Monday, February 7, 2011

hella stressed

UPDATED as of 12am 2/7

i almost shit my pants on the bus today, and not in the poop kind, but in the almost had to wait an extra 45 minutes for a transfer because my first bus was FOURTEEN MINUTES LATE at 10:30 at night (it runs every 15 minutes). Unforgivable:

73 departs University & 41st at 10:24pm (14 minutes late)
73 arrives University St. Station at 10:44pm (15 minutes late)
(insert me running off the bus and sprinting up two escalators)
54 departs 3rd & Seneca at 11:02pm (on time)
54 arrives California & Barton at 11:26pm (one minute late)

The 73 was so late that the 71, which runs the same route from U-District to Downtown 15 minutes later, PASSED US!!!

-jean

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heyall,
so at work now, stressing because i have a mid-term tomorrow and a paper due on wednesday and i'm not really prepared for either of them and i work and have class tonight and tomorrow. kill me now.

today's commute to work:
54 departs California & Barton at 3:17pm (three minutes late)
54 arrives 3rd & Seneca at 3:49pm (one minute early)

71X departs University St. Station at 3:53pm (on time)
71X arrives at 41st & University at 4:06pm (one minute late)

One weird thing i've been noticing about the Metro Trip Planner is that it doesn't necessarily give you the quickest trip at the top or assumes that it's going to take you seven minutes to walk two blocks. I've been having to alter the way I put my trips into the trip planner just so I can get the appropriate information. Like today, when i planned the second part of my trip, I put in University St. Station to 41st & University at 3:50pm. The first Itinerary that pops up is for the 72X which wasn't supposed to arrive until 4:01pm even though the 71X is the exact same route eight minutes earlier.

If i just type in my address to 41st & University, it assumes that its doesn't even mention the 71X at 3:53pm. It either assumes that the first bus may be more than three minutes late, or that it's going to take me longer than three minutes to ride down an escalator from my bus stop. i totally understand how this may come into play when people who don't have as easy a time getting around as i do, but still, you'd think they'd at least offer it as an option.

-jean

3 comments:

  1. I give myself 12 minutes to walk the 2 blocks from my house to my bus stop, but that's mainly because I'm perpetually early/crazy. One thing I hate about this economy is all the people who are having to learn how to take the bus. It's bad enough to stand out in the cold, but having to wait longer because they can't put their dollar bills in the feeder sucks even more. And these old ladies who sit up front and talk to the driver, like she has nothing better to do than to hold your hand while you figure it out, except, oh wait, she has to drive the damn bus. Also, the leaning forward in the seat with anticipation, because, ohmygod, their stop is coming up, and how are they supposed to pull this cord, whatthefuck, yeah, it makes me want to scream.

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  2. i know right! i try to get to the bus stop at least 4 minutes before the trip planner tells me to get there.

    i do not miss knoxville public transit at all. that shit was crazy. i remember that if a person on a bus that was running late needed to transfer to another bus, they'd hold that bus back making it late as well. also it's nice to live in a city where buses travel down more than four streets.

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  3. Hey, I live in a city where the buses only travel down four streets. Except the population here is like 30,000 people. I'm really glad they have buses at all.

    I remember getting in at the airport in Oakland and having to find my way to this Party building all the way up by Berkeley. Never been there before in my life and I had to get on a bus, then get on the train, then walk like 18 blocks. I was "that guy" but it turned out to be pretty easy. I'm debating whether to try the Seattle transit on Friday but I don't know, I might run into Mary and she might get pissed at me!

    Out here I'm always hoping the driver doesn't talk to me. I park & ride and it's the same dude at the same time every morning, the buses hold there for a few minutes to transfer, so I get on and we chat for a few minutes before he takes off. It's cool except now I feel like an asshole for putting my headphones on or something, like I'm his friend and he's going to be sad that I won't talk to him. Whenever an old lady sits in the front seat and bullshits with him I'm happy because it takes the pressure off of me.

    Did I win the award for longest comment on your blog so far? Yeah, what's up.

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