B-Line Snow day
As everybody probably knows, we were on snow routes across the entire Metro system today. While I must admit I was skeptical about the B-Line snow route, I’ve never been able to come up with a better route that I could picture driving and things actually went pretty smoothly this morning so I’d call it a success. (At least with the road conditions we had today which were a little slick but manageable)
Here are some quick thoughts about the snow route:
Trouble spots
- The hill coming down NE 31st St to 152nd Ave NE was a bit dicey. I lost traction a couple of times in this stretch and had to crawl along even more carefully than other areas
- The right turn from 148th Ave NE to Redmond Way, heading toward Redmond Transit Center, still had quite a bit of snow and ice on it. While I didn’t lose traction this turn involves crawling down 148th heading toward the traffic light pole as you are turning right. If right turn lane isn’t kept free of ice, I could easily see losing control here no matter how slow you go.
- Once the coach leaves normal routing, the automated stop announcements no longer work. At the stop immediately before going onto snow routing, I made an announcement about the route I was going to take just to be sure passengers knew why I was turning right at NE 24th. It would be great if OBS could be modified to make a similar announcement as well as announcing the stops down Bellevue-Redmond road.
- The B-Line map on the schedules has the snow route. However, it doesn’t show the 245 route which could be used by passengers travelling to Crossroads.
- Providing alternative stop locations along Bel-Red road for the various NE 8th stops with suggested walking routes between the stops would also be helpful.
I’ll be out on the B-Line tomorrow with road conditions that are predicted to be much worse so I’ll update this post if I have more information. Wish me luck on that right turn from 148th to Redmond way. That pole looks like it’s been hit at least once or twice although not by a bus… yet…
Knock a streetcar off its tracks – Got coverage?
The Seattle Times has the story on a collision that knocked one of the streetcars off of its tracks. Go read the story and look at the picture and then stop and think: How much is it going to cost to put that Streetcar back on the tracks and repair all the damage? While there were likely no injuries to passengers or the operator, it’s not impossible so add in a couple of trips to the hospital to check people out if they fell during the collision. Now, go check your automobile insurance policy, or if you use ZipCar, go read this. ZipCar’s coverage only provides $300,000 of coverage for any single incident. Many lower cost auto policies do the same. Using today’s streetcar/automobile collision as an example, you can see that it is easy to exhaust a $300,000 policy pretty quickly.
This week would be a good time to call your insurance agent and check up on your policy – Or, if that car of yours hasn’t been getting used as much, maybe consider ditching it. But if you decide to use ZipCar, be sure to check with your insurance agent about an additional liability policy to cover you above ZipCar’s measly limits.
PSA Recycling to help speed RapidRide – What PSA would *you* add?
With the upcoming demise of the Ride Free Area in Seattle, there will be at least one opportunity for a bit of recycling… Of a Public Service Announcement. Yes, I know Metro could simply add more PSAs to this list, but just for fun, lets assume the total number of PSAs bus drivers can choose from is limited. (After all, do you really want your bus driver searching through a long list to find the PSA he or she is looking for?)
When the Ride Free Area is discontinued later this year, the “Have your fare ready before exit” PSA will no longer be necessary. I’d like to use this slot for an educational message on RapidRide routes that explains how to speed boarding at RapidRide stops. This announcement would encourage back door use for exiting and for boarding when you have a valid fare – such as a transfer or an ORCA card that has been tapped at the curb. Even several months after the start of Rapid Ride service on the eastside, I *still* have passengers crowding to get onto the front door so they can tap their ORCA card or show me a transfer. The whole point of RapidRide, especially at crowded stops, is to get passengers to use ALL of the doors.
At stops where passengers “get it”, things work well – I stop, open 3 doors, and 10-30 people stream on and off of the bus in less than 20 seconds. (140th Ave NE & NE 8th in the morning is a great example) Adding this PSA would also allow announcements in other languages although choosing one or two from the diversity of languages spoken along the B Line might be tough.
But that’s my view from my little slice of the world, how about you? What PSAs would you like to hear?
A better use for your change
As part of my job as a bus driver, I often watch passengers work feverishly to unjam my fare box after they have attempted to stuff a month’s worth of pennies into it. Since I tend to choose busy routes, there is inevitably a long line of impatient passengers behind them watching too. Anybody who pays attention to my Twitter feed knows I prefer passengers use an ORCA card and that I can get kind of snarky about it. While not perfect, paying with an ORCA card is much faster and gives the user a 2 hour transfer on service provided Sound Transit, Metro, Pierce Transit, and Community Transit. ORCA really is the way to pay for public transportation in the greater Seattle area.
But what about all those pennies, nickels, and dimes you have kicking around? You may already know about Coinstar machines, located at many local grocery stores, that can automatically count all of your change, for a 9.8% fee. But you may not know that Coinstar allows you to convert those same coins into eCertificates and gift cards for Amazon.com, Apple’s iTunes, Starbucks Coffee, Albertson’s, and many other retailers without a counting fee. That’s right, at a Coinstar machine you can convert the mountain of coins that you’ve been holding onto for years into music, books, groceries, or jet fuel (aka Coffee). Just take at least $5 in coins to any Coinstar machine and follow the instructions to get an eCertificate or gift card that can be redeemed at your favorite retailer or web site.
So how about it? Why not give Coinstar a try?
Now, if we could just get the good people at orcacard.com to accept eCertificates, then you could convert ALL of your change into bus fare without jamming my fare box and with the added advantages that ORCA brings… Think of all the road calls to repair broken fare boxes Metro could save …
Like this:
Regrets of a Cold War architect
It is clear that the main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies – Anonymous author – “X”
Those fateful words, written in 1947, launched the United States into the Cold War and forever changed how the country viewed itself and pushed its agenda throughout the world. According to Todd S. Purdum of Vanity Fair, “X”, later revealed as George F. Kennan, “had intended to argue for political containment of Soviet ambitions”.
We all know today that the United States pursued much more than political containment. George Kennan passed away in 2005 and was able to witness the transformation of the United States from a relatively weak and isolated country into a dominant super-power, obsessed with national security.
I highly recommend reading Mr. Purdum’s article, One Nation, Under Arms. It’s a fascinating look into how one of the Cold War’s main architects spent the better part of his remaining years expressing regret that his words were used to warp our country into something the founding fathers would not recognize. As with most Vanity Fair articles, it’s long and detailed, but very worth your time.
Like this:
Adios Motherfuc…
Nina Shapiro at the Seattle Weekly, has more detail on the case against Nathan Godwin, the driver who hit and killed Bradley Nakatani on December 8th. Ms. Shapiro details the laundry list of intoxicants Mr. Godwin consumed that evening including champagne, Suboxone (used to treat opiate dependency), a marijuana laced cigar, a Jeremiah Weed Iced Tea, and a drink called an “Adios Motherfucker“. Let that last one sink in a bit before you read on…
To be clear: Nathan Godwin hit and killed Bradley Nakatani while driving a Ford Excursion 60mph in a 35mph zone. He likely would have killed anyone who had been driving a car, let alone a bike. This isn’t about cycling, it’s about revoking the privilege of driving from someone who has repeatedly shown himself unworthy of that privilege. Reading through Mr. Godwin’s list of traffic infractions, which yielded him over $7,000 in fines in 7 years, one has to wonder what it takes to revoke a license.
For more detail on Mr. Godwin’s driving record and his flagrant disrespect for the law, check out Biking Bis and Nerds in Seattle. The Stranger also has a short article that includes a link to charging documents,
Oh, and if you’re Redmond, you’ll be happy to know that Mr. Godwin was released under the condition that he not drive or visit places that sell alcohol. But I’m sure he won’t drive, given his respect for the law… Um… Yeah, right.
(NOTE: If you’d like to follow the case directly, you can obtain court records here for a small fee. You can also view records for free if you go down to the courthouse.)
Rapid Ride: The runner’s route
Of all the routes I’ve driven for Metro, RapidRide B seems by far to have the largest number of runners. On almost every single trip I drive, I inevitably see somebody running for my bus. For those who’ve followed my Tweets, you’ll probably remember that I tend to be a bit ruthless on the subject. Runners slow service since they typically don’t have their fare ready. They also tend to do really dangerous things while running for the bus. I still won’t wait for people jaywalking in ways that risk their lives near my bus but I have softened my stance and lately have been waiting more often than not. Here are some reasons: First, while my trips tend to be well utilized, my bus usually isn’t packed so I almost always have room for them. Additionally, 3 doors allow folks to get on and off a crowded bus more easily. Second, Metro doesn’t publish a schedule for RapidRide so there isn’t an easy way for passengers to know when the bus will be arriving. Third, I know my follower is pretty punctual and likely will be no more than 10 minutes behind. Lastly, real-time arrival information still isn’t available on OneBusAway or other tracking apps so there really isn’t any way a passenger can control whether they are “on time” or not.
Solutions
Here are some ideas to make passengers more comfortable with RapidRide’s schedule and hopefully cut down on some of the rushing for the bus:
Real-time arrival data: First, get arrival information on OneBusAway, Tracker, and other apps working – ASAP. I find this omission the most frustrating as a passenger, mostly because I have a knack for arriving at a RapidRide stop about 30 seconds to 1 minute after the bus has passed by. Sure, the RTIS signs on the route are nice, but they aren’t at every stop, are still not all functional, and aren’t useful for trying to figure out how to transfer from RapidRide to a lower frequency service route like the 249. Real-time data on the go is what I really want.
“Soft” schedule: An easy way to give passengers more confidence is to publish a “soft” schedule on Metro’s web site. This “soft” schedule would look like any other timetable except that all time-points would be estimated. It would also need a disclaimer explaining that RapidRide schedules are subject to change at any time and would urge riders to check the web site often. Trip planner sort of does this since it gives actual times for trips with a leg on RapidRide. (As of 12/1/2011, the times in trip planner are still based on the original run cards we received at the beginning of the shakeup, not the revised run cards we received recently. I have reported this to Metro so hopefully that will be corrected soon.)
Expanded Scheduled service: I’ve read somewhere that passengers stop using schedules when headways get below 10 minutes. I don’t recall if this was a formal study or just somebody’s opinion but it matches with my personal experience as a passenger on the Sound Transit 550. During the middle of the day, when headways are every 15 minutes, I check the schedule and head out to meet a specific bus. During the rush hours, with headways of 6-10 minutes, I usually just ride my bike to the park & ride and catch the next 550 that comes along. Expanding the “Scheduled Serivce” section of the RapidRide schedule to include all times when headways are 15 minutes or greater would help. Again, a disclaimer could be added that the schedule is subject to change if more service is needed. (Perhaps if Microsoft funds added RapidRide service during a company event at the Meydenbauer center? That’s a whole separate blog post idea in itself…)
These ideas are probably just skimming the surface but should be relatively easy to implement. If anybody has other ideas to help make riders more comfortable with the schedules, I’m all ears – comment away…
