The bus stops, but you don't have to

[Magpie]

Well, how 'bout my particular situation? I would try to get out from behind it, but some days, the traffic just didn't (and still doesn't) allow it. I would then have to stay behind it because where I turned into the parking lot where I worked, is just after the bus stop.

Oh, I'm not saying getting out from behind the bus always works, just that that's why people try to. Honestly, around here they don't have enough buses, so traffic's always really heavy, and I'm just very glad that I don't need to drive.

[Chromatix]

About 95% of the buses come from Espoo and go to the same major bus station just a couple of stops further on. If people happen to be going there, it doesn't matter which one they get. But they nearly all have to stop because this is the first stop inside Helsinki, and there's always *someone* who wants to get off.

Of the remaining 5%, one has already been re-routed onto an adjacent road, which means that the day and night routings are now consistent. But the road layout is awkward enough that there isn't a very convenient place to put an extra stop for the others.

On the other hand, not many people need to get on those buses at that point. There's a Metro station on the other road which goes to the two major places those buses go to (the main bus station and the main railway station), for the same price and transfer flexibility, more frequently to the railway station, and more comfortably.

On the gripping hand, the corresponding stop on the opposite side of the road is just as much of a clusterfark. They've already separated the non-Espoo buses to a stop after the junction with the motorway (the Espoo buses join the motorway), but there is only one stop for all the Espoo buses, which go to nearly all parts of that great and evenly-populated municipality.

[Ironclad Alibi]

On the gripping hand, ...

Do I detect a Niven/Pournelle fan here?

[Andara Bledin]

Do I detect a Niven/Pournelle fan here?

Totally , but I've waltzed with Niven.

Carry on.

^-.-^

[PepperElf]

If not for the bus driver's frantic gestures warning me of a speeding vehicle I would have been plastered on the front of a B-Clean van.

you're a lot luckier than a guy from my first ship. the drivers at pearl harbor base always drive too fast for the base, and often ignore crosswalks.

one of the guys on my ship was using the crosswalk. There were two incoming lanes of traffic, one car stopped for him but another car didn't. compound fracture in each leg. they had to pull him off the ship cos he was going to take at least 6 months for him to heal from the damage.

[canada bruno]

Had the opposite happen to me once at a crosswalk. Since a bus stopped for me at the crosswalk the driver in the left lane decided the bus was at a bus stop. If not for the bus driver's frantic gestures warning me of a speeding vehicle I would have been plastered on the front of a B-Clean van.

I'm a bus driver, and this exact scenario is why I don't stop for pedestrians at cross walks unless the pedestrian has already started walking across the street or it's a street with only one lane in each direction. I used to stop, but far too many times I've seen the motorist in the second lane just assume I'm at a bus stop and keep on driving. By stopping, which at first seems like the right thing to do, I'm causing a dangerous situation. The bus becomes a billboard. The pedestrian can not see through the bus, neither can the motorist. Smaller vehicles can stop at the cross walk ( or non-transit vehicles). You might think I'm being an a$$ for not stopping at the cross walk, but it's all in the name of safety.

[Kogarashi]

You might think I'm being an a$$ for not stopping at the cross walk, but it's all in the name of safety.

And you know, while in the moment I might rant and rave at you in my head if I've been waiting forever, after my own close call as a pedestrian I'd much rather the large vehicles not stop for me, if it means I don't have to gingerly peek around them to see if I'm going to become road pizza. Better to be angry at the big vehicles than dead.

[smileyeagle1021]

Of course, I also once saw a bus driver get his ass chewed out by a Metro Transit guy for showing up at the transit center, opening his door for about 5 seconds, then closing it and leaving, with a dozen people who had already been waiting for him at the stop.

I saw something like that. I was waiting for a bus on State street at a major transfer point. There is a requirement that drivers use their external speakers to announce the route and UTA has had a terrible time getting drivers to actually, you know, actually make the announcement. I was waiting and bus after bus would come up, fail to make the announcement, and as soon as they'd pull away I'd hear a transit officer who was standing next to me, "vehicle (insert number here), please speak with (name) when you return to the garage tonight."
pwned