The MAX: Now that we have to pay to ride

It's almost time for the free ride for The MAX to end. Problems:

• Where's the 30-Day Pass for Seniors & Persons with Disabilities?
• All buses at 19th & Pacific show up on the hour and half-hour (20, 33, and 960). Why doesn't the 960 wait for them!?
• The 960 and 961 are both due at Cedar Grove at roughly the same time. WAIT FOR EACH OTHER!
• Why not eliminate Evelyn Butts & J trips on the 961 (simply post rider alerts to tell passengers 'Head to Wards Corner') - I don't understand why the trips are there
• Does the 960 need to run that often? I'd run it less often off-peak and use that savings to run the 960 and 961 a bit later (maybe one or two more trips from either end)
  

TCC Poll Closed

The poll closed and here's the results:

Someone wants buses to cut out at 9:45 PM
Most of you (63%) want the last trips to be 10:45 PM
27% of you want the last trips to be 11:45 PM

My Service Booster plan includes the following last trips from TCC:

• Route 12: 5:45 PM (Chesapeake won't play along, or else I'd have 10:45 PM)
• Route 25: 10:53 PM
• Route 26: 6:45 PM (There's not enough demand - anyone want to fill me in?)
• Route 29: 10:45 PM
• Route 33: 10:45 PM (if there was one more inbound 20, I'd have an 11:45 PM departure)
• Route 36: 10:45 PM
  

MAX Silverleaf

I was able to go on my first ride on The MAX earlier. I took the 960 from Cedar Grove to Silverleaf. Couple of things:

• Buses should be able to detour via Brambleton to I-264 to get out of town: St. Paul's Blvd is a parking lot
• Route 36 should exit Silverleaf towards TCC as follows: RIGHT Independence; RIGHT Silverleaf Dr; RIGHT Holland - this cuts the line wanting to STAY on Independence
• Don't send MAX buses out to cover the 19. I'd rather see a 1200, 1700, 2000, or - heaven forbid - a rust bucket (900) until the 919 is officially launched. I don't want to go into discussion about the nightmare it caused this morning. Ditto for Route 22 (hopefully that didn't happen) since neither are MAX routes until September.
  
• Something needs to be done about the strange loop for the 36 Pembroke. It may be a pain to cross, but City of VB: Could we get a left turn lane from Holland Rd to Commuter Dr?
• Where is the MAX 30-Day E&D card that I was promised (then retracted)!? This caused an uproar at Wards Corner.

919 NAVAL STATION MAX

It's Here! The 919 NAVAL STATION MAX did run this morning and did cause confusion if it's free or not ($1.50 Route 19 fare requested). Passengers were already talking about the MAX when 960s came through ("this is what our bus will be in September") and got confused since they knew The MAX was free for the first two weeks. There were two Gillig Phantom (1800 series) Route 19s that came through, then the rest were 919 MAX buses. The decision to dispatch MAX buses was that of 18th Street Dispatch.

I arrived around 4:30 AM not knowing it would only take me 20 minutes to ride up Independence on a bike and helped until the 36 showed up at 6:30 (it was supposed to be there just before 6:18, the Holland & S. Plaza timepoint) so I could get to the dentist.

All 19s and 919s had difficulty with their signs. The only sign towards the base we (myself, a driver, and supervisor) could find was 19 STAFF COLLEGE/LAFAYETTE ANNEX so everyone else stayed with 19 SILVERLEAF STATION or 919 MAX SILVERLEAF

The MAX: Meet me at Silverleaf

HRT apparently needs helpers for the launch of The MAX. If I can get up, I'll be at Silverleaf in the mornings

The MAX Schedules are here

They're finally here: MAX Schedules are now available on goHRT.com

Look for a complete review Monday evening as, assuming I can get up, I will be at Cedar Grove around 5 AM. Couple of thoughts:

• Is there any way the 961 leaving Evelyn Butts &J at 5:35 AM wait just 10 minutes so passengers coming from the lineup at 5:45 ride it? at 5:15 AM, all you have are the inbound 3 and outbound 15 (the first inbound 8 starts this trip @ Evelyn)
• The 12 needs to serve Indian River Park & Ride like it does for the 22 during 967 hours
• The 960 needs to run a tad bit later. Maybe 9:30 PM from Cedar Grove and 9 PM from 19th & Pacific?
• The 961 should have one more trip from the Southside heading to Hampton & Newport News
  

The House of No

Time to clean House. Apparently they think things should be handed on a silver platter free of charge. No one likes tax increases, but something needs to be done and I support Governor Kaine's plan. I would tweak it to include transit funding for Hampton Roads (Northern Virginia is getting funding for Metro and VRE in the plan). Howell, time for you to go. I've personally had enough of your nonsense.

Something tells me you're going to go down as the person who doesn't give a crap about congestion anywhere in the Commonwealth. Try riding the #61 leaving Wards Corner at 4:38 PM or 5:38 PM any weekday and tell riders that you don't want to pay for these projects. Don't be surprised if there's several angry passengers

Goodbye Jessica Blaine

Jessica Blaine, someone who I hardly know, announced her goodbyes to everyone today. Apparently, she's moving with her brother to New England. Jessica, you will be missed.

Governor Kaine's Town Hall Meeting: VB Convention Center

I plan to be at the Town Hall meeting tonight to talk transportation. Couple of things:

A) The House of No: Get over your stinkin pride
B) I will be making a note that the meeting starts right as the last bus to TCC is leaving the Oceanfront
C) Reid: no one wants to hear your foolishness. I think Jessica Blaine put it perfectly: "want some cheese with that wine?"

To get home, I'm going to have to ride my bike from the Blvd & Rosemont. What fun.

You wonder why no one respects you: 10-13 on Route 36

Yesterday (Monday), coming home from the Strategic Plan unveiling at the Convention Center, I had loads of fun on Route 36.

First, the bus was 15 minutes late due to engine trouble. The driver told me this was the best of the three buses available. Once we got closer to TCC, a passenger was asking about the last 12 and the driver (not being too familiar with VB bus schedules) directed that passenger to me - explaining that I knew the schedules better than him. I explained, "Either that 12 has to wait or HRT has to come up with another way to get you home."

What looked like some 15 year old delinquent (in terms of how he was acting) sitting across, said, "Shut the F*** Up!" (censoring per Blogger rules here). Turned out that passenger wanted the 29 to the Mall. No one told him to get off at Holland & Lynnhaven due to his language and rudeness. Oh well, maybe now he won't tell bus drivers or passengers to "shut the F up". If it wasn't for his rudeness, the driver later told me he would've said at Holland & Lynnhaven, "If you want the 29 to the mall, get off here."

Some of these kids wonder why no one (except their fellow, well, you know...) respects them.

The sad truth is that many people assume that all forms of mass transit bring in people like these kids. Actually, in all my bus rides (I've been riding buses since 2003), these punks were the exception, not the norm, for transit passengers.