Metro gives its side of the 577X bus route story

I posted earlier about the whereabouts of two 577x buses in Long Beach -- seems they went missing, according to one rider waiting for the 577X to show up at the V.A. in Long Beach. Well, I just spoke with several Metro employees who oversee aspects of the agency's bus service and they had a pretty good explanation:

Two consecutive buses broke down, it seems. The first was at the El Monte station, the second in Long Beach with an oil leak. Because buses on that line -- which runs between El Monte and Long Beach -- run about 40 minutes apart, the reader was left with a long wait.

Alex Clifford, Metro's gateway service sector manager, said the bus is operated by a contractor and the breakdowns raise the issue of when a contractor should be expected to provide replacement service. He said the agency would be looking into it.

I think the breakdowns also raise this point: What's the best way to provide service advisories to riders who may be stranded or stuck at thousands of bus stops across L.A. County? Putting up electronic signs would be costly, of course, the reason that I think the answer is the common cellphone.

Many cellphones can already access the Internet and I expect such access will quickly become better. So why not build a simple bus and rail service advisory website that patrons can quickly check on their phones. I'm quite sure other agencies have done this already -- particularly in Europe. And if you know about one, please leave a comment and the website address below.

-- Steve Hymon

Comments

[Bart Reed]

Date of Incident: 7/3/2008 Time of Incident: 10:45 p.m.
Board: North Hollywood Red Line Station Line 224

It can get scary when the Operator is not paying attention, while being paid to drive. On Thursday, this Operator had a male customer blocking the front door, whom she spoke with the complete trip. At Sherman Way, the Operator sat through 3 green lights, while she chatted with the male customer. At some stops, the male had to get off the bus while passengers brought aboard
shopping and bulky items and then he would block the way again.

She called no stops, which is a violation of the ADA. The Annunciator was not working. When I called it to the Operators attention that she wasn't calling stops, she said that was what the Annunciator was doing. She was so very busy chatting, and was unaware of a basic mechanical issue.

When I requested the male customer move from the door, so I could alight, she asked why I was being so rude. (She couldn't talk to him for a few minutes). I needed to visually see my stop, as it was dark and I have to take precautions, so as to not to miss my stop.

In summary, she wasn't giving attention to safely doing her job, while talking to someone the whole trip and was unaware of broken equipment. Should she be trusted to take out a bus which is worth over $300,000 and chat with a friend? This is not the type of service we, as riders should be receiving.

[Ginny-Marie Case]

T W I T T E R
T W I T T E R
T W I T T E R
T W I T T E R
T W I T T E R
T W I T T E R
T W I T T E R

Twitter would do the job just fine. Help to pay for an upgrade of their servers, and it fits the bill.

[Spokker]

"Next time, Bonaficio, please do a little research before posting and showing the world how little you know."

Whether or not the board is paid is irrelevant. The point of his post was to express displeasure about Metro.

Bonaficio will be happy to read that the board is paid less than 1 dollar a year.

Also, he could have meant that they should be paid 1 dollar a year for whatever else the board members do for their salary.

I think you're really reaching in order to show how superior you are on the Internet and are coming off as an elitist.

[Armando]

Bus and rail advisory website - great idea! But, it's probably too simple a solution...we're talking about government right?

[Kymberleigh Richards]

The "MTA board clowns" are not paid to be on the Board of Directors. That is not a salaried position.

State law requires all five County Supervisors, the Mayor of Los Angeles, one City Council member from Los Angeles and four from other cities in the County to serve on the Metro Board. That is in addition to the duties of their elected positions.

Next time, Bonaficio, please do a little research before posting and showing the world how little you know.

[brady westwater]

The worst offenders are the drivers who don't make their last runs at night so they can get some sleep - leaving people stranded 10 or 20 miles from home after midnight. This sometimes happens with the last two or even three buses being no shows. Many drivers also skip stops when they are running late - and I have been on buses at night that have gotten off the streets they are supposed to be running on - and do down another street so all the people waiting can't see the bus skip their stops.

[calwatch]

So many cities have bus information systems based off GPS it's not even funny.

Minneapolis uses the exact same "Nextrip" system, that LACMTA uses except they've actually tied that information in to the GPS: http://www.metrotransit.org/news/stories/04_08_nextrip.asp

Portland's Tri-Met Transit Tracker is probably the best of breed: http://trimet.org/arrivals/index.htm

But when you are showed off by the hicks from Riverside, something's wrong: http://rtabus.com/

[Angry Gateway Cities Rider]

Line 266 the runs along Rosemead/Lakewood is also run by contractors.(Southland transit) I and other riders waited 2 Hours for a south bound bus this morning. And this is a very common thing on this line. The Bus is either too early or 15 minutes late on minimum twice a week. I managed to get a phone number to contact them this morning, guy on the otherline had no clue what was happening on the line. and supposedly looked into it. Bus finally arrives and were told the Bus was in an accident. understandable but where are the extra buses for these types of issues. Ive seen new riders (especially now with Gas prices being high as they are) get turned off twice this week Because of the constant break downs/driver incompetance and bus accidents on this route. It should honestly be shortened or be turned over to MTA or a municipal bus line like montebello north of the greenline and long beach transit south of it. its very frustrating Bus service in the gateway cities stinks.

[Bonaficio de Brentwood]

Villaraigosa should be paid one buck a year, as well as the rest of the MTA board clowns, until public transportation in LA is at a reasonable level.

The buses are wretched. There are not expletives to describe how bad service and maintenance are.

[Aaron]

Steve,

Metro already does this with the Rapids. Go to RapidBus.net on your computer or cell phone. The technology is there, and this is based on GPS, not schedules. Having said that, it will take a lot of time to do this system-wide - the 577 and other busses run on a variety of streets and highways, whereas the Rapids normally follow a pretty straight shot, with some exceptions, and they are pretty well-setup with a good deal of technology in order to control signals and track them. But the obvious evolution is to do with this most or all busses.

In San Francisco, they have more full-scale bus shelters, so they do have next-bus signs in many places. Having said that, we probably have many more bus stops than San Francisco due to our size.

[Kevin Crilley]

Steve,

You have just brushed the future of public transportation. With internet access, the public can view the location of buses in real time and request service so resources can be eliminated in areas with no demand and shifted to areas of higher demand....

Kevin Crilley

[Bart Reed]

It is pretty common for buses not to show up. And when they don't, the rider is stranded, as nobody except Metro Control knows what has happened. It could be an equipment breakdown, a driver stopping to make a phone call from a pay phone or just stopping at a fast food place. Sometimes Metro Operators just don't complete their route and skip one to many stops. The complete lack of supervision makes this all possible, so because the middle class isn't using the service, the Authority gets relatively few complaints.

If the middle class starts using the service and has a higher expectation of service quality, then the elected officials overseeing Metro will be forced to fund common industry practices such as "Extra Buses" that can be rolled out to replace breakdowns or to fill the service gaps. Right now, if a Metro or a contractor operated bus breaks down, the Operator can sit for maybe an hour or two before someone from the mechanical department brings out a replacement. Service quality? Naw, it's only Metro and the riders never complain.

[Donna Gooley]

There is a major problem going on in the San Fernando Valley with buses not showing up or showing up late. I have had nothing but problems recently, and I am complaining to Metro daily. This problem is totally unacceptable, especially in light of the recent fare increase. The buses are twelve years old, and we will not get new ones until next year. We cannot wait. There will be a revolt by then.

[SoapBoxLA]

London Twitters, NASA Twitters, SoapBoxLA twitters...

http://twitter.com/SoapBoxLA