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1101 East Pike St. Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98122
1101 East Pike St. Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98122
The title of this post must have been written by Dan.
Indeed, agree with you here partner. It's happened to me all right. It is especially frustrating when one has to yell it 2X or more! You make a good point. Drivers must always check the rear exit door.
When there was a Ride Free Zone downtown (which ended 9/29/2012) most of the routes you mention had a pay-as-you-exit policy, and therefore the backdoor was not opened at most non-downtown stops.
It might help explain, however, why some drivers forget to open the back door at all stops. Apparently two fucking years is not enough time for them to learn a new Metro policy, which is "please use the backdoor to exit".
If no one pulls the cord, it's pointless to open to rear door. It wastes time because it's slow to open and close (for safety reasons), which means we have to wait at a bus stop that much longer before we can pull away, which means we y'all get to your destinations that much longer, and I have that much less of a chance of getting a pee break at the end of the line before turning around!
And if I were the driver of a bus carrying you, I'd do my very best to ignore all the passengers in the back as well.
I've pulled the goddamn cord and yelled loudly several times for the back door to be opened and wound up missing my stop because your coworkers are idiots.
*Especially* when it comes to the buses here.
Do you have any idea how good you have it compared to other parts of the nation? I've lived in metropolises where bus service covered less than 10% of the city, where you didn't get on certain routes because the bus number made it a target for the Mexican drug gangs, where you were stood rather than sat because the insulation between your ass and the engine was so bad you might get burned.
And this is the shit you bitch about?
On a blog.
Is the exodus of reporters turning this into LiveJournal?
The author should have a call to action rather than a petulant whine with vague accusations at faceless people. Get your readers to bitch at Metro directly, giving links to follow to feedback forms or phone numbers to call.
Alternately, stop being a whiny little bitch and review another book or write another movie or do *something* that will insert a little joy in your life, because you seem very angry.
Some drivers STILL don't do their part and things escalate quickly (that animals in the zoo visual is quite apt!), but it would alleviate your concern about slowing your roll by always cycling the rear door open.
Also, bus drivers should not leave stops without a person that had been waiting by the stop for several minutes. This has happened to me twice within the last month.
Actually, this is Metro's fault. Unlike any big-city transit system worth its salt, Metro refuses to order buses with the slightest bit of standing room in the aisles or anywhere other than by the rear door. Like the suburban agency they have long been, they want as many seats as possible because the prior generation expected to settle in for a very long, very slow, meandering haul. The concept of a high-frequency network for more than just commuting, and with lots and lots of people getting on and off throughout the route, is still lost on the agency.
Sometimes, you just don't want to sit down. Maybe all the seats seem extra filthy today. Maybe you'd rather balance your belongings from your arms than on your lap. Maybe you're only going a mile or two, and you've been sitting all day.
It's a large public vehicle, and there should be plenty of room to stand up, plenty of space to non-confrontationally pass each other on the way to the exit. In fact, your "everyone settles in" approach is one of the very things that makes Metro so habitually fucking slow.
Also, that suburban long haul you speak of in such belittling terms is exactly what Metro should be focusing on. Urban dwellers live closer to their destinations, so they have more transit options. They can walk, bike, etc. They don't need the busses. Those aspects of a "suburban agency" you revile are what mass transit should be about.
Big city transit is not mass transit. It fits the first half of the description, but makes a mockery of the latter. If we care about transit, we should care about every suburban citizen we get out of a car, and get out of the way of the urban citizen so they can make their own way at their own speed unimpeded.
Of course, since this goes against The Stranger's corporatist mindset masquerading as a New Urbanist mindset, I don't expect anyone at this rag to understand such simple logic.
Seriously riders, the driver is not an all empowering magical being that can read your mind. But who am I but someone who's used Metro for 25 years, better to just throw money at them and hope that fixes whatever trivial problem that forces you to write an entire article just for the sake of writing an article. Hey maybe we should force all drivers to actually live in Seattle?
But does Mudede have something on the Stranger? They couldn't bump him to freelancing status and divide his salary three ways to pay Anna, Dom, and Cienna 33% more to keep them around?
But in the city, people need to be able to squeeze on without hanging awkwardly over the seat backs, and need to get on and off frequently and expeditiously. That means open floor plans and lots of standing room.
As for the aisle widths, you're just wrong.
New York: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/MZN3EAcuPLA/maxres…
Boston: https://c1.staticflickr.com/7/6133/59308…
Paris: http://www.motorinfo.cz/uploads/sources/…
Metro fares have doubled in less than ten years. Sound Transit is increasing its fares in 2015. How many more premiums do you want bus riders to pay?
People in the city don't need to be able to squeeze on without hanging awkwardly over the seat backs. They've got non-bus transit options all around them. They choose to to squeeze on and hang awkwardly. Why are we blaming Metro for the voluntary actions of passengers? There's plenty to blame Metro for that they've actually done.
As far as aisle widths go, I'll rely on my anecdotal experience. Staged shots of empty busses in a style simply unseen during actual travel doesn't really support your argument. Try a bus with people on it, one that is actually being used on real streets.
Attn Metro Drivers:
PLEASE ALWAYS ENFORCE EXITING VIA THE REAR DOORS.
We all need to get in the habit.
Especially now since it's always pay upon entry, it creates a front-door traffic jam @ every stop & IT'S EFFING COLD OUTSIDE for those of us waiting to get on the bus.
Make it easier for everyone to more quickly embark & disembark: enforce exiting via the rear doors ONLY.
I'm not being snarky, I'm just honestly curious if drivers know this or not.
2x1 seating leaves a much wider aisle than 2x2 seating. Twice the aisle can accommodate exponentially more standees.
My "anecdotal" experience is living in these places. Yours is apparently your malfunctioning memory.
p.s. I agree that Metro's standard fare is as high as it can get for the service quality it provides. But commuters riding 20 miles to Issaquah in HOV lanes (for which they would otherwise be ineligible) are receiving a service that is significantly better than the local standard, has comparative cost/speed advantages against driving that other users do not receive, and is of use only to a very specific subset of (mostly white-collar) users. It's also more costly to run, because it is well used for only a couple of hours per day, and only in one direction.
That's why what I suggested is also standard practice worldwide: low standard base fares, but premium surcharges for premium commuter services. Especially those who "must" have a seat at all costs. I'm not suggesting this in a vacuum.
1) yes, we Metro drivers understand that you cannot hear the PA above the noise of the fans for the heat/AC. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about that, save turning it off. Which would either freeze or suffocate you all. And metro bulletins constantly remind us to be cognizant of your comfort. Can't have it all.
2) I am sorry, no, we cannot enforce the exit-at-the-back-door policy. We are not allowed. Metro creates policies and emphasizes we are NOT enforcers. We are not SUPPOSED to enforce that. In addition, elderly, disabled, and passengers with children either prefer or REQUIRE the front door because it kneels to get those passengers closer to the ground they are stepping off on to. The back doors do not, and often the back door does not align with the sidewalk so it would be dangerous to unload those kinds of passengers out the back. Furthermore, we carry many cyclists, whom we STRONGLY encourage to exit out the front so they can alert us that they will be stepping in front of our bus to remove their bikes. All very valid safety issues. And far be it for me to determine whether or not each passenger is indeed disabled. Granted it would be far more efficient to unload at the same time we are loading, it doesn't always work out that way.
3) And where efficiency is concerned, the back door does indeed take longer to cycle, so if there is no one standing at the back door (who hasn't been there for miles and ) we won't open it. The better to move you down the road.
4) you need to be able to hear us too. If you have headphones in, you can't hear us.
Just a few points, but possibly more information than you had a few minutes ago.
Also, ditto @39, I can never understand a fucking word of what the drivers are saying over the PA.
To which I say bullshit to both people not being seen (there are mirrors the operator can check) and as far as buses the articulated buses are "re-purposed" former "dual mode" Bredas that had the diesel motor removed and which are among the electric trolley buses that are being replaced in early 2015 by newer buses. There are no other articulated 60' trolley buses. All the MAN buses were retired 10 years ago. You cannot use something that you do not have. Presently most of Metro's Gillig buses were rebuilt with parts from some *very* old buses. Typically a regular diesel bus costs $280,000 and up. An articulated trolley bus new probably runs over $500,000. There's a good reason why Metro tries to scavenge parts from older buses.
http://lbloom.net/xking11.html
Entering from the rear is an entirely different issue with which I am unfamiliar and have no interest in pursuing. However, I am a huge fan of Dan Savage.
As an old school Seattle bus commuter, I think 98% of my drivers try to take care. I even liked many drivers on the 358 (and its doomed predecessor.) RIP.
@27 "pop the back" is going to be the next "hella" because I'm going to make it happen. Thank you.
Why isn't there a signal button by the back door to let the driver know someone needs to exit? It could illuminate a light on the dash or something, or special 'back door bell' tone. This seems so obvious.
Also, WTF Seattlites for not helping to voice-pass the "Back door!" request up to the driver.
This would be so easy, but everyone just sits there quietly while the person wanting to exit strains their throat yelling through a crowded mass of people. It's nuts.
It is silly that the driver doesn't get a special "back door" signal when I push the button/pull a cord back there vs in the front of the bus. Especially since it appears the doors are on separate "open" triggers.
I mean, seriously, what do you expect for $50k a year (second highest bus driver pay in the nation).
It's really not hard to exit at the backdoor. The waive works, BACKDOOR works, pulling the cord and waiving works, and generally not being a quick-twitch-if-I-speak-I-scream nutball really does help.
This, ladies and gentleman, is the regionalism inherent in New Urbanism. If you're not a member of the urban elite, you're nothing but a rural plebian who doesn't deserve transit options nearly as much as the upper caste.
America is not a caste society. Suburbanites are not unclean masses to be forced to support you and your lifestyle.
Get over yourself, d.p. The world isn't about you or your surreal vision of it.