Yesterday's Bus Ride notes

Tidbits from yesterday's bus ride

• The 44C VICTORY CROSSING via WALMART has almost quite literally 3 stops: High & FL, Wal-Mart (former Mid-City Shopping Center), and Victory Crossing. Why are there no other bus stops (Airline Blvd maybe?). Is there a reason this bus doesn't go to Norfolk General?
  
• This is MAX driver #2 to not honor my 30-Day at $1.50 (first afternoon 967, leaving Chesapeake Square at 3:20 PM)
• How about corrected 47 schedules? While we're at it, correct Route 47 destination signs
• Correct the system map: Route 33 is a "LOCAL" not "TOUR"
• What's the plans for the #7 (NOB tour), #34 (Oceana Tour), and #924 (Historic Villages Tour)? FTA says they fall under the new Charter regulations. Does this include the Amphitheater Shuttle?
• Route 12: please enter Indian River Park & Ride when the 967 is running (or relocate the #12 bus stop to be closer to Reon + City of VB add a crosswalk at Reon)
• I said it once, I'm saying it again: MAX 30-Day E&D cards are NEEDED (Henry can vouch for several Veterans passing through Wards Corner when service was first launched)
  

Route 300 - A Review

I got to ride Route 300, the new Portsmouth Loop, and what a joy it was. The bus is amazing (see my Hybrid Bus post for more about the buses) and the route is wonderful. Portsmouth, you got something nice going (too bad it doesn't run on Sundays).

My thoughts:

• If it turns out that there isn't enough ridership to warrant the Loop every 15 minutes at the Naval Hospital, why not alternate between Naval Hospital and Crawford Pkwy.
• It's a wonderful idea going between County & Court and the Ferry Landing. Too bad you have to do the whole Loop to get from the Ferry Landing to County & Court.
• $0.50 fare? That's reasonable. The bus will take ALL fare media (10 Rides, 30 Day, Transfers, etc). Too bad it doesn't give transfers. The operator around lunch time on Bus 4000 had an idea: Why not encode the transfer so that it'll tell the other fareboxes the passenger owes $1.00? Then again, since HRT will be dumping transfers come September (maybe the 300 not giving transfers is a good thing)

Route 300 has its own distinctive bus stop sign (sorry about the "bent look", it's my camera)

City of Portsmouth logo on the bus

This is the Downtown Loop

I can proudly say, it's environmentally friendly. This distinctive hump is the hybrid system

Another Loop logo

Effingham Street going Inbound from the Naval Hospital. The driver left her "300 NAVAL HOSPITAL" sign on. Going inbound, it'll say "300 COUNTY ST".

The destination sign. Yep, I'm being reflected in the image

There is room for two wheelchairs
The bus interior, looking back. All seats wrap around the sides. The only forward facing seats are in the very back.
Last but not least: those darned Odyssey Fareboxes; the same kind that are nit-picky about $1.00 bills