Ignoring the bus driver

[bhskittykatt]

Background information here. Our local buses provide several express shuttles between the university's park and ride and the university campus. On the way up to the university, these buses pick up at all the stops. Heading back, though, they don't drop off until they reach the park and ride.

The bus driver always says shortly before the last campus stop "You're on the 90X Shuttle, this is the last stop before the park and ride. Repeat, this is the last stop until the park and ride."

Inevitable, there's some moron who hasn't paid attention to what bus they hopped on, and isn't listening. After we've gone past the point of no return, they'll reach up and pull the cord.

SC: *pull*
SC:
SC: *pullpullpull*
SC:
SC: *pullpullpullpullpullpull*
SC: Hey, man, stop the bus!!!

The bus driver, fortunately, has a spine.

BD: This is an express shuttle that doesn't stop until it reaches the park and ride. I'll give you a transfer and you can hop a different bus back.
SC: Aww, c'mon, man!
BD: Nope, sorry
SC:

I love sweet pwnage by our bus drivers!

Bonus: Flipping the bird won't get you a ride

By the time these buses reach the university in the morning, they're packed. We're stuffed in their like sardines. Each year, they add more buses, and each year, more bodies appear to fill those buses. By the time these buses reach the south dorms, they've already picked up from the park and ride, the grocery store people use as a park and ride, several apartment complexes, and the off-campus student housing. So students waiting for a lift from the southernmost tip of campus will often have to wait for half a dozen buses or more until one comes along that has a shred of space left in it.

What confuses me, is that they're not that far away from the main center of campus. If they have to go all the way to the other end, then I understand a bit more, but really, in the time it takes for a bus to come along with room for them, they could have walked. At the very least, they could have walked 2 blocks to the next stop where half the people on the buses are getting off, and hitched a ride to the north end of campus from there.

But no, they just stand there like a lump and flip off any bus that doesn't stop. Yeah, that's going to make the bus drivers really want to do you favors.

[smileyeagle1021]

At least in your case the driver actually announces it and it is published on the schedule. One of my least favorite UTA moments was one morning after doing a graveyard shift at the hotel I got out a little late and knew I wouldn't be able to catch my normal bus (550 from Airport), but figured, hey the 453 from Toelle is coming by in 10 minutes, better than waiting half an hour for the next bus on my normal route... I toddle over to the stop, the sign says that it is served by both 550 and 453, there is no detour notice (mandatory by UTA's own rules for whenever a bus is not going to stop at a stop with its number on it) and no indication on their website that the route was on detour. The bus just blows right past without stopping, I of course call the customer complaint line and get told "oh, you weren't at a 453 stop, the 453 now stops around the corner at the same stop as the 522"
I will admit I went a little SC on the rep, but seriously, the stop for 522 had no indication that it was also a 453 stop, there was no detour notice on the stop that had the sign for 453 saying it was no longer served, and there was no notice on the website about any route changes... so stop making shit up and own up to the fact that your driver fucked up.

[infinitemonkies]

People are incredibly lazy.

I can't tell you how many hundreds of times I've seen someone wait 10+ minutes for a bus, then get off after only 3 or 4 blocks.
For that matter, I've seen a ton of people pay for a cab to take them from the hotel to the 7-11 and back, and it's only 3.5 blocks away.

[Arcade Man D]

Background information here. Our local buses provide several express shuttles between the university's park and ride and the university campus. On the way up to the university, these buses pick up at all the stops. Heading back, though, they don't drop off until they reach the park and ride.

The bus driver always says shortly before the last campus stop "You're on the 90X Shuttle, this is the last stop before the park and ride. Repeat, this is the last stop until the park and ride."<snip>

We have a similar bus for my college, that goes direct from the transfer station downtown to the campus, doing pickups but not dropoffs.

When people get on the bus with anything other than a student ID/bus pass, the driver always says "Are you going to OCC? This is the express bus, I don't drop off until OCC."

Invariably, someone pulls the cord, and gets pissy when the driver tells them not to get on this bus next time.

And during the normal semesters (Fall/Spring, CCs have shorter Winter/Summer semesters), it's worse, because these ignoramuses are taking up seats that could be used by people who are actually going to the campus, since it will leave downtown packed to the gills.