http://t4america.org/blog/2009/01/28/the-inauguration-a-shining-moment-for-public-transportation/ Fri, 10 Feb 2012 22:36:19 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://t4america.org/blog/2009/01/28/the-inauguration-a-shining-moment-for-public-transportation/#comment-924 Jan van Eck (CT) Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:16:00 +0000 http://t4america.org/?p=630#comment-924 From the point of view of the charter bus drivers, the day was less than brilliantly planned. At the staging lots, the drivers were allowed "in," but once in, could not drop and leave. The problem this poses is that there were no hotel rooms in Metro, so drivers had rooms some 40 miles out of town - and with the bus now trapped in the drop lot, no way to get to their rooms. The drivers were left to catch their sleep as best they could inside the cold buses. The engines could not be run for warmth due to anti-pollution laws. At the end of the day, the long-haul drivers were faced with a 500-mile return run with insufficient rest. That this is a lousy way to organize is obvious. Also, I find it shameful that DC levies a $50 fee for entering the city in a bus. Those are public streeets; where does DC get off charging a special fee for buses, and not for dump trucks? Then another $60 was charged to park. Equally poor, the outlying Metro stations would refuse entry to bus passengers unless they had a pre-purchased ticket, unless the group was less than 15. So the charter buses were obliged to go all the way into town and drop in the inside lots - and be frozen there-- rather than drop in the outskirts and let the pax take the train in. If the trains were anticipated to be overloaded, then the obvious solution would be to confiscate road lanes on parallel routes and press a jitney of transit buses into service, to boost route capacity. Buses could have been pulled in from outlying cities, even as far as Baltimore, just for the day. What you have here is planning done by people who are not in the bus industry, and so do not understand the requirements. I view the whole exercise as quite marginal. From the point of view of the charter bus drivers, the day was less than brilliantly planned. At the staging lots, the drivers were allowed “in,” but once in, could not drop and leave. The problem this poses is that there were no hotel rooms in Metro, so drivers had rooms some 40 miles out of town – and with the bus now trapped in the drop lot, no way to get to their rooms. The drivers were left to catch their sleep as best they could inside the cold buses. The engines could not be run for warmth due to anti-pollution laws. At the end of the day, the long-haul drivers were faced with a 500-mile return run with insufficient rest. That this is a lousy way to organize is obvious.
Also, I find it shameful that DC levies a $50 fee for entering the city in a bus. Those are public streeets; where does DC get off charging a special fee for buses, and not for dump trucks? Then another $60 was charged to park.
Equally poor, the outlying Metro stations would refuse entry to bus passengers unless they had a pre-purchased ticket, unless the group was less than 15. So the charter buses were obliged to go all the way into town and drop in the inside lots – and be frozen there– rather than drop in the outskirts and let the pax take the train in. If the trains were anticipated to be overloaded, then the obvious solution would be to confiscate road lanes on parallel routes and press a jitney of transit buses into service, to boost route capacity. Buses could have been pulled in from outlying cities, even as far as Baltimore, just for the day. What you have here is planning done by people who are not in the bus industry, and so do not understand the requirements. I view the whole exercise as quite marginal.

]]> http://t4america.org/blog/2009/01/28/the-inauguration-a-shining-moment-for-public-transportation/#comment-913 Fred Moezzi Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:17:01 +0000 http://t4america.org/?p=630#comment-913 Increase and expedite Transi Funding in President Obama's Stimulus Plan. Increase and expedite Transi Funding in President Obama’s Stimulus Plan.

]]> http://t4america.org/blog/2009/01/28/the-inauguration-a-shining-moment-for-public-transportation/#comment-912 Fred Moezzi Wed, 28 Jan 2009 17:13:10 +0000 http://t4america.org/?p=630#comment-912 Top priority of the San Francisco Bay Area: BART extension to San Jose Top priority for the State of California: California High Speed Rail Top priority of the San Francisco Bay Area: BART extension to San Jose
Top priority for the State of California: California High Speed Rail

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