Does anybody else see the humor in the add on the back of some MT buses around town? Specifically, the “Beware the idler” add depicting a cartoon car idling and blowing nasty exhaust out of the tailpipe.
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! Or more like the mountain of smoldering coal lumps and car tires calling the kettle black….
MT are THE WORST offenders for needless idling in this city. Despite their “no idling” pseudo-policy… How many commuters do you know that pull over for a 15 minute cigarette and donut break and leave their car running? Because MT drivers do it daily – I see them along Trollope. I doubt that is the only place in the HRM, it just happens to be along my walk to/from work.
HAHA, beware the idler. Got it.
—Beware the hypocrite
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2009.
Maybe whoever is paying to put these ads on the buses is a big fan of irony.
Maybe because it is a BUS and therefore requires that the heating/ac needs to be constantly on. It takes a very long time to heat/cool buses and a very short time to lose it.
o0o00
God point, Bro. Come to think of it, the hot water in my shower takes quite awhile to emerge in the AM. AAAAHA! I’ll just leave the tap running 24/7! Problem solved. Thanks!
The drivers are entitled to a safe work environment just like any office or retail worker and that includes reasonable climate control – be it air conditioning or heating.
Never mind that transit management has overlooked supplying bottles of water to keep drivers hydrated the last few weeks but I suppose all that would lead to is the OB writing how a driver was guzzling some water while behind the wheel.
Occupational Health and Safety rules override any anti-idling regulations when it comes to a comfortable work environment where the driver isn’t going to die from heat exaustion or freezing temperatures.
And lastly, do the people bitching about this not realise that Metro Transit now has one of the largest fleets of new buses in the Maritimes? Those engines are a lot more efficient, has diesel particulate filters to deal with the exhaust emissions and the fleet is one of the few “out east” to use biodiesel that actually runs cleaner than standard low sulfur diesel fuel.
10 years ago I would have agreed about 100% no idling but now we’ve got improved emission controls on the city’s fleet of buses and air-conditioning on many of them that only works (same as the heat) when the engine is running.
Are you in your shower 24/7, WWC?
It’s always the same – a bitch about those dastardly idling buses, and then someone pointing out in the comments that it’s because buses run different from cars in regards to heating and cooling. You’d think people would get with the program by now.
I need say nothing, VOR has this one down. Noone’s said anything about my drinking water from a bottle yet this summer that I’m aware of.
While I agree with VOR’s statements, I must say: what about the busses without AC? Do those need to be kept on during the daytime in the summer? I will say though, I see a lot of drivers shutting off the busses during the day time when they’re taking a break or whatever. Driver of the 52 i was on the other day did just that when he ran into the ultramar at lacewood to get a bottle of water. (the fact he has to buy his own water is kind of sad, though.)
Other than that, it’s niiiiice to be able to sit in an AC’d bus during a short break. Like when the 16 comes into lacewood and has about 5-10 minutes to sit there — it’s an ALF route and often has AC’d busses on the route, so it’s nice to get to sit in there with some cool air.
Those buses are NASTY. The huge puffs of black crap blowing out of them…..MT needs to do something about it.
the metro transit buses that are parked on the corner of Trollope St & Bell Road are *always idling* – i see it everytime i walk/ride down that street. again yesterday for example, there was a driver relaxing on a park bench nearby, chatting away on his mobile phone… while his bus sat there idling (engine running), presumably to keep the air conditioning going… while he soaked up some sun in the park and gabbed on the phone.
Well folks, As someone who understands the transit oporation, I will provide that a lot of the buses-new and old can be tricky machines, Speciallu older ones that dont have the battery power they should sometimes. Buses are often required to stay running because many times during the day some of the 250+ buses will not restart once they’ve been shut down. And when they’re off the property it takes time to get to them to replace of fix which leads to schedule delays and missed connections.
Why won’t the buses restart when they’ve been shut down?