A new day, a new bus - what fun! Thought I'd take the 5:57am81N today (whew! that doesn't print as easy as 6am66). Also wanted some coffee from Einstein's so I popped in there first, got a cup and went across McClintock to the stop. Looked down the street and there came the 5:42am81N - what a great start to the bus riding day - hot coffee and an earlier bus!A rookie driver had the helm and the trainer sat in the front right seat. The trainer did a lot of instructing as we rolled along - not sure if he needed to be so verbose, but it added interest to the ride, especially his instructions about using the mirrors. The really interesting parts came when we entered "the detour".
At Apache Blvd., McClintock is closed to north-south travel for light rail construction. Either direction, traffic must turn right. Today's image contains a map of the detour. The purple lines and arrows follow the detour and the orange shows the regular route. We turned onto Apache and stopped to pick up a passenger. It didn't make sense to me since the 81N never travels on Apache, why would a passenger want or expect to catch the 81N on that road? The guy got on and we proceeded east on Apache, turning right (south) on River Rd. A mostly residential area, it apparently dazed and confused the new passenger. When the bus turned right (west) again, the guy started to splutter and finally asked, "where the hell are we going? how am I going to get to Alma School?" The trainer driver explained the detour procedure and finally advised the guy that he was on the 81N. "But I wanted the Red Line!" he proclaimed. It turned out OK since we headed back to Apache anyway. They let the guy off at the corner of Martin and Apache -- he had basically ridden around the block -- and he appeared very flustered as we pulled away.
Not sure why the driver (newbie or trainer) didn't advise the guy he was boarding the 81N. Surely they realized he probably didn't want our bus? I figured it out and I don't do transportation for a living. I understand the passenger should know upon which bus he boards, but when there's only one bus ever scheduled to stop, it's easy to see the confusion. I'm getting really confused just writing about it.
Anyway, we made it to ASU and I can't wait to see the detour in reverse going home tonight.
2 comments:
Perhaps there was a bus stop on the section of route being omitted and passengers were being redirected to the nearest alternative stop? This is what often happens East-Pond anyhow!
Thought Einstein did relativity rather than coffee? (unless it comes under general field theory in which case it'd be pretty unsuccessful coffee...)(heh heh heh)
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