Circulator rethinking schedule strategy
Last week Charm City Circulator riider Tim Patterson raised some concerns about two issues affecting the free city bus service: the practice of interrupting normal pickups to get back on schedule and the tendency of certain street people to take up temporary residence aboard the vehicles in a most un-fragrant way.
Sarah Husain, transit coordinator for the Circulator, provided the following responses:
1. We’ve been experimenting with different ways to improve our evening peak headway times by trying new ideas in refueling the buses in the afternoons, but the “drop off” method that Mr. Patterson mentioned isn’t working well, so we’re changing that approach.
2. We have Downtown and Waterfront Partnership guides helping out to add an extra measure of safety and security on the Circulator on Friday and Saturday evenings, but if another passenger is causing an issue on the Circulator during other times, please let the driver know, who can then radio to dispatch that s/he needs assistance.
Suhain adds that the city is conducting a survey at its website in Circulator service and urges rider to sign on and give city officials some feedback on problems such as these.
My take on her answers:
1. It's good that the Circulator folks see the error of trying to adjust schedules midway through the run. The time and place to do that is at the end of the route. In the case of the Purple Route, if a bus must pause to alleviate bunching-up, it would seem the ideal place to do it would be on Lanvale Avenue between the drop-off point on Charles and the pick-up stop on St. Paul. On the Orange Route, Central Avenue could serve the same function.
2. Some riders might not want to be seen raising objections to the bus driver because they could be subjected to abuse by the people they complain about. But quite a few might prefer to notify authorities by text message. The city should look into what it would take to allow riders to report problems directly to supervisors that way.
Comments
One of the big problems with scheduling is the construction on Pratt Street. If you need to get from the West Side to the Harbor, the Orange Route is pretty useless at this point because of Pratt Street.
Perhaps they should consider breaking the single Orange Route into two smaller routes that intersect somewhere just east of UMB.
Posted by: Tim Patterson | September 20, 2010 8:22 PM
The circulator was to be this huge tourist event to attract all kinds of people to the city and allow visitors opportunities to get around the city and see different parts of the city at the expense of tax payers and city parkers.
The circulator is not advertised to tourists at all. I have had several friends come to conventions in Baltimore that had no clue the circulator existed. This now asks me exactly why do we have the circulator?
It is another way for the government to legally steal money from the average citizen to create a new entitlement program. It is only a matter of time before the MTA bus system complains about lower revenues to once again raise rates or force tax payers to pick up more of the tab.
The only people that are benefiting is the big corporate entity behind the circulator and the homeless who need a place to get out of the elements as well as whatever kick backs this big entity is providing to elected officials.
Posted by: Phillip | September 21, 2010 9:21 AM
To Phillip - The circulator was never meant to be exclusively a tourist benefit. Quite the opposite, it was designed with city residents and employees in mind. It's a way to connect other, previously disconnected transit modes like the light rail, metro, MARC and Amtrak. Just because you don't see the benefit in it doesn't mean it's not a valuable service.
Posted by: mobtown | September 21, 2010 12:27 PM
You are on point with the appropriate time for schedule adjustments. However, it seems that currently the middle of the route is used to make these adjustments (and change drivers) - Power Plant and Conway. In what world of transit common sense is this logical? A driver told me it's because it's too congested at the end of the routes, but I just don't agree with that.
Posted by: scott | September 21, 2010 2:35 PM