WHY aren't they fixing the schedule for the #1? It's consistently late by 15-20 minutes, at least at the times and stretches I ride. Considering it's the ONLY line that gets you to Tide Point, a pretty major employment center, it needs to have a schedule that workers can rely on.

Mike, do you have anyone at the MTA you can talk to about this?

Here is a reply from MTA spookesman Terry Owens about the No. 1 bus route between Sinai Hospital and Fort McHenry:

"Thanks for sharing the riders concern. As you know we constantly monitor our on- time performance with service quality managers, calls, emails from customers, social media, and a private contractor. Our most comprehensive data comes from the automated vehicle locator system on every bus which allows us to account for changes in running times and passenger loads. Every day brings its own set of variables from traffic, to accidents and weather. But next to safety, on-time performance is our top priority. A check of our records for the week of 1-22-2011 shows the number 1 with an on-time performance of just over 90 percent. Still, we take every concern seriously and will raise this issue with our Service Quality Division."
Terry Owens
MTA Media Relations

Frankly, Mr Owens, there is no way the 1 comes close to 90% on time performance. That number is utterly ridiculous. I'm telling you from personal experience that I've almost never had the 1 arrive on time (according to google maps times, which you promote on your website). Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have you try to silence me with that stat? Telling me that doesn't make my commute any less frustrating. Stop feeding us BS and fix the schedule.

Does MTA drill down their on-time performance statistics? For example, with the 1, I'm willing to bet that the on-time performance is very different between peak periods and off-peak periods.

As a rider, I'm more concerned about whether I'll make it to work on time (peak periods) than whether I'll make it to a weekend function on time (off-peak). 90% combined on-time really doesn't sound that successful, when all the confounding factors are taken into account.

Another question - how is on-time performance measured? Is it measured at the beginning and end of a route, at every schedule time point along a route, or at every stop along a route? Measuring at the endpoints of a route would inflate on-time performance, at least in my eyes as a rider. I don't generally take a bus from beginning to end.

COMMENT: I'm going to venture a semi-educated guess on what the case is with the No. 1 route. The 90 percent statistic probably overesttimates the efficiency of the route's performance. But there are no indications the No. 1 is one of the more troubled routes in the system. It appears the MTA could only afford to fix so many routes at one time and did some triiage. The list the agency released includes some routes that have fared far worse on surveys than the No. 1. If riders of the No. 1 disbelieve the statistics and want to achieve changes in the ext round of schedule changes, they need to begin agitating and keeping their own records now. But first the riders and the MTA need to be using the same measure of what contitutes "on time." There does need to be some ggrace period because a city bus is not a closed system like a subway.

Thank you for the comment back, and I can't agree with you more. If the service is not living up to your expectations, you need to take it upon yourself to effect change - keep a daily log, talk with supervisors, etc. It may be just one or two trips on the rush hour schedule that have problems with on time performance. I only used the 1 as an example, because the previous commenter mentioned it specifically.

I also agree that if riders are going to log their trips, they need to do so in the same way as the MTA - which leads me back to my original comment. How does MTA determine "on time"? Is it at the time points in the schedule, and is there a window of 5 minutes before and after? (This is the window that WMATA uses for their Metro buses.)

On a side note, I had a chance to ride the bus in Raleigh, NC about 10 years ago. TTA had a policy in place that stated that if a bus were more than 15 minutes late, riders rode for free. I have no idea how much that improved on-time performance, or if it did at all.

COMMENT: The policy at the MTA is that a bus is considered "on time" if iit is anywhere between one minute early and five minutes late compared with its schedule at various measurement points. I'd call that a reasonable window and suggest that anyone who wants to keep tabs on a route use the same definition.