One defect that does not usually appear on the defect card is that of stop request. Most of the time, we as operators, become so familiar with our routine on our run that we almost don’t need the stop request lights or bell, to know where and when people are getting off the bus. Likewise, we know where we must stop and open the doors, even if it first appears that no one is intending in the zone. Hospital stops are a no brainer for coming to stop and lowering the kneeler automatically. Certain places around corners and with limited sight distance are also a good place to stop even if we hear no ring. Hermann is such a stop on the 22. Also Kansas before turning toward Seventeenth.
Recent changes to our operating rules through voter initiatives, and with technology, have given a strong voice to our riding public and given managers’ tools to enforce the rules and make those of us who operate the buses, more accountable to our actions. It used to be you guys were just as tired and fed up (as we were) when you were on your ride home, that no way were you going to find the Muni number, and dial on your land line to an office that was now closed, about being passed up by a Muni bus. Today, with cell phone in hand, and a simple 3-1-1 on speed dial, a call can be placed immediately and a written record and ID number generated on the spot. When I was being observed, I received a call from central control about someone I had passed up three stops back. Wow! That is a big change from the first ten years I spent behind the wheel with only the land line number 673-M.U.N.I.
The bottom line I learned from all this was that not observing the one block spacing rule can get me in trouble when my leader is close in front, and another bus, such as the 14 is behind me. I have to realize that new riders are not hip on how to signal a coach at a multiple line stop. Not “being ready” is not a valid excuse as a pass-up. The only one needed to be “taught a lesson” was me!
Twelfth and Otis is one of those “around the corner” stops that need be made, even if we don’t see anybody waiting as we turn the corner from the 49, or cross-over 101, on Mission. A coworker recently commented on a PSR he got as a pass-up at this stop. No one was waiting at the stop and he kept on going. I too, have done this many times, but have been written up for accumulating too many of these non stop, bus stop actions. Coaches send digital information from their onboard mother board about how many times we open the doors, and for how long and at what stop. Every action on the bus is recorded including PA announced stops.
With the simplicity in calling a three digit number, 3-1-1, and a digital camera file in cloud storage, not on a seventy-two-hour loop (that erases and re-records,) those of us who have been around for ten plus years, must adapt to this change and realize that pass-ups we make to manage our passenger load or headway, must be made, even if this causes delay. Coming to the curb and opening the door may no longer be enough to satisfy the requirement of making a stop. Moving away from the curb can only be made if there is no billboarding from other large vehicles.
This change is hard to make to override a habit I have developed over a period of time. I have been so obsessed with continuing to make the schedule at all costs, that I have reduced dwell time in the zone at certain stops. I am overcoming this by trying to stay in one place and keep my doors open longer. Even still, there are some late runners who don’t make it in time, and I have to let go of the outcome. I must be clear of fear, as to whether the latecomer will call in on 3-1-1 and complain that I passed them up. There appears to be an invisible ledger of karma that can keep trouble at bay, if I have waited for runners. Same is true for right-of-way with other cars.
There seems to be an increased perception from those that miss my bus, that I am not doing my job when I do not stop. I have accumulated too many pass-up notices within a three month time frame. Once again, our mirrors only capture a small zone alongside our bus, and we may not see someone running from across the street or perpendicular to where our coach is standing. As a passenger, just yesterday, I saw this happen several times while I was sitting in the last seat at the back of the bus: People would run from the BART station steps on the side of the bus, and I could see them running, but the operator could not see them and pulled away. This makes us look bad, but we aren’t intentionally passing them up. This hasn’t been easy. Especially with new riders.
Some seasoned riders still have trouble with transfers and the stop request. They desire to get on a 1 California bus going all the way to Thirty-Third Avenue and Geary outbound and do not believe they should re–board a short line coach to Presidio Avenue, and then re-board the Thirty-Third Avenue coach at Presidio. During peak period, they get the thumb from passing Presidio destination operators, only to be passed-up by the full terminal coach—passing in the second or third place—after a parade of short line coaches.
Getting angry and calling 3-1-1 is a passive-aggressive result not solving the pass-up. This complaint was posted on a general bulletin board in the division, as a method of communicating to all drivers. The solution is as simple as boarding the first coach and riding to Presidio, or moving to a stop where the Thirty-Third Avenue coach invariably stops. The problem is where the intender is trying to board, and not communicating with the driver of the bus they need. I know who and where this occurs, and all she needs to do to change the problem, is talk to the operator of the coach she boards, and then talk to the Thirty-Third Avenue operator when she transfers.
I know this woman, because ten years ago she was having the same problem! I asked her to board my short line coach and then transfer. She refused. She said she would wait for “her bus”. Her failure to change her behavior for a different result has not materialized in a decade! Complaining to the third-party call center never brought about the change she needed. Her scowling face and hostile attitude waiting on the pass-up corner, just reinforced the surety from the passing operators to stay clear of ‘the problem’ intender. Not honoring the one block spacing rule is usually to cause of this problem. This is how management can solve the problem. An inspector at Polk should do the trick.
To be sure, she should not have to board a Presidio coach: the expectation to ride only one coach to the end is reasonable; but this hasn’t happened while I was away at Potrero for 8 years, so I qualify this as insane thinking on the part of the passenger. Doing—or not doing—the same thing over and over—expecting different results—means there is no willingness to change. Extra board daily details, a shortage of operators, vacations and the like—clouds the responsibility and discipline of who, what, or when and where.
What she doesn’t understand is that Thirty-Third Avenue coaches inbound get delayed by the extra work they do inbound. Short line operators outbound have an easy time of it, and, at first blush, stop to pick her up. But when she says over and over, “No, I want Thirty-Third.”—the next time they see her on another day, they give her the thumb. The Thirty-Third Avenue operator sees her angry stand, and stays clear. Dear Rider, you attract more bees with honey, not as a fly in the ointment!
Good luck!
I’ll be on the 1 again this summer, and I am not going to repeat my missive to you as I tried to explain to you ten years ago. Either you’re in or you’re out; just like Danny Ocean to Linus in the movie Ocean’s Eleven!
I hope I am not considered too old a dog, so I can be taught new tricks! But tricks ain’t happening, at least not in the Superintendent’s office and looking at file footage of an incident from a complaint! I have to do what has been suggested: slow down and not worry about a full bus. “Let them wait.” is the affirmation I need in my mind to stay fit. These are the two biggest demons I have had to fight on the job with headway changes. If I can cross the retirement ribbon finish line with my operator status in good standing, I will have crossed victorious! Keeping Zen is all the challenge I will ever need. And it is a basic as this topic and the action in a stop request inside or outside the coach. Editor’s note: Driver Doug did it!
So I have been reborn with awareness about the pass-up and the stop request. The computer registers every time we open the door, and for how long. Dwell time in the zone is captured and recorded. APC coaches, marked on the front windscreen, count how many board and depart at each stop. APC stands for automatic passenger counter. You can see these as a passenger by those red lights reflecting like a laser beam at the top of the stairwells.
When I am assigned such a coach I make sure I capture that extra person running from a transfer coach at a transfer point from another line. I wait for the 1 California, the 2 Clement, and the 5 Fulton. The gratitude I receive when I wait for runners is worth the wait! I know I am having a good day at the ‘office’ when I have room to wait. Increasing the time I have by servicing the zone with an APC coach in keeping the doors open helps keep the Zen of the Trolleybus of Happy Destiny going on the job!
The Dao of Doug: A Bus Driver's Perspective 