Poll Closed

My MacArthur/Kirn Tide Station poll closed. By a slim majority, yes, let's make a little public plaza around it.

Southside Dispatcher

Yes, I have dispatcher phone numbers for 18th Street, Trolley Base, and Hampton.

18th Street: You specifically tell drivers NOT to give your phone number to passengers (Michelle, I remember you specifically giving a radio transmission). Maybe you should tell HRT to not give out your phone number as well. The Southside Dispatcher phone number is located directly on the HRT website, under Traffix.

Hampton Cheesewagon Service: What should happen

What Hampton needs to do to its Cheesewagons: Orlando Speedway Figure-8 Cheesewagon Derby

Fareset 4: Lack of Service

As pointed out by Avenging Archangel, yes, I do live in a section of Virginia Beach where, as I write, it's impossible for me to get around. Some pointers:

• $750,000 out of a $1.8 BILLION budget is all that's needed to get around evenings and Sundays
• As it stands now, service is roughly 6:45 AM to 5:45 PM (or 6:45 PM, depending on the route) over here by TCC
• TCC Night Students have no way home
• TCC, for the longest time, has requested evening bus service. I assume it falls on deaf ears
• 10:45 PM is a reasonable last trip for all routes out of TCC 7 nights a week
• Yes Chesapeake, this includes the 12 heading to 20th & Seaboard
• Reid: as you can see, it does NOT cost Billions to fund. HRT's entire yearly budget for the whole region is just under $50 million per year.

Improvements to Beach routes that should help:

• Relative to Cedar Grove, Route 20 should be every 15 minutes all day weekdays 4:45 AM to 7:45 PM, every 30 minutes 7:45 PM to 9:15 PM, and every hour until 12:15 AM (yes, one more trip at night). Weekends, service should be every 30 minutes 4:45 AM to 8:15 PM then every hour until 12:15 AM. HRT has a plan for 15 minute service under the 2030 plan.
• Route 12 should get its old 2001 schedule back, but + Sundays. It used to be the last one left 20th & Seaboard at 9:45 PM, got to TCC at 10:45 PM, and finished at 20th & Seaboard at 11:45 PM. Yes Chesapeake, you need to start caring.
  
• Route 36 should run from Pleasure House to TCC every 30 minutes 5:45 AM to 7:45 PM, then every hour with the last trip on either end at 10:45 PM. Sundays same timeframe, but every hour (seen in the 2030 plan)
  
• Route 29: similar schedule to Route 36
• Route 33: Run until 12:45 AM (last trip either end 11:45 PM)
• Route 26: Today, all this route does is put the 29 back on schedule
• Route 32: ACCEPT OUR 30-DAY PASSES, and run every 30 minutes in the afternoon
  

Hampton's Strange Priorities

Above: Men's Bathroom stall with missing privacy door at Hampton Transit Center
Below: Hampton Cheesewagon, with a new paint job, being pressed into Route 110 service

I just got an email from Michael Townes, President & CEO of Hampton Roads Transit, replying to an email I sent about the oh-so-wonderful men's restroom at the Hampton Transit Center. City of Hampton, the ball is in your court. What are your transit funding priorities? My impression is that your funding priorities are Grey Area Cheesewagons.

This Gillig Phantom Cheesewagon is more important than a privacy door in the Men's room? As you can see, HRT is so willing to hang on to ancient museum artifacts that they can give them new paint jobs. Apparently, it's more important than a simple, cheap privacy door on a Men's Room stall.

The Sheetshaker Express

So I'm told that the nickname for Route 24 is the Sheetshaker Express.

Morning: all Hotel workers to the Oceanfront
Afternoon: all Hotel workers Home

So long Sheetshaker. Less than a month to go before you're reborn as the 960 MAX.

The MAX is Coming

There's now a page on the HRT site that is ready to accept details on The MAX! There's a map as well.

Best part? Today, HRT bought 15 new buses from Gillig. Half will go to The MAX (service expansion possibly?)

HRT System Map

It's here!! HRT has a work-in-progress System Map for both the Northside and Southside.

However, I consider both maps to be a work-in-progress (nearing completion). For example:
• Route 33 is a “Local”, not “Tour”
• There’s no Downtown Hampton insert map
• Route 25 is missing from the list of buses at TCC
• Route 121 (on the Newport News insert map) is shown heading towards the Monitor-Merrimack to Suffolk
• Route 61 is on the map (I assume it will be deleted when an update is posted)
• Service to Downtown Norfolk other than Routes 6, 8, 17, 45, 61, and 310 are shown (yes, I see the disclaimer)

There may be others; these are the ones I spotted on the first look.

NEW UCAC Chairman

Congratulations to Henry Ryto of Avenging Archangel who is our NEW HRT User Citizens Advisory Committee Chair.

Operator 9517

This message is to Southside Operator 9517:

Thanks for holding for me at the railroad tracks. I am the passenger who transferred off of the 36 on your 11:03 AM departure from Pembroke.

Signs of PENTRAN

This is the bus stop at HRT Headquarters, 3400 Victoria Blvd, Hampton.

Note the PENTRAN sign. The schedule is still pretty much accurate

PENTRAN logo up close

The Virginia Beach delegation to the User Citizen's Advisory Committee had a bus blow by us: Route 526. We were both standing in plain view of the bus.

Wonderful retaining wall. Both sides of the shelter feature a knocked over retaining wall.

Hampton Cheesewagon in New Paint Job

Would you believe this 500 with a new pain job is also a glorified Cheesewagon? It's also running as Route 110 (HTC/NET Center/TNCC)

HRT's Worst Embarrassment

These beauties are taken in the the men's bathroom at the Hampton Transit Center. Please, allow me to take you on a little tour. Like every blog entry, click on a picture for the larger version.

Note the missing partition between toilets

Handicap stall. Note missing privacy door

The other stall. Again, note missing privacy door.

Last, but not least, your hand washing station

HRT: Do SOMETHING. Even cheap basic stuff like privacy doors for the stalls. The sad truth is that the Newport News Transit Center is no better. They are both equally as bad.

Rustbucket on Route 12

This morning on Route 12 at TCC, 10:45 AM

Route 29 is $1.00

Saw this the other day on Route 29. I guess all trolleys are $1.00 now? Has to be a glitch.