Its like a broken record with some of these bus drivers

[Broomjockey]

_Cancelled without notice_ isn't that unusual.

Yeah, but again, this is the *one* driver, who was both whiny and incompetant. And trust me, in winter, I've had the 30 minutes late, had the "just never showed up" bus. But seriously. Believe me when I say, this guy (again, at the time, as this was a while ago), had NO DAMN EXCUSE. Trust me. I rode the bus 5 days a week or more. There was nothing he had to deal with that the other drivers didn't. In fact, often, he had less. And *STILL* managed to be late by 7 or more minutes. And it wasn't even a long route. Normally about a 15 minute trip. Which he managed to turn into a minimum of 20 minutes. It is supremely unusual for buses here to be late by more than a minute or two. Frankly, in my 6 years of riding the bus, he's the only driver I've ever had a problem with. Other than the guy who threw the kid off the bus in the middle of the road. Not to be rude, but again, if it's this one guy, I don't care what's usual or unusual for your system, this guy obviously sucked. If it was ever more than just him, I'd cut him slack. But just him? He. Sucked.

[ds_36]

I'm sorry, but isn't the whole point of a schedule is that it lets people know when busses are coming or going?
So isn't it then the job of the bus driver to try and make it as close to the time scheduled as possible? Sure, you're not gonna get it right every single time (who does?) but if it's constant, then a complaint must be laid.

Yes as close as possible. (Talking in general terms) This is one place where you can't expect perfect adherence to the schedule because of many, many outside factors which neither the driver nor his employers have any control over. Of course there's things like traffic, weather, accidents, and other road conditions in general.

Then there's the passengers, if the passengers don't have their fare out and ready as they're boarding that takes up significant time. Especially when you have people digging for coins. In addition if you have a wheelchair passenger it usually takes about 2 or 3 minutes to board that passenger, before the other passengers can board. Since the schedules are down to the minute these things can very easily cause the bus to be late. For getting off, it may take older passengers a bit of time to get to the door from when the bus stops. And of course if you have a wheelchair it takes the same amount of time to get them off as on.

The schedule can be changed to allow way too much time. But then most trips you'd just end up sitting half the time doing nothing because there were no problems.

[Sparky]

Yes as close as possible. (Talking in general terms) This is one place where you can't expect perfect adherence to the schedule because of many, many outside factors which neither the driver nor his employers have any control over. Of course there's things like traffic, weather, accidents, and other road conditions in general.

Then there's the passengers, if the passengers don't have their fare out and ready as they're boarding that takes up significant time. Especially when you have people digging for coins. In addition if you have a wheelchair passenger it usually takes about 2 or 3 minutes to board that passenger, before the other passengers can board. Since the schedules are down to the minute these things can very easily cause the bus to be late. For getting off, it may take older passengers a bit of time to get to the door from when the bus stops. And of course if you have a wheelchair it takes the same amount of time to get them off as on.

The schedule can be changed to allow way too much time. But then most trips you'd just end up sitting half the time doing nothing because there were no problems.

Amen! Not to mention school field trips, when 30 or more rugrats climb on, all dropping their fares in one at a time.

Also, some bus companies are simply better at scheduling than others. Some simply CARE more about providing accurate schedules than others do. And really, in some places I suppose it doesn't matter. In a big city, there might be a bus scheduled every 10 minutes. In smaller towns, where the buses only run once an hour, the schedule is much more important.

One more thing I ought to mention, while we're on the subject, bus schedules have to be revised periodically. The city designs a route, and the schedule works fine. Then someone builds a shopping center along the route, and traffic increases. Anoter shopping center goes in, not on the route, but nearby, and people beg for bus service. A loop is added to the route to service the new shopping center, but no time is added to the route. A housing additon expands and ridership increases. A new school is built nearby and it changes the traffic dynamic for the whole area of town. If a town is growing, all the bus routes are outgrown every 5 to 10 years. If you're driving a bus on a route that needs revision, it can be almost impossible to keep the schedule.

Of course, none of this has anything to do with the original complaint, which was that one particular driver is sucky. I do recognize that.

[MoonChild2007]

Believe me, I have no problem with traffic, wheelchair bound people, etc. The problem i have is the SAME crap that certain bus drivers pull.

Remember about the woman I would say is "potentially" holding up the bus a few minutes, she was on the bus today and the bus is LATE AGAIN! There was only her and another passenger. Last Saturday the bus driver was ON TIME and now this week with her on it, the bus is LATE! Its not even 2 or 3 minutes late, its like 6 minutes and doesn't even get to the bus terminal until 8 am! The bus gets to my bus stop at around 7:34 am. The route isn't even that long as well as there is no known traffic.

Oh and get this. I was AT THE BUS STOP and the dumb bus driver ALMOST misses my stop! I go on the bus and there is woman next to the bus driver probably talking to him about something DISTRACTING him. I swear, sometimes I wish there should be a glass plate or something. Cause these passengers with their talkative selves keep distracting the bus driver. Especially those who will just stand there. Just borderline annoys me! I would have been late for work as well
This is the very first bus and the next bus doesn't get there until an hour later. . I have to be at work by 8:45 am. I wouldn't get there until around 9:15 am!
Yes, I am a perfectionist.

[ds_36]

Everyone's jobs can be hindered by outside factors, not just those of bus drivers. The graphic designer can be delayed by the printer running out of colour toner, the fast food employee is delayed by the chip machine going on the blitz. But if the graphic designer and fast food employee under-deliver every time, even when the print shop has a back room FULL of colour toner, and the chip machine is churning out chips like there's no tomorrow...then the problem is obviously with the employee.

Since this thread was brought up again I'm just going to comment on the biggest difference. In this scenario the client would most likely be happy if you completed the job early, at the very least the client wouldn't be unhappy. Many companies reward employees for speed or doing more than expected in a time period.

However in the case of a bus, being early is actually worse than being late. If the bus is early passengers expecting the bus to be there later wouldn't be at the stop and they'd miss that bus all together. If the bus is late, the passengers end up waiting at the stop for a few extra minutes and maybe a few passengers running late will be able to make that bus but nobody will miss it.

[Sparky]

Believe me, I have no problem with traffic, wheelchair bound people, etc. The problem i have is the SAME crap that certain bus drivers pull.

Remember about the woman I would say is "potentially" holding up the bus a few minutes, she was on the bus today and the bus is LATE AGAIN! There was only her and another passenger. Last Saturday the bus driver was ON TIME and now this week with her on it, the bus is LATE! Its not even 2 or 3 minutes late, its like 6 minutes and doesn't even get to the bus terminal until 8 am! The bus gets to my bus stop at around 7:34 am. The route isn't even that long as well as there is no known traffic.

Oh and get this. I was AT THE BUS STOP and the dumb bus driver ALMOST misses my stop! I go on the bus and there is woman next to the bus driver probably talking to him about something DISTRACTING him. I swear, sometimes I wish there should be a glass plate or something. Cause these passengers with their talkative selves keep distracting the bus driver. Especially those who will just stand there. Just borderline annoys me! I would have been late for work as well
This is the very first bus and the next bus doesn't get there until an hour later. . I have to be at work by 8:45 am. I wouldn't get there until around 9:15 am!
Yes, I am a perfectionist.

You know Moonchild, I jumped into this thread because I felt that some people here were bashing bus drivers, didn't know what bus drivers face, didn't understand that bus drivers have to deal with SPs (sucky passengers) all day. I felt like, and still feel like, a lot of the time we need to cut the driver some slack.

But you have cut this particular driver all the slack he's entitled to. You are consistently having the same trouble with the same driver, and other drivers on the route are able to keep on schedule so you know it's not the schedule itself.

It's time for you to complain.

[KellyHabersham]

This thread reminds me that I need to write a nicely-worded complaint letter to the bus company in my city, regarding a particular route direction where the bus is 99% of the time either late or doesn't show up at all. This route doesn't go all the way to the stop I need on every trip, so this gets to be a major problem.....especially if I get a job where I'll need to be taking that particular route.....one of my friends who still works at Macy's takes this bus route, and has often been written up for being late to work because the bus either didn't show up or was late.

[MoonChild2007]

But you have cut this particular driver all the slack he's entitled to. You are consistently having the same trouble with the same driver, and other drivers on the route are able to keep on schedule so you know it's not the schedule itself.

Its not even the same bus driver though. Its no coincidence that each different bus driver happens to be late. I still go by my "a certain passenger" theory. But i will complain that this bus has no business being late, considering its the first bus and there is no way that there will be a packed bus at 7:00 in the morning especially on a Saturday. So unless i am proven wrong, i will stand by my idea that its this passenger who is holding up the bus.

[ds_36]

MoonChild - I don't think you're ever going to be able to convince anybody who might be capable of doing anything that it's that passenger's fault. The driver(s) may be able to say something, although I doubt if any action would be taken.
Would it be at all possible for you to get the bus from the beginning of the route and actually observe first hand what's going on? If you actually witness something specific that may allow you to complain about what's going on.

[MoonChild2007]

MoonChild - I don't think you're ever going to be able to convince anybody who might be capable of doing anything that it's that passenger's fault. The driver(s) may be able to say something, although I doubt if any action would be taken.
Would it be at all possible for you to get the bus from the beginning of the route and actually observe first hand what's going on? If you actually witness something specific that may allow you to complain about what's going on.

Well, about a week ago, The bus came at precisly 7:30 am and THAT passenger wasn't on the bus. But I don't have to prove anything since nobody here knows what its REALLY like.

[Seshat]

ds_36 wasn't suggesting you need to prove anything to us, but to the bus company's management or driver supervisor or whomever is appropriate at the company.

[Sparky]

Its not even the same bus driver though. Its no coincidence that each different bus driver happens to be late. I still go by my "a certain passenger" theory. But i will complain that this bus has no business being late, considering its the first bus and there is no way that there will be a packed bus at 7:00 in the morning especially on a Saturday. So unless i am proven wrong, i will stand by my idea that its this passenger who is holding up the bus.

This is odd. Not that I don't believe you. You're saying that the same bus, the same time, the same route, different drivers, is late ONLY when this particular passenger rides? This is decidedly odd. Something is going on.

Call the company. Call early in the morning if you can and ask to speak to the dispatcher on duty when this occurs. He/she will be the most likely person to be familiar with the situation, or will be the best person to look into it. Some "legitimate" reasons I can think of for a passenger to make a bus run late are:

1. She's the wife/daughter/girlfriend/mother/piano teacher of one of the drivers so everyone is overly nice to her.
2. She's transfering from another bus and the driver radios and asks the second driver (yours) to wait, which puts him late. (I don't know whether your company does this. Mine did.)
3. She's a SC who called the company and whined so loud and so hard that on the days she rides they
A. wait extra time for her (maybe she gets off work 1 minute after the bus comes, so she calls on the days she works and asks them to have the driver wait)
B. drive a couple of blocks out of the way to pick her up, or
C. let her make a stop (running inside a coffee shop or something) while they wait.

The thing is, the company is probably actually providing excellent service for this person, and it only puts the bus 6 minutes late. 6 minutes is nothing in bus-years. (They're kinda like dog years.) The driver probably makes up the time by the time he reaches the end of the route. This is probably not causing a problem for anyone but you.

But it IS causing a problem for you and you DO have a right to complain. How is the company going to know you have a problem if you don't tell them? Call them and see what happens. What do you have to lose? Keep a log for a few days and tell them which days the bus was late, and by how much. If you don't want to call the company, you could also speak to the driver, but if if were me, I'd call.

[MoonChild2007]

This is probably not causing a problem for anyone but you.

Believe me, one Saturday a bunch of men were on the bus and even they were complaining loudly, so its not me. Maybe I am being paranoid.

[ds_36]

ds_36 wasn't suggesting you need to prove anything to us, but to the bus company's management or driver supervisor or whomever is appropriate at the company.

Thanks, Seshat that is what I was trying to say. I'm sure you realize what writing a complaint letter accusing some random woman of making the bus late would sound like. Even if it was written very nicely, I still don't think they'd jump in to do anything. The reason I suggested to try and observe first hand what was actually causing the delay is because, who knows, there may be a legitimate reason of some type that's causing the delay - which may even mean that woman does have some type of legitimate reason for causing the delay. I don't mean legitimate like Sparky's suggestions (all of which except #2, if applicable, I'd complain about), but you'll never know without finding out.

This is probably not causing a problem for anyone but you.

If they do generally run that tightly on schedule I'm sure it does cause problems for others as well. I'm guessing a lot of the people just don't really see the need to complain over about 5 minutes.

[Sparky]

Okay, you probably think I'm crazy for not being able to just let this go. Sorry. But I was driving along this morning and another thought hit me.

It might sound strange, but it's entirely possible that something is happening to delay this bus and it's neither the woman's nor the bus driver's fault.

Maybe the woman's just getting off work or something, and she can only catch that particular bus if it's late. That would make her an innocent bystander.

Why is the bus frequently, but not always, late? I can think of dozens of reasons. Here are a few:

1. Sometimes it gets caught by a train. A train would run the same place, same time, but not necessarily every day.
2. Sometimes it gets stuck behind a school bus. It's illegal to pass a school bus when it's stopped for children.
3. Sometimes it gets stuck behind a garbage truck or a mail carrier. It's legal to pass these when they stop, but it may not be safe to do so.

Just passing this on as a thought. I don't know why your bus is sometimes late, and you'll never know either until you ask.