First off, I wanted to wish everyone a happy new year. Remember that transit runs late and is free tonight, so there is no reason to drink and drive.
Also, following up to my post yesterday, the 502 was on-time today with a new bus driver that didn’t stop at Starbucks. Go Translink for fixing this, and only in one day. Let’s hope this lasts. Anyway, I was thinking of the real solution to early/late buses problem. If the bus runs 15min or better and you miss a bus for whatever reason, you know the next one will arrive in a snap. My portion of the 502 only runs every 30min during peak period only. Imagine what it would be like to have an early bus like on some of the routes in Maple Ridge that only come every 2 hours. Ekk.
See you in the new year!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Arrogance
A hat tip to the Peak Energy Blog for helping me to find this gem of arrogance. Someone told me about this advertisement in Vancouver back in 2003, but I could never trace the original down as it was advertising. A Vancouver GM dealer arrogantly advertised that our transit system serves "creeps and weirdos".
Interurban trains across North America were replaced by sleek GM cars and buses. It was considered progress at the time, and even our very own BC Electric Chilliwack to Vancouver Interurban (that ran PROFITABLY from the early 1900's to the 1950's) was also replaced in the name of progress.
I fail to understand why people love automobiles so much. My vehicle is a utility (like a tool in my garage) and it is no more than that. If there was reliable and convenient transit I would park my vehicle as I did when I lived in Vancouver. My 2001 Honda Accord had only 6,000 km. on it when I sold it to a friend in 2005. What is this love affair all about? Why must half of The Province newspaper contain car advertising and all of these domestic firms are going broke?
The Big 3 are always fighting for market freedom and reduced government emission and other standards. But suddenly government is a big piggy bank and is needed. None of these companies shed any tears for the loss of great transportation systems like our interurban and now we have come full circle. The days of the one person per car ARE NUMBERED and we should be bombarding Ottawa and our local municipalities to get LIGHT RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE on the list of priorities for our cities. If we don't do it now during this time of massive infrastructure upgrading, then we will never see our transit needs met any time soon. Forget bailing out the Big 3 and let market forces take their course. Survival of the fittest. It's time to revive Light Rail Transit.
Along these lines I found this really neat account of Tacoma Washington's history and mention of their Interurban and the current Sounder trains. The author talks about looking to the past to find what the future may hold for us. He seems like a very wise man.
Interurban trains across North America were replaced by sleek GM cars and buses. It was considered progress at the time, and even our very own BC Electric Chilliwack to Vancouver Interurban (that ran PROFITABLY from the early 1900's to the 1950's) was also replaced in the name of progress.
I fail to understand why people love automobiles so much. My vehicle is a utility (like a tool in my garage) and it is no more than that. If there was reliable and convenient transit I would park my vehicle as I did when I lived in Vancouver. My 2001 Honda Accord had only 6,000 km. on it when I sold it to a friend in 2005. What is this love affair all about? Why must half of The Province newspaper contain car advertising and all of these domestic firms are going broke?
The Big 3 are always fighting for market freedom and reduced government emission and other standards. But suddenly government is a big piggy bank and is needed. None of these companies shed any tears for the loss of great transportation systems like our interurban and now we have come full circle. The days of the one person per car ARE NUMBERED and we should be bombarding Ottawa and our local municipalities to get LIGHT RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE on the list of priorities for our cities. If we don't do it now during this time of massive infrastructure upgrading, then we will never see our transit needs met any time soon. Forget bailing out the Big 3 and let market forces take their course. Survival of the fittest. It's time to revive Light Rail Transit.
Along these lines I found this really neat account of Tacoma Washington's history and mention of their Interurban and the current Sounder trains. The author talks about looking to the past to find what the future may hold for us. He seems like a very wise man.
"In celebrating 125 years over the past 12 months, The News Tribune has shown, among other things, that the past is sometimes a harbinger of what will be. In 1898, city commuters rode 17 private streetcar lines – and now there is talk of streetcars once again. In 1902, the first Interurban train traveled from Tacoma to Seattle. Closed in 1930, 70 years would pass until a train called Sounder would once again deliver riders between the two cities."
Where is my bus?
Good morning, so my bus came on time today which was a great thing. Following up from yesterday's post about my bus not showing up. I spoke with my friend that takes the same bus from Langley Centre (I get on at 53rd and 204th). Apparently he was just really early. Two of us at the bus stop had to walk up to Langley Centre yesterday. Anyway, my friend told me that he was "driving like a bat out of hell" to the Starbucks at Fraser Highway and 201A Street. My driver pulled over to the same Starbucks today, but he wasn’t early. I have no problem with drivers getting coffee. With the stuff they have to deal with daily, they should all get free coffee cards. But it shouldn’t be at the expense of picking up riders.
I gave Translink's Customer Relations a call this morning to inquire about this. I spoke to a very nice lady who told me a few things. First, they normally hear complaints about the 502 being late, not early. This makes sense as traffic on Fraser Highway is unpredictable, but I’m one of the first bus stops in the morning. Second, bus drivers are allowed to pull over and grab a coffee as long as it doesn’t make the bus "like 30 minutes late." Third in theory, it would be alright for a bus driver to gun it from timing stop to timing stop. To put my bus stop into context. The timing point at the start of the route is 40th Ave at 208th St which is at 6:27am. I’m normally at the bus stop at 6:30am. The bus normally comes at around 6:35-6:40. There is no way you can make it from 40th at 208th to 53rd at 204th via 200th Street in 3 minutes unless you are doing some major speeding. I digress. The lady in the Customer Relations department told me that yesterday was the day when all the drivers changed their routes, so that might explain the very early bus. Anyway, she told me that a transit supervisor will be checking to see if the bus is leaving early from the timing stop tomorrow. I’ll let you know what happens...
I gave Translink's Customer Relations a call this morning to inquire about this. I spoke to a very nice lady who told me a few things. First, they normally hear complaints about the 502 being late, not early. This makes sense as traffic on Fraser Highway is unpredictable, but I’m one of the first bus stops in the morning. Second, bus drivers are allowed to pull over and grab a coffee as long as it doesn’t make the bus "like 30 minutes late." Third in theory, it would be alright for a bus driver to gun it from timing stop to timing stop. To put my bus stop into context. The timing point at the start of the route is 40th Ave at 208th St which is at 6:27am. I’m normally at the bus stop at 6:30am. The bus normally comes at around 6:35-6:40. There is no way you can make it from 40th at 208th to 53rd at 204th via 200th Street in 3 minutes unless you are doing some major speeding. I digress. The lady in the Customer Relations department told me that yesterday was the day when all the drivers changed their routes, so that might explain the very early bus. Anyway, she told me that a transit supervisor will be checking to see if the bus is leaving early from the timing stop tomorrow. I’ll let you know what happens...
Monday, December 29, 2008
Open Door Policy?
Managers often talk about an open door policy with their workers. This is the sign of a good boss, as he or she will be available to listen and talk with employees as needed. But an open door policy doesn't work well on a SkyTrain system!
During this past storm, regional transit did not get very high marks for reliability and operations. But a transit user used his cell phone to record this open door operation of the SkyTrain between two Expo Line stations, and then advised TransLink of the problem. The Vancouver Sun recorded the incident here. Apparently the train was being operated by a person at the time and the door alarms had been shunted because of some other door issues.
Several people that were on the train were interviewed by local news media and I saw some of that coverage on Global TV news. Two guys said they had to hold on to support poles so that they did not fall out of the open door. I'm relieved to see that TransLink is now considering this incident to be serious as over the weekend the TransLink spin doctors were unusually cavelier when interviewed about this very serious safety incident. Let's stop trying to explain things away guys and admit that this is UNACCEPTABLE for a transit system in a soon to be Olympic city. It is not acceptable even in the Third World. I try to be understanding with TransLink, but I was angered by their lack of concern over the weekend. If there was an issue with doors that required an operator to drive the train, then TransLink staff should have manned every car until the train was taken out of service. The spin ends here gentlemen.
During this past storm, regional transit did not get very high marks for reliability and operations. But a transit user used his cell phone to record this open door operation of the SkyTrain between two Expo Line stations, and then advised TransLink of the problem. The Vancouver Sun recorded the incident here. Apparently the train was being operated by a person at the time and the door alarms had been shunted because of some other door issues.
Several people that were on the train were interviewed by local news media and I saw some of that coverage on Global TV news. Two guys said they had to hold on to support poles so that they did not fall out of the open door. I'm relieved to see that TransLink is now considering this incident to be serious as over the weekend the TransLink spin doctors were unusually cavelier when interviewed about this very serious safety incident. Let's stop trying to explain things away guys and admit that this is UNACCEPTABLE for a transit system in a soon to be Olympic city. It is not acceptable even in the Third World. I try to be understanding with TransLink, but I was angered by their lack of concern over the weekend. If there was an issue with doors that required an operator to drive the train, then TransLink staff should have manned every car until the train was taken out of service. The spin ends here gentlemen.
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