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I’m an understanding person; at least I like to believe I am. The bus is late because there’s an accident? Fine. Late because of construction/events? Fine. Late because a bus broke down? Understandable. But every. Single. Bus. Is. Late. I use the bus at least twice a day, seven days a week. I use multiple lines to get to various parts of the city. There’s no fucking way all the above is happening all at once. I’ve been late to multiple events/meetings/appointments because of the bus. I’ve seen bus drivers being rude to riders because they were confused about the schedule. How dare you?? And the new Go Time system. Garbage. Thanks for wasting all that fucking money on an even more useless schedule system. How is it a city like Moncton has a much smoother transit system than Halifax? Their buses have GPS tracking, free wifi, and actual schedules posted at stops. Please, please, please, get your shit together. —A Furious Transit User
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2016.
Under what rock have you been living? Why do you have this expectation that Halifax will be able to pull off a simple transit system?
Yes, they do it in Moncton, but this is Halifax! We fight about cats and statues and street names. We have no time to fix transit problems!
And why are you using transit? Cars! Cars – not buses, bikes or pedestrians – rule!
Now, go to Colonial Honda,buy a car and stop belly-aching. Drive around, cutting off cyclists; find a park statue at which to protest and count some cats.
If they posted the schedules at the stops I’m guessing the majority of drivers would turn into fake seal clubbers by the volume of people telling them “schedule says you were supposed to be here 10 minutes ago” when getting on the bus.
It’s not that difficult to figure out that with inconsistent bus schedules the onus is on you to leave earlier for your destination in order to arrive on time. The problem is not the bus schedules. It is that you are not leaving early enough.
@Oceanchick shouldn’t the onus be on Metro Transit to provide a transit system that adheres to the schedule they post? Isn’t that what I pay my $80 per month for? I would bet the author manages to show up on time for the scheduled departures if he/she takes the bus that often.
You pay the fare to have your ass moved from point a to point b. When you leave to accomplish this is under your control not Metro Transit.
You forgot to mention OP the parade of riders who decide to dig for change/a transfer/pass when boarding …having been f@#king with a smartphone beforehand. Others who couldn’t have used their God given brains and resources to answer their own questions. You know…the riders who feel that the driver is their private Concierge and deliver the gem “Where do you go?”. Well how about ” Where the f@#k are you going…f@#k stick?”. It speeds things up to narrow it down. Gee, on the flip side of damned either way. The driver accused of being “rude” for departing a stop on schedule (your bitch OP was ostensibly about schedule adherence) because the driver didn’t “wait for me”. I always thought that transit systems functioned on the basis of you wait for the bus…not the other way around. Have I mentioned strollers, walkers, wheel chairs, passenger overloads, puke or other bodily emissions, removal of problem passengers who harass other riders or the driver, etc.
So you see OP it takes a Community to make a municipal service work. There’s plenty the average citizen can do to get the bus down the road. There seems to be an inordinate number who can’t be bothered because it’s someone else’s problem. So before you overgeneralize with “always” and “never” take a look around and notice a lot of the bulls@#t foisted on the system.
Way to go Hey MACLEod for telling it like it is to the ignorant and self-entitled. There is so much the average Joe has no clue about when it comes to Halifax Transit. If they want a perfect world they should go find a big rock, dig a hole, crawl underneath it and stay there until every last one of transit’s buses rust into dust.
If I arrive 10-15minutes early for my bus on spring garden, there is a 50-50 chance that I have missed the bus and I have to wait an hour for the next bus…..sometime an hour and 20 minutes for the next one because the next bus is late.
If I consider how far I can travel in an hour and 20 minutes by bicycle, taking a bicycle sounds like a less horrible option.
That is how we do things in Halifax. We use the ‘less horrible’ logic.
GV is spot on. Basically, plan to be at your stop 45-60 minutes. Within that time you can expect your bus.
Why more people aren’t riding bikes, especially during the nicer summer months is beyond me. I guess on the chance your bus shows within 5 minutes of that 60 minute window you can always use that extra time at your appointment to look at the want ads in Moncton.
I’m pretty sure the schedule (ha) is loose enough to account for old people questions and exact change finders so that the bus driver can make up the difference and be at the stop on time. Even if I hit every red light and stop for every pedestrian I can show up for work on time as can most people who drive, walk, or pedal.
Why don’t they bike? Crazy ass drivers will run you down for inconveniencing them for 2 seconds – while you obey the law… that’s why.
Having lived multiple cities that KNOW how to do transit (Moncton, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle etc….) everytime I’m back in Halifax I am amazed how BADLY Metro transit does it!!
Didn’t you know that most of your $80 monthly pass fee goes towards all the top heavy managers who sits back laughing all the way to the bank sipping champagne and smoking cigars. They twiddle and tweak the system to squeeze as much time out of the schedules to put thumb screws to the drivers. I feel for the drivers being put between a rock and hard place.
Even rocket scientists would scratch their heads trying to make rhyme or reason out of H^L^F^X’s bus schedules.
@Kluvius Maximus Nah it’s the overpaid unions that are taking that cash 😛
Be the change you want to see in the transit system. Check the schedule and leave 5-10 minutes before the bus is scheduled to arrive. Wait for anyone getting off to get off before barreling onto the bus. Have your ticket, pass or change in hand, ready to plunk into the box or show to the driver, when you board the bus. Don’t have a coffee in hand when you board; wait till you get where you’re going for your morning Joe. Sit the fuck down if there’s a seat available; if it’s near the front, be prepared to give it up when someone older or less mobile than you gets on. And for the love of anything that’s good and holy, don’t bitch to the drivers about how late they are – they’re late because they have to be; they started the route on time (or tried to) and were delayed by riders like you. They cannot, for the sake of their jobs, leave their timestamp stops any earlier than it states in the schedule. If you can’t do those things, get a car or a bike or start walking.
Case in point: http://m.metronews.ca/#/article/news/ottaw…
There you have it. just like HalKell (and I) said. Leave well BEFORE the bus is scheduled to arrive at the stop.
I was at a stop 10 minutes before a bus was scheduled and waited 60 (that includes the 10 I was already there, so I guess I really only waited 50 minutes)
I think we can all agree… the 8 or so YEARS it took to get the fucking gotime shit set up was not worth it at all.
I need to input the route number… then the bus number?
I CALLED the route number. You already know it now tell me when the damn thing is SUPPOSED to be there so I can flip a coin and see if it already left anyway.
It is a YUUUUUGE… I mean, really YUUUUGE pain in the ass…. it is… really.
Halkell seems to be one of the few and I mean few, people in this backward ass city who shows any signs of intelligence and comprehension when it comes to transit. God bless you man.
“get a car or start walking”
Halkell, as if getting a car is likely. Do you think people bus because they enjoy it? Cars cost a fortune, not to mention parking in the city. Just because we can’t afford the luxury of a car doesn’t mean that people should be a doormat to the transit system. And I don’t mind walking ~20 minutes to head somewhere, but walking to the mall from south end? Get real.
Moncton has a strong private sector, there’s your answer. Everybody in NS either has a cushy government job with a pension and full benefits or lives pay check to a pay check to support those people. Too much government. If they really wanted to make positive change around here they’d be willing to tighten their belts like the rest of us are expected to. Maybe some day pigs will fly. Either get a vehicle or move, it will never change.