Couldn't see the number on the 81S going home tonight. Not because of my eyes or a bad paint job or a bit of graffiti - I couldn't catch the number because of all the people. This bus was packed! I took the last seat when I boarded on College Avenue. This stop begins the route and most times I have the bus to myself. Ridership usually doesn't pick up until McClintock and University. Today, however, ridership maxed as we left the corral. We seemed to stop at every stop and when one or two got off, three or four got on. Eventually, only standing room remained and even that became a slim bet. At one point, I counted 18 people standing in the center aisle. As a 6000 class bus, it holds more people than the little 4100s from the 6am66; however, not so many more that 18 people had anything resembling elbow room. Inexplicably, wall-to-wall bodies and the driver kept picking up more.I started to think I would have to fight my way off the bus. Visions swarmed around my brain - me crawling down the aisle, dodging bags and skateboards, feeling my way to the back door off-ramp. A kick and a shove and I'd find myself curled up on the sidewalk, a little bruised and beaten, but successfully disembarked. Fortunately, my fears abated as riders left at Southern and Baseline and no more joined the fray. By the time my stop arrived, I could walk off the bus, unaided, fully upright. What an unusual ride. Walking home, I ruminated on the oddity of it all and decided that the previous bus probably didn't make it around so we actually picked up a double load of riders. A sensible explanation - that's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
6 comments:
Your explanation DOES seem the likelier (good lord, does that word really exist?).
Further to the above, a similar thing has just happened to me...My line has a journey every ten minutes in the morning peak, but unfortunately a very bad accident on a narrow road (a typical "bottleneck" with no easy diversion available and nothing could pass), delayed all the traffic by about half an hour, (including at least three buses).
There were a large number of passengers waiting, and unfortunately the first of the delayed buses which eventually got through was a 27 seater minibus...by god the poor old driver was taking some "stick" from would-be passengers, but fortunately a ticket inspector turned up and was able to explain what had happened.
Facts generally unknown to passengers on this (60 mile long) bus route:-
1) When something like this happens it just gets worse ... who drives the next trips the delayed drivers should've covered?
2) The congestion that built up over that half hour period takes a long time to disperse - I'd guess at least another three journeys at least were delayed..
3) Further along the route I would guess at least some of those drivers "ran out of hours" - by that I mean exceeded his/her legal daily driving limits - who takes over their buses and gets the passengers to their destinations, how do the relieving drivers get to that point, how do the original drivers get back to their home depot?
There's more but you get my drift?
I know exactly what you mean - it creates a domino effect in multiple places. Last night's ride was similar - the earlier bus was very late and I ended up on the bus behind it. The first bus got all the passengers and we had 4 people for the whole ride. Our driver couldn't pass the bus in front of us, so we sat behind and waited while it took on the passengers. A complete reverse of the night before. Your ride is 60 miles? Is it a 60 mile roundtrip? How long does it take on an accident-free day? The stories one could enjoy over the course of 60 miles!
The line is just over 60 miles long but my daily journey is, alas, only about a tenth of that...(if you did travel the whole route you couldn't get much work done...yay! Sound idea!).
A copy of the timetable is at:
http://www.stagecoachbus.com/
timetables/700timetable191106.pdf
There's also a map of the route at:
http://www.stagecoachbus.com/
timetables/700CoastlinerMapweb.pdf
It's not like an intercity or Greyhound service because it stops at every bus stop on the way on some of the busiest roads (no none of the freeways"!) in the South of England.
How wonderful! Seems the full trip is approximately 4 hours, one way. How long would it take to drive that route? I assume no one commutes daily from one end to the other? Spend a whole work day on the bus. The best part - the bus map has legend marks for cathedrals and castles. And it's a coastal route, to boot! I'm amazed at the the number of times there are buses leaving every 10 minutes. If you catch the bus then, you don't even have to pay attention to the time - just show up and a bus will be along before you can check your watch. That is, unless an evil accident clogs the system. Your bus looks much more interesting than mine. Hope the scenery is as pleasant as the route appears to be.
Hi!
My part of the route, (Bognor Regis to Chichester), is probably the third most attractive rural section on the line...
The best, visually, is probably on the diversionary part of the route, between Littlehampton and Arundel.
Approaching Arundel in the early morning, with the mist rising off the River Arun romantically obscuring almost everything, it is a true breakthrough of mindblowing significance, when suddenly traces appear of the (Norman origin, Medievally modernised, but Victorian-finished) Castle (and later Roman Catholic Cathedral), start to appear...
The second best is the pretty,
(but not particularly pasenger-challengimg) agricultural section of route betweem Chichester and Havant...
Nobody commutes the whole distance, although, (owing to some very imaginative ticketing deals), some people do go a long long way off-peak...
In slightly oversimplified terms the 700 line really comprises a number of people involved in a number of overlapping travel pattern, each going one town or two towns down the road...zzz (snore)
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