall isn't kidding anyone.I posted an article some time ago on my own blog in answer to the question "why is my bus late?" It's still archived at http://tinyurl.com/3ssky64
In snarkily placing the blame for late running buses, Hall ignores many realities, including the obstructions (traffic, emergency vehicles, construction delays, utility vehicles); events (accidents, mechanical issues, sporting events) and other delays (wheelchairs, cyclists loading/unloading, passengers fumbling for change or asking questions outside the scope of driver knowledge, poorly written schedules) as well as issuing broad-insult to all the hard-working Operators out there and exposing his own ignorance. He's also ignoring two basic realities from the Operator end:
1-Operators WANT to be on time. When we're not, pissy whiners like Adron ignorantly blame us, snark at us, snarl at us, curse at us, give us the finger and hey even tweet and blog about us;
2-Operators WANT to be on time. When we're not, we don't get to have a meal break or even use the restroom.
3-Operators WANT to be on time. When we're not, our customers are unhappy, may miss their connections, may be late for work etc.
When we're late, bad things happen - not just to our customers, but to us. Operators HATE being late, and do our best not to be.
Sorry, Adron, we're not going to run red lights just to avoid your ignorant attacks. Sorry, Adron, We're not going to pass up regular passengers (or even irregular ones) and put up with having to talk to a supervisor when they call in a complaint just for you. Sorry, Adron, we can't control traffic delays. Sorry, Adron, we don't write the schedules. Sorry, Adron, we're not responsible for the cyclist that fumbles with the bike rack because they didn't bother to learn how to use it before their first commute. Sorry, Adron, we're not going to tell the elderly rider or the wheelchair user or the fare-fumbler to hurry the hell up.
I guess you'll just have to learn to deal with our horrific incompetence. I'm sure that blaming Operators for the bus running late (and taking jabs at our union for some bizarre reason) must be much easier than acknowledging that reality is much more complicated, and that the busing world doesn't revolve around you.
Share your own thoughts with Adron Hall, the "Transit Sleuth" Without a Clue at http://transitsleuth.com/
-jw
In snarkily placing the blame for late running buses, Hall ignores many realities, including the obstructions (traffic, emergency vehicles, construction delays, utility vehicles); events (accidents, mechanical issues, sporting events) and other delays (wheelchairs, cyclists loading/unloading, passengers fumbling for change or asking questions outside the scope of driver knowledge, poorly written schedules) as well as issuing broad-insult to all the hard-working Operators out there and exposing his own ignorance. He's also ignoring two basic realities from the Operator end:
1-Operators WANT to be on time. When we're not, pissy whiners like Adron ignorantly blame us, snark at us, snarl at us, curse at us, give us the finger and hey even tweet and blog about us;
2-Operators WANT to be on time. When we're not, we don't get to have a meal break or even use the restroom.
3-Operators WANT to be on time. When we're not, our customers are unhappy, may miss their connections, may be late for work etc.
When we're late, bad things happen - not just to our customers, but to us. Operators HATE being late, and do our best not to be.
Sorry, Adron, we're not going to run red lights just to avoid your ignorant attacks. Sorry, Adron, We're not going to pass up regular passengers (or even irregular ones) and put up with having to talk to a supervisor when they call in a complaint just for you. Sorry, Adron, we can't control traffic delays. Sorry, Adron, we don't write the schedules. Sorry, Adron, we're not responsible for the cyclist that fumbles with the bike rack because they didn't bother to learn how to use it before their first commute. Sorry, Adron, we're not going to tell the elderly rider or the wheelchair user or the fare-fumbler to hurry the hell up.
I guess you'll just have to learn to deal with our horrific incompetence. I'm sure that blaming Operators for the bus running late (and taking jabs at our union for some bizarre reason) must be much easier than acknowledging that reality is much more complicated, and that the busing world doesn't revolve around you.
Share your own thoughts with Adron Hall, the "Transit Sleuth" Without a Clue at http://transitsleuth.com/
-jw
Hall apparently also doesn't know how to read a bus timetable. The claims on his blog of a bus being late were based on "Onebusaway", an open-source application developed by - well - developers based on open-source information provided by King County Metro. Onebusaway doesn't tell you scheduled times - but when the next bus is due from your location. This information is based both on schedule information and information provided via GPS from other Onebusaway users to the open-source application.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that this "Sleuth" - a software developer himself - has a problem with the software developer whose application he's accessing. As to buses not being on-spot 100% of the time, he had this to say on his blog while taking another jab at the driver's union:
". . .I’m a customer and do NOT care what the excuse is, that’s Metro’s problem and responsibility – not mine. My responsibility is to be at the stop on time, pay my fare, pay my taxes (which pay for most of the cost anyway), and follow the rider rules."
". . .our political and Union leaders are primarily to blame. They’re the ones responsible for making the system work, and they continuously fail."
-jw