It's official: I hate Translink!

March 16th St/ Patrick's day parade blocks off Granville, Howe and all cross streets between somewhere downtown and Pacific, causing a complete reroute of all buses passing through the city centre. Now would you expect that the Translink website would mention that, or that the Trip Planner would advise that trying to leave from West End to go to Broadway and Willow might take some extra time?

Nope, but you could expect that the translink information customer service would sarcastically wish you a "great day" after you complain that the lack of information is making your day very difficult and that this is just another example of the essential brokenness of their database.

God I hate Translink. I hate their lack of service. I hate the rude bus drivers. I hate the million dollar buses that bang me back and forth and won't open their back doors. I hate their snarky customer service. I hate that the ones that run the service never ride it. But most of all I hate that I just have to put up with their total fucking contempt for all of us, because driving a car would just be cutting my nose off to spite my face, helping them ensure that this city chokes to death on traffic and pollution.

The end of the bus timetable | MetaFilter

Now here is an improvement that we could use. It would not stop the alien abduction of our buses, or make the the $1 million+ new buses work any better but it would mean that we would know that they're not coming!

The end of the bus timetable | MetaFilter:

"Is this the end of the bus timetable? It can be bloody cold in Helsinki in January. The last thing you want to do is hang around too long for a bus or tram. Soon you won't have to because Helsinki City Transport is currently fitting *its entire fleet* with Linux servers. Not only will each bus or tram become a travelling wireless hotspot, but you will be able to see exactly where in the city your new bus actually is. Meaning that you only step into the bitter cold the minute before it arrives. (its in beta but you can see the effects of the live trial)

Moreover, using Near Field Communication embedded in the bus and tram stops that allow you to boot the whole caboodle on your Nokia, without going online or having to imput lots of fiddly Finnish names (try inputting Kalasatama at minus 15). You can then track the upcoming stops on your mobile and see where exactly are your connecting buses are in the city as well. Its almost as if you can route your way around a city using packet switching I think i've seen the future of mass transit. And it doesn't involve a timetable.

posted by MrMerlot (49 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite"

from MetaFilter by MrMerlot

We already have the Next Bus service (of which I am a fan) but it is based on querying the database, which may or may not be accurate (either overly optimistic or subject to the always random alien abduction theart). This system seems to be based on real time/real buses. Will this be coming soon to our transit system? Only the Translink Masters know.

How will we ever get out of our cars and on to the bus?

And not at the point of a gun either.

The question, it seems to me is why do we prefer cars over buses? Well that's fairly simple.

Cars are:

• private - no smelly, crazy, unpleasant or rude people (or if there are they're your problem).
• easy - walk out the door and there is your car, get in and go to where ever you are going , park and you're there.
• cost - somewhat high but then you've got something for your money.

Buses are:

• public - anyone with the price of admission (or not) can ride and if they are crazy, rude, unpleasant or smelly they are your problem (and everyone else's) and may in fact be the driver (well not smelly, I've yet to encounter a smelly bus driver). But most of your fellow bus riders are none of the above, in fact, first thing in the morning when everyone is freshly showered and on their way to work the bus can a very pleasant place to look out the window, people watch or read a book.
  
• difficult - you have to go to them, sometimes blocks in the cold, the dark , the rain and wait. And wait and wait and wait, since they are undependable. Even if they do come on time the bus may be overcrowded and uncomfortable or simply pass you by. However when they do work, the bus comes shortly after you arrive at the stop, the driver is pleasant and friendly, there is a seat for you and get off near your destination and forget about transportation as soon as you get off, they are brilliant. And this is how it works more times than not.
  
• cost - is lower than the cost of having a car but you have to pay every time or show that you have paid. And that gives the sense that it costs a significant amount, certainly more per trip than a car. It also cost a significant percentage of your income if you don't have much income. $5.00 to go to and from work for under $10.00 per hour is 1/2 hours wages or 8% of your gross income (assuming a 6 hour shift which may be over generous).
  

So why get out of the car? And on to the bus? Not a lot of reason that I can see on the face of it. But the advantages of cars may be more myth than reality (unfortunately the disadvantages of the bus are not myth and the advantages while true do not match the believed advantages of the car).

So what are the real advantages of the car?

• Privacy. You are private and can do what you want when you want to but there are thousands of you out there doing it at the same time and they may be rude, crazy, unpleasant and smelly just like some bus riders but they are in control or not of a car that you have to share the streets with they are an actual menace not simply unpleasant. And I hate to say it but you may be one of them, ever talk on your cell phone while driving, cut someone off, cut through a crosswalk with pedestrians still in it? The privacy of a car is an harmless illusion at best.
  
• Ease of use. Well not really, driving on the streets of Vancouver puts you at risk of a variety poor and/or oblivious drivers (and remember you may at times be one of them). Parking in Vancouver is either expensive or impossible, and depending upon where you live that may mean that parking at home may be as difficult as parking your destination, maybe even more so. So going anytime you want to where ever you want may be much more complicated that we think. This is of course assuming that your car never breaks down, never requires repairs and is always available.
  
• Cost. One writer makes the following estimates:

  2005 Toyota Echo sedan

  2005 Dodge Caravan

  2005 Chevrolet Malibu Maxx

  2005 BMW 530i

  $6,209.77

  $10,078.73

  $8,767.05

  $15,979.45

  This is cost per year to own and operate a car. This does not include costs of parking and the occasional fine for missing the meter. To ride the bus, the maximum monthly bus ticket is $136.00 or $1,632.00 per year, prepaid tickets (3 zone $38.00/10 tickets) or single fares (3 zone $5.00/per ride). Significantly cheaper. There are of course other costs and subsides but they exist for both car drivers and for bus riders.
  

So why do drivers insist on driving? Two reasons I think.

1. The myths of private car ownership are beliefs that are tightly held and not subject to reason. Car owners believe that cars are faster, safer and more comfortable than buses and represent a reasonable cost/benefit ratio for them. That they are sometimes faster, rarely safer, certainly more comfortable but probably a terrible cost/benefit ratio is not likely to be believed at least as long as the following belief is held.
2. The transit system is unbelievably unattractive. Dirty, messy often covered in graffiti. It often feels unsafe, police and security's main focus is fare avoidance, there is little or no on site assistance for the lost or confused, aggressive behaviour by both passengers and staff is ignored. Many of the staff appear to have been inculcated with an "us and them" belief and see passengers as impediments to their jobs. The cost while low is still too high for many workers and the service is often unavailable when it is needed (late night service is still very poor).

So back to the original question, "How will we ever get out of our cars and on to the bus?". At the rate the Translink overlords are going never. The transit service must become more attractive and more efficient in every way we can think of. Car owners are deeply wedded to their belief in the value of their cars and are unlikely to change until the difference is so obvious they can't ignore it. But first we need to make transit safe, comfortable and effective.

That's all for now, comments are welcome as always.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. And a fare increase to celebrate it with. 25 cents for a local ride and an extra $4.00 for month's worth.

Now does this mean that there will be no alien abductions of buses in the coming year (you know, where the bus doesn't come for half an hour on a route that claims service every 6 minutes and the driver of the one that finally turns up claims to be on time and has no idea where the other one, two or three buses ahead of him could be); the new $1 million plus buses will get real seats (and maybe finish the job of getting rid of the spring loaded ones that take two healthy youths to get one down for a senior); or the end of the annoying tendency of four or more buses to line up at Davie and Denman and then race up Davie showing "Sorry Not in Service" signs (as an aside to the Translink overlords: Could we get rid of the "Sorry" part, no one believes it; you don't need to go all out and replace it with your true feelings, "Fuck you" but do lose the fake concern)?

I think not. I also expect that the Skytrain will remain dirty and graffitied (is that a word?) and the security folks will maintain their concern about harassing the public and slowing down access, while looking startled at the suggestion that moving along some idiot blocking a bustop with his SUV might be a better use of their time, being as that is an actual threat to the safety of the public.

Oh well, hope you enjoyed the largess of the Translink overlords free rides on New Years Eve!!! WaHooo!!!

New Service from TransLink

As you are probably aware I am not the greatest fan of TransLink I do sometimes find their attempts to improve the service at least semi-useful.

The latest in that back-handed complimented area is their new service to provide the time of the next bus at the stop you are standing at via your cellphone and the stop number printed on the bus stop sign. Simple to use, call their transit information number 604-953-3333, press 1 and follow the directions entering the stop number and get an 'estimated' time. The bus is still subject to being swallowed by a pothole; abducted by aliens; beamed up by Scottie, passing you by too full to stop; whatever. It won't help you with the fact that the service is failing but it will give you an idea if there is any point in standing around waiting.

Or in the case last night, warning you that the bus is filled with a group of "thirty something" drunk, white girls who had clearly had their full dose of magic dust and their middle-aged, paunchy and aggressive male companions. That was a bit of circus that was clearly going to end in tears. Particularly, when they trooped off to stagger across Davie (in the middle of traffic) to make a try at getting into Celebrities. I can only imaginge the sinking feeling that must have possessed the bouncer at his velvet rope. Definitely an "Oh Fuck" moment. Not my problem but I must say I wonder what happened.

In any case, being able to figure out if the bus is due sooner then you can walk home may come in useful during the Jazz Festival (by the way here's my reviews and thoughts about the Jazz Festival). Late night bus trips home are not that common for me these days, er nights.

Is it just me or is the Transit system getting shabbier while we get asked to pay more to ride it?

I'm trying to figure out if Translink is getting worse at doing upkeep on the stations, trains and buses that make up our transit service. I see more scrapes and scratches in the elevators, graffiti on walls and dirty floors and litter everywhere in the past couple of months.

Now I know that we as users and as mostly adults are at least partly responsible for the upkeep of the system. We need to pick up our own papers and litter and drop it in the recycle bins and garbage cans as required but washing the floors, cleaning the walls and repairing vandalism is beyond our capabilities. So that gets left up to Coast Mountain, the operator and Translink the owner to clean and repair.

But the floor on the Granville station elevator has been dirty and in need of a mop for 2 weeks now. The elevator at Broadway station has been vandalized for at least a month and I still see windows too dirty to see out of on one bus out of three.

Translink sends me email requests to comment on the state of the transit services, here is an example:

Here is a list of major improvements that TransLink has underway or planned for Greater Vancouver for next year, 2008:

• The Canada Line between Vancouver, Richmond and the airport.
  
• The Evergreen light rail line from Coquitlam Centre and Port Moody to Lougheed Town Centre SkyTrain station.
  
• The Golden Ears Bridge between Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Langley.
  
• Road and bridge improvements in the Lower Mainland in 2008 including:
  • Widening of the Fraser Highway in Surrey,
  • Construction of the Coast Meridian Overpass in Port Coquitlam,
  • Widening of Main Street in North Vancouver,
  • Construction of the Murray/Clark Connector which is a new overpass in Coquitlam,
  • The North Fraser Perimeter Road project, which includes existing road improvements and a new overpass at United Boulevard between Coquitlam and New Westminster to replace the Bailey Bridge,
  • Construction and seismic upgrading of the Knight Street Bridge.

• The largest bus fleet expansion in 31 years with 94 new buses to expand service and 160 buses to replace older buses that are being retired. 25 of the new buses will go to Surrey and Langley.
• 34 new Mark II SkyTrain cars ordered and arriving in 2009.
• Broadway, Main and Metrotown SkyTrain Stations will have improvements to both their capacity and passenger amenities starting in 2008.
• A 10 percent increase in HandyDART service.
• A third SeaBus built in 2008, in service in 2009.
• $6 million in regional cycling routes and facilities such as the Central Valley Greenway and BC Parkway under the Expo SkyTrain line.
• Expanded vanpool, carpool, and Corporate Car ride-sharing programs.

Having read the list of transportation projects proposed for 2008, how important would you say these transportation projects are to you personally?

Would you say they are very important, somewhat important, not very important or not at all important?

Now I think all of the above are important but not necessarily all good ideas (I will leave deciding which are good and which are bad and which are merely indifferent as an exercise for the reader) . And I don't see any comments about a commitment to keep the system clean, safe or inviting.

A further question deals with funding of the system:

Users of the transportation network pay about 70 percent of the 2008 improvements through transit fares, motor fuel taxes and a parking sales tax. General taxation pays for the other 30 percent of the cost.

Consideration is being given to increasing transit fares by 25 cents in January 2008. There has been no transit fare increase for 3 years, and unlike the Ferries and the Airport, TransLink has asked for no increase to offset increasing fuel costs.

Here is how the 70 percent user fees and 30 percent general taxation to pay for transportation improvements would break out for 2008:

• Parking sales tax of 7 percent on pay parking in the region.
• The average transit fare would go up 7.8%, as follows: Cash transit fare increased to $2.50 for one zone, $3.75 for two zones, and $5.00 for three zones
  • A one zone monthly pass would be $73 or $1.83 per trip if you use it to commute back and forth to work 20 days a month,
  • A two-zone monthly pass would be $99 or $2.48 per trip if you use it to commute back and forth to work 20 days a month,
  • A three-zone pass would be $136 per month or $3.40 per trip if you use it to commute back and forth to work 20 days a month.
• 2008 property tax would increase about two percent to 37 dollars per one hundred thousand dollars of property value.
  
• $1.90 per monthly Hydro bill goes to transportation improvements.
  
• 12 cents of every litre of gas purchased in the GVRD goes to regional transit, cycling routes, HandyDART, car/vanpools and to major roads and bridges.

In addition, since 2005, the federal government has been returning a portion of its tax at the gas pumps each year. In 2008 the amount returned to the region for the purpose of public transit vehicles like SkyTrain cars and buses will be $61 million.

Having read the list of funding sources, do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose making the transportation improvements in the 2008 Transportation Plan using these funding sources?

Now my choices are to support or not support the entire plan. But I don't support the entire plan; I think that since transit and its users are a major carbon offset for everyone they should not be asked to fund the system. Since everyone benefits then everyone pays (increase the percentage of general revenue taxes paid into the system to 50%); do not increase user costs/fees for transit users but do increase user fees for private car users to cover the a greater percentage of the cost of transit.

So what do you think?

On the buses in the rain

Well thank god that's over with. This past week has seen me waiting for more vanished buses and broken skytrains then you could shake a fist at (and I have).

There is something quite unsettling to take a look a system that costs millions of dollars, is depended upon by thousands of people and is mostly dirty, broken and ignored by those we have entrusted it to.

I ride the buses alot and as such I mostly am used to them; but some days I actually wake up and look around me. Thursday was such a day.

Started out very good. I had made sure the night before that I was setup with everything I would need to get a good start to the day. Got up early and stayed focused as I knew that I had a complex day of meetings and would need to effectively use transit all day to do it. Got to the first bus early and caught one a full 8 minutes before my regular schedule.

My Thursday schedule requires me to get out to UBC for an 11:05 am meeting. Typically, it's one bus from Drake and Howe straight through to University Blvd and Westbrook Mall in about 30 minutes (this is a regular trip and usually I catch the 4 or the 17 at 10:18 am and get there with enough time to have a coffee before the meeting). Today though I'm early and I will have plenty of time to get to my meeting, no rushing today, NOT. The number of cars either parked in bus stop or double parked waiting for some one else to leave a parking spot or perhaps just paralysed with fear and horror at the rain (after all it is Vancouver and we are hardly used to rain) is beyond belief. Broadway past Arbutus has become impassable nearly to Alma. Road repair/sewer repair or installation and more condominium construction makes most of Broadway two lane side street.

We are going to get there in time but just barely, coffee is not quite as restful and focusing as it might be. And sitting on the bus starting to wonder if I will be in time for my meeting makes me look up and around. Most of my companions are young UBC students which means the bus smells good, a bit of wet wool but mostly of clean and healthy people, these folks have places to live, decent food to eat, a place to shower and perhaps most of all, purpose in their lives. Not much of a sense of desperation or fear; its a nice smell, human beings at their best, and since I first became aware of it one of the parts I like best of my trips in to UBC in the mornings. But the rest of the surround is not so pleasant; the windows and floors are dirty not just from today's rain and mud but several days worth. The fabric on the seats is worn and in place torn and where patched, patched with duct tape ragged along the edges. The plastic around the lights show dirt and a collection of unknown objects (dead moths? gum? discarded transfers?) casts amorphous shadows. The bus is dirty, shabby and run down a stark contrast to the mostly happy, industrious looking youth riding in it. They deserve better, I deserve better.

12:00 pm. Finished my meeting and it is on to the next. This the trip that I think will be difficult. I am going to try to follow the trip plan given to me by Translink's recalcitrant database (you know the one; the one that tells you that there is no bus service that will take you from Davie and Denman to Broadway and Granville at 7:00 pm on Sunday night or that you will need to make 3 transfers to get from Broadway and Granville to 4th and MacDonald) and go from the UBC General Services Loop to 8th Avenue and McBride Blvd in New Westminster by 1:30 pm.

It starts okay. The driver doesn't sit and watch us huddle under the inadequate rain shelter (by the way, could someone please tell me why (other than the City's and Translink's intense fear that a homeless person might try to stay dry ) we can't have bus shelters that actually provide shelter, I mean we all know that we will be standing there for a long time, could we at least be out of the wind and cold) but pulls up as soon as he arrives at the loop and lets us board even though we won't be leaving for another 10 minutes. This bus is a little better than the trolley that I came in on but the windows are still filthy and I don't think I would want to touch the floor with my bare skin.

12:15 pm. We leave on time this is looking good! Speeding through the campus, out on to Chancellor, down 4th. The time is work out perfectly. Whoops! Stop for someone in a wheelchair, nothing major, both the driver and the guy in the chair know what they are doing, so not too long a stop, I think. But you know the schedulers of bus routes and trip plans rarely put any wiggle room in there timing and certainly not enough to pick up someone in a wheelchair that require a little attention and assistance. Almost at VCC station and a final traffic snarl of timid drivers trying to make left hand turns slows us down for an extra light. Get up to the platform just in time to watch two trains flash their lights off and on for a couple minutes.

Finally some cybernetic resolution is attained and one of them rolls forward and let's us on, and then sits there burning more minutes and more minutes. I am now officially pretty sure that the schedule is blown and I am not going to make my connection. But I am not without hope, I think I will miss the connection with the 154 at Braid Station but I'm sure that I can connect with it on its way back from the 22nd Street Station. All is not lost and it is not certain that I will miss it at Braid.

1:15 pm. I am now rolling up to Braid Station and I have missed that connection, but I am confident that can catch the 154 on its trip back (my meeting is almost perfectly between the two stations and the 154 stops directly outside of it) so I will be late but only a few minutes. I call my client and inform them that I will be late due to transit problems but only a few minutes. I arrive at 22nd Street Station and I'm 5 minutes early!! Success.

1:35 pm. The 154 is now 7 minutes late and its sister route the 155 has pulled up. The 155 driver has no idea where the 154 has vanished to (I think that he is lying, but I also suspect that if he were to tell me what he knows about what happens to the disappeared buses, he would never see his family again!!).

1:42 pm. I bite the bullet I get on his bus which will get me within three blocks of my goal, not such a big deal except for the torrential downpour. I get to my stop and make my walk through the rain. I arrive for my meeting to a mostly understanding client. I have no idea of what the condition of the bus wa although I did engage in a slight murderous fantasy about the oaf standing blocking the exit door but that's just me.

4:30 pm. The meeting is over and I have plenty of time to catch the next bus, it's about 15 minutes before it leaves Braid Station and it takes around 7 or 8 minutes to get to the stop outside the office so I have plenty of time, except as I step out of the office there it is pulling up either 20 minutes early or 10 minutes late. The is a long line of people getting on which argues for the late scenario, which give me time to join the end of the line and step on board.

Heading home. It is a nice bus, happy humans going home, a woman and her bright and chatty daughter talk to a friend in seat ahead, people looking tired but happy to be on their way home. The bus has dirty floors and windows but that seems less of an issue at the end of the day then at the start of one. Everything has worked out but not because the transit system works well but because I'm reasonably patient and the people I work with understand that the transit system doesn't work very well and make allowances.

But why are we making allowances? A significant part of civic taxes, gas taxes and as far as I know income taxes go to make the transit system work. Why are we sitting on dirty, ill maintained buses, waiting in intentionally poor shelters for buses that never come, never informed if there is a problem, never assisted by supervisors, at the mercy of databases that are either psychotically optimistic or just plain wrong. Why are we held in such contempt? As transit users we are part of the solution to the great problems facing our environment, so why would most of us rather drive a car and push us all, our children, our partners, ourselves, into the abyss rather that put up with the contempt that we are daily treated to on our transit system? I don't know, if you do I wish you'd tell me.

later

jack