pathetic!

I have not posted anything to this blog in many months.

That is pathetic.

Kudos to Asheville Transit for finally putting bus stops on the section of Brevard Road that runs between Haywood Road and Interstate 240. This is a neighborhood of many city blocks, and bus stops should have been in my neighborhood long ago.

Better late than never.

Wednesday's child

As the old saying goes, Wednesday's child is full of woe. Not me, not today. Nor does this Wednesday's child have far to go. Lately, I've been working every Wednesday, but I have been free of other duties which would require a car. So: to the bus stop. This morning I hoofed the .4mi up to the business district so that I could catch #1 bus headed downtown. The riders were a sorry and sullen lot. This was 10:30ish, after all. We should have been happy! After days and days and days of rain, our fair city was experiencing sunshine! But nothing could turn our frowns upside down. We weren't particularly happy, but we weren't fired up either. We were quite a contrast from the unhappy lot that rode a #9 bus one day last week.

One day last week I hustled away from work a few seconds early so that I could be "on time" for #9 as it left the transit center headed west. Ha ha. "On time" in this case meant about twenty or twenty-five minutes late. What a joke. After waiting so long at the station, I boarded the bus. I reached for my county ID to show the driver. Oops-- a credit card. I held the line up for about ten seconds while I fished out the county ID. The bus driver asked me "how long you been waiting for the bus"?

I said, "maybe twenty minutes".

He snapped back with a near-automatic "In all that time, you could have already had your ID ready". Ouch. Snap.

I could not help myself: "I don't suppose the bus could have been here twenty minutes ago, could it have?"

Oh, but that's not his fault, he was quick to respond.

I just walked away. No, I suppose that it was not his fault. But it's somebody's fault. Did anyone walk on the bus and apologize to the riders for the error? Of course not. Is anyone accountable?

By contrast, I work in a public facility. Suppose it was a bright and sunny day. I'm not talking about a snowy day when the roads are bad. If, on such a bright and sunny day, our agency opened its doors twenty minutes late, inconveniencing dozens of people, we would find some way to apologize. We feel like we're accountable.

It's not about me. I wasn't in a hurry. Ho-hum so what. But what about the people who are depending on this bus to get to work? To get to their children?

I do feel sorry for those people. They deserve better.

Inglés Market. (whoops!)

I rode twice this week, in and out of town on Tuesday and Saturday. The rides were without incident and easy. Aside from the schedule delays, they were fine.

Oddly enough, the Asheville Transit buses are now equipped with a speaker that pushes a computerized "female" voice into the bus at certain times. The "lady announcer" says "stop requested" after a person requests a stop. The same voice keeps riders informed about the bus location, with phrases such as "approaching Haywood and Michigan" and "Ingles Market". One announcement was quite funny, because "she" pronounced Ingles as "inglés". For those outside the general region of Southern Appalachia, Ingles is our leading regional supermarket chain. Ingles rhymes with jingles. I hope all the Latino riders realize that Ingles isn't your best stop for Mexican or Latin American foods. (because it's not).

I wonder if the computerized voice utilizes GPS. After we exited Beecham's Curve and headed down the hill towards the river, the computer lady intoned "approaching Beckham's curve". The geographical and pronunciation errors aren't really a major problem, but they are funny. Don't get me wrong; I'm glad that the system exists. This system could be a big help to blind people. For the rest of us, it's just a big joke.

Come to think of it, on the bus, I was the only one laughing.

the bus choice

It's hardly news when everything at Asheville Transit works as it should, but that's what happened this morning. I got on trusty bus #9 on Brevard Road, we rode into town together, and I got to work on time.

I haven't had much time for busriding lately. It does take more time than driving. (Example: this morning I intended to catch the #9 bus, because that requires less walking. I had to be ready at 8:05. Alternative: I could walk about half a mile up to Haywood Road with my heavy bag to catch bus #1; in that case, I would need to be ready at 8:20. If I drive my car, I need to get ready by 8:40). This is played out again and again. If I worked today and drove my car, I could be home by 5:15 or 5:20. Riding the next bus home would mean arriving at home closer to 6:00. It's frustrating. What is a five or ten minute trip by car becomes a half-hour or so trip by bus, and then you figure in the waiting. As Tom Petty sang, the waiting is the hardest part.

I avoided riding the bus all week for one reason or another, mostly because I wanted to go to the Y or I had some other activity planned, and it all made the bus choice (at least in Asheville) impractical. Getting the boy out to his camp location in North Asheville and then whisking myself to work? I haven't tried it yet. Car scenario: leave the house at 8:30, drive him to camp, drive to work. Bus scenario: leave the house at 7:15 (ouch!), walk half a mile, hop a bus to downtown, transfer to a bus going north, kick the boy out of the bus at camp, then ride the bus back to downtown to the job.

By contrast, today was easy. Easy like Saturday morning.

Friday, Saturday

I managed to ride the bus Friday and Saturday of last week. I got good service both days. Saturday morning's bus is always uncrowded. It's nice, probably ten passengers on the way into town. Friday's is a different story, but it's good in a way. We're packed into the #1 bus along Haywood Road, into PVA, and back onto Haywood on the way to downtown. Either way, it's good.

Asheville Transit is supposed to be testing out some new routes (no passenger service while they test how long it takes a bus to get from point A to points B, C, D, etc.). One of the proposed routes (I think) includes Bingham Heights, PVA, and Wal-Mart, but it doesn't go downtown. As every single route involves downtown now, this is a big change. I hope it works.

Strive not to Drive

It is Strive not to Drive Week!

Yesterday was Monday, and I drove my car due to a scheduled soccer game in the Enka area.

Fortunately, I was able to ride the bus today.

Overall, the ride in was fine, but there was one incident worth noting. A man rang the bell on Hilliard, and he wanted to get off at a stop on Hilliard. The bus driver drove right past the stop, and people started yelling "you missed the stop! and "you're supposed to stop back there!" The driver slowed down and stopped. The man got off without a word.

Now everybody makes mistakes, and I guess this was a mistake. That's fine. But after the mistake, why not apologize? Why not say "my fault" or "sorry about that"? The driver said nothing. The same driver, earlier in the trip, was quick to point out a bus rider's mistake. The rider immediately apologized.

Anyway, all in all, it was a good ride.

#9 in

This morning I lined up for the #9 on Brevard Road, right near my house. Of course, students also catch a bus at the same spot. It's a school bus, and usually that bus scoops the kids up around, oh, 7:55 or so.

For the first time, as I walked towards where I stand for the bus, I saw a group of high school and middle school kids waiting for the bus right there! They were waiting at my bus stop. Well I wasn't going to hang out with a bunch of teenagers who didn't know me. They would surely have me pegged as a creep. So I walked back home, sure that I had enough time to make the bus even after this detour. I then spun around and headed back towards the bus stop, thinking that maybe, just maybe, the school bus would be along shortly.

Thankfully the yellow bus came along straight away, so I had the stop to myself. I usually expect the city bus around 8:08, but it ran a few minutes later than that this morning. When I boarded, I expected to see some reason for this delay, like a person in a wheelchair. I still don't know why the bus was a bit late. In fact, the bus was nearly empty. Then, one guy got off near the corner of Fairfax and Haywood, and three of us (driver included) rode on towards PVA. Of course, there were riders waiting in PVA. The bus takes a new course these days, omitting Michigan Avenue altogether, so it plunges into the neighborhood via State Street and it rises back out via Hanover Street, which makes for a change of scenery.

To my surprise, the bus, travelling less than half full and in very light traffic, pulled into the station late. Mind you, it was just a few minutes late, but late it was. Luckily, #6 was waiting out on Asheland Ave. for a few transfer riders.

As for other non-car travellers, I can add this: While I waited near the corner of my street and Brevard Road, I noticed three people biking to work. And, late in the bus trip, I spotted one of my neighbors biking up the hill on Clingman Avenue. Four cyclists!

three days in a row

I managed to ride the bus (and avoid using a car) three days in a row last week: Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Mind you, my responsibility on Thursday amounted to child care only, and I only had to work on Friday and Saturday. Any day which involves child care AND work is very unlikely to be a bus day.

chill out, bro.

One day last week I was riding the bus. I sat about halfway back. The bus started to fill up in PVA, as it usually does. One man got on, and I swear he had the loudest speaking voice I have ever heard. This was morning. The guy was giving a shout out to everybody he knew on the bus. Then he started greeting everyone he knew as they boarded the bus. This included slapboxing matches with young children, hugs, etc. People all over the bus were rolling eyes. Some people were yukking it up with the loud man, but not many.

Eventually, with the bus on Clingman, the driver let out a solid "you better chill out, bro." At least, that's what I thought the driver said. One of the loud man's companions told him that the driver said "you better calm down, bro." Either way, the message was the same, and from that point on I heard only muted grumblings from the rear of the bus as The Loud Man contemplated (aloud, of course) his fate during the driver's newly instituted reign of control.

The driver impressed me. He only said what was needed.

When I got to the station, I hastily exited the bus lest I witness some sort of fracas.

The Loud Man may be The Paterfamilias, but I am not sure.

If you’ve ever wanted greater bus frequency, Sunday service, longer hours of operation, or new routes – now is the time to make your voice heard.

Please come to this meeting!

(ASHEVILLE, NC) – There will be a Transit Master Plan public forum on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009 from 4pm-7pm, in the Asheville Civic Center’s banquet hall. The meeting will be held in an “open house” format with no formal presentation. Instead, attendees will be able to offer in-person feedback to consultants, ask questions of staff, and see preliminary data first-hand.

Interim Transit Manager Mariate Echeverry believes the forum will help determine what kind of public transit system the community wants. “The public’s input will help craft a transit plan that will be responsive to the city’s needs, and suggest sustainable transportation options.”

In 2008 the City of Asheville hired Nebraska-based consulting firm HDR to perform a thorough scientific analysis of the Asheville Transit System and create a comprehensive Transit Master Plan.

A Transit Master Plan is a document that analyzes existing transit services and develops data to support planning and decision making. In the case of Asheville, this will mean studying Asheville’s 24 bus routes and comparing them to long-term trends. The study should be completed by July 2009, and will offer short and long term recommendations on how the city could improve public transit.

To supplement the information for the Transit Master Plan, ATS staff created an online survey to get feedback and suggestions.

MLK holiday

Monday is the holiday honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Will the Asheville Transit buses be on a regular schedule?

milk to the airport

A woman with a bulging backpack asks me when the last bus leaves the transit center for the airport. Yikes! It's 3:45, and I tell her the next one leaves at 4:00. I verify that the bus is indeed number six. It will leave at 4:00.

She asks me when number six leaves after 4:00. I tell her 5:30. She explains: "I don't think I'm going to make that first bus, not with a backpack full of milk!"

Why Don't the Buses Go Everywhere, All the Time?

So I got a promotion and am now working in a different part of town. There is no bus service near where I work. The closest stop is nearly a mile away and the road I'd have to walk up to get to work from the bus stop has no sidewalks. Also the times, even if I decided to walk the mile, would be pretty inconvenient.

So I'm wondering why the bus doesn't go down Long Shoals Road. Someone came into the library yesterday and said that her friends had told her that it did indeed stop at the Ingles on Long Shoals, but looking on the route maps, I couldn't find any evidence of that. The library is at the convergence of an elementary school, a middle school and a high school (I'm thinking staff here--teachers, cafeteria workers, custodians.) Long Shoals is a busy, busy road. A hotbed of activity and people going to jobs. All the new businesses in Biltmore Park, also the YMCA is out there. The Waffle House, Ingles...Surely it's just a matter of time...On the other hand, it's quite upper middle class out there...

If I'm wrong and a route has been added I will be very very happy. I'd still have to walk a little ways from the corner of Overlook and Longshoals, but it wouldn't be bad. If I'm wrong, someone out there let me know!

I want to go downtown today. I would ride the bus today if I could, but, alas, it's Sunday and there is no service. Do buses run on Sundays in other cities the size of Asheville?

two buses and one drunk

Monday I drove because I had to get Walter over to his Mom's house, then I had to go to work. The bus is simply not the right tool for that job. Then after work I went for a run, then we went up Merrimon for dinner and a movie. More driving. We did, however, leave the van downtown Monday night. On Tuesday we rode the bus into town, and then at the end of the day I rode the bus home directly, but Sherry drove to Earth Fare on her way home.

On Wednesday, we missed the outgoing #9 from downtown at 5:30. Usually that bus is late, and I had come to count on it being late-- big mistake. We arrived at the bus station at 5:33, just as the bus was leaving. I saw it, waiting at the edge of Coxe, but I didn't realize that it was #9. We surely could have made it, but we didn't know it was #9 so we didn't run for it. Anyway, #1 was along at 6:00. We spent the interim in a packed waiting area.

One of those days there was a drunk on the bus on the way home. I guess that was Tuesday. So transit drivers allow drunks on the bus? I mean drunk. I don't mean buzzed or tipsy. This guy was staggering, slurred speech, the works. If someone comes in my workplace drunk like that, we insist that he (and it's always a he) find his way to an exit. Why are they allowed on the bus? He wasn't causing any particular problems, I suppose. He stayed in his seat. He didn't challenge anybody to a duel or anything. I guess that policy amounts to waiting until a drunk causes a problem, then telling the drunk to get off the bus.

Thursday was New Year's Day.

Friday was another driving day, because one stop was Walter's mom's house, where he spent the day while I worked. I wonder if my busriding days are more limited in the future. It's hard to hold down a full-time job and get a child back and forth all while on the bus schedule. I'll do it when I can.

I rode the bus yesterday... the 12:08 #9 fronm West Asheville. It was on time (or reasonably close) as it arrived near the end of my street on Brevard Road. The bus was nearly empty on the way into town. I think I was the third on, and there were eight by the time we crossed the river. That was fine by me. Some lady had a big plastic bag with a singing toy inside. Ooh, I hate singing toys. I hate toys that make noise. I like musical instruments, and I like some videogames, pinball machines, etc. But talking dolls and junk like that, uh. That just gets under my skin and makes me want to leave the area. Thankfully, I had the iPod.

The return trip was a different story, though. Shortly after three, Walter and I hailed the #9 as it arrived on Clingman Ave. The bus so full that we sat apart. That's fine by me; I'm glad that people are riding the bus. Does Asheville Transit keep statistics on ridership, broken down by hour? I'd be curious to see those. Sherry rode the bus yesterday also, to and from work, and described a full bus on the morning ride.

Walter, Sherry, and I all managed a carfree day yesterday. Hooray!

Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette

I have noticed a curious habit of one of the bus drivers. This is on the 8:30pm route that goes down Haywood Rd. toward Deaverview. The first time it happened, we left the station on time, then when we got to the Ingles stop a few people got off, including the driver. I thought, hmm, what's up? Then I smelled cigarette smoke and I caught on that the driver was taking a cigarette break. I waited for a few more minutes, got tired of waiting, and especially got tired of breathing cigarette smoke, and got out and walked the rest of the way. My normal stop was a block or so up at the corner of Brevard Rd.

I had almost forgotten this anomaly when I rode the night bus this week. But sure enough, when we got to Ingles, no one got on or off, but the driver stopped the bus, got out, and started his cigarette break. This time I was fast on the uptake and hopped right out and walked the rest of the way.

I guess the driver has time to kill because he is ahead of schedule, but this cigarette break seems weird. It's really the only unprofessional behavior I've seen since I've been riding the bus. (Behavior on the part of the drivers I mean!)

contain yourself

I rode the 10:35 #1 in from Ffax/Hay. today, and if the ride was uneventful from a logistical standpoint, it was made interesting through a nice conversation I had with Ron. Thanks, Ron. I'm glad you were on the bus today.

Otherwise we just were a metal box full of people, shoulder to shoulder, jerking and bumping our way into downtown.

Word on the streets is that Asheville Transit buses stopped running early on the day before Thanksgiving, with no posting. Some riders reported that drivers told them on the way into town that service would end early. Another rider told Sherry that he had no idea that service would end early, and he arrived at the bus station late Wednesday and had to call someone for a ride. That is messed up.

Here's a rip-- the Brevard Road bridge over I-240 is closed. Yep, closed. It's been half-closed for two weeks now, and the A C-T reports that the bridge is completely closed but will reopen soon. This is my usual bridge for car access to I-240. While I don't travel over the bridge on a bus route, likely #9 will avoid my neighborhood entirely (both incoming and outgoing) because the bridge is part of the quickest route between my area and the Biltmore Square Mall. That means I will ride #1, and walk half a mile to get to a bus stop. So be it.

rain, on top of it all

We waited for the 8:08 #9 this morning in a steady rain. Nearby there was a huge puddle in the road. Each car would drive through the puddle, which would spray water up onto someone's front yard. It would drench that entire front yard, over and over again. I am so lucky that the bus stop is not beside that puddle.

Whatever Float They Boat

Overheard on the bus ride home last night:

A young man and (I'm guessing) his younger brother. There was a mention of some clubs we had passed.
Little brother: "They like to be bit!!!??"
Older brother: "Whatever float they boat!"
The next phrase I heard was "massacre-ist"!

Then the guy sitting across from us, who had been laughing randomly on and off for quite awhile, was trying very hard to make friends with a pretty young woman...he told her how beautiful she was...how wonderful her skin was. He found out all about where she worked. He asked if she'd had a good day at work. She at first said yes. Then she remembered she had fallen and chipped a tooth. Somehow she did this while trying to photograph a baby. (Personally, if I had fallen and chipped a tooth at work, baby or no baby, there would have been no way it would have slipped my mind and I definitely would not have said I'd had a good day!!) He finally told her his stop was coming up. He got up and stood up in the doorway well ahead of time and did a silent dance to the beat of his own drummer.

stretching out

#1 bus this morning, arriving downtown at 10:55. I got on near the corner of Fairfax and Haywood. Near the back of the bus, there was a bum-looking old guy sleeping one off. He was lying across two seats, and his belongings covered a third. I was the last one off the bus. Nobody woke him up. A few people tried.

I wonder if the driver woke the guy up, or what.

Later, I saw him in the bank. He was counting his money.