DDOT poor bus services

[stasu1213]

I had noticed that DDOT's services wait time had increased under this new Director and Mayor instead of decreasing as promised. It was said that Gary Brown once had control over the bus system and ruled over the new director. The 15 minute wait time for particular lines from the hours of 6am to 6pm is no longer intact. Many people have to wait for more than a half hour for a bus during rush hours in the morning and afternoon. I should had known that this new director wasn't going to do much especially when he had taken a picture leaning on his nice shiny car while a DDOT bus was in the background being repaired. Where is the outcry? Customer service doesn't tell anything but take your name and number

[Chicago48]

I had noticed that DDOT's services wait time had increased under this new Director and Mayor instead of decreasing as promised. It was said that Gary Brown once had control over the bus system and ruled over the new director. The 15 minute wait time for particular lines from the hours of 6am to 6pm is no longer intact. Many people have to wait for more than a half hour for a bus during rush hours in the morning and afternoon. I should had known that this new director wasn't going to do much especially when he had taken a picture leaning on his nice shiny car while a DDOT bus was in the background being repaired. Where is the outcry? Customer service doesn't tell anything but take your name and number

Could it be because of a labor [[lack of) and maintenance problem [[no working busses)?

[professorscott]

Could it be because of a labor [[lack of) and maintenance problem [[no working busses)?

More than anything else, parts. The published schedule is a work of fiction because there aren't nearly enough buses in working order to operate that schedule.

The problem became catastrophic a few years ago when City Council decided that [[1) only "critical" vendors would be paid, and it turns out that [[2) vendors of parts for buses are not critical. So for quite a time DDOT just couldn't convince anyone to ship parts, as those who did weren't likely to get paid timely if ever.

Mayor Duggan seems to recognize the problem, and hopefully he and the various people in charge of purchasing and DDOT will start to understand that you can't repair buses without parts, and you can't get parts unless those supplying them can expect to be paid in a reasonable fashion.

Meantime, the maintenance folks deferred and cannibalized to the extent possible, and this is the result: long waits on all lines much of the day.

[thoro]

No. The problem is management. I ride the Woodward bus and oftentimes there's a long wait and then two, sometimes three, buses come all bunched together.
Dispatching the buses at set intervals is not rocket science.

[Wesley Mouch]

It should not be a surprise that things are getting worse. Doesn't mean Duggan's not doing the right things. [[Also doesn't mean he is.)

You're only as strong as your weakest link.

DDOT has plenty of weak links. I'm sure the vendor payment issue is a big one -- but fixing that alone doesn't do anything. Fixing procedures doesn't do anything. Fixing fareboxes doesn't do anything.

Improvements will only occur when EVERYTHING has been fixed to a reasonable level -- and there are no weak links [[like no busses, no drivers, no dispatchers, no farebox, etc.).

Quick fixes are usually not lasting. This one may take a few years.

So that leaves the question of whether Duggan's doing the right things. On this I have no idea.

[Hermod]

No. The problem is management. I ride the Woodward bus and oftentimes there's a long wait and then two, sometimes three, buses come all bunched together.
Dispatching the buses at set intervals is not rocket science.

There is a statistical theory on bunching and gaps in a flow that was expounded on in a book called "Why Do Buses Run In Threes".

[313WX]

No. The problem is management. I ride the Woodward bus and oftentimes there's a long wait and then two, sometimes three, buses come all bunched together.
Dispatching the buses at set intervals is not rocket science.

Yep to the bolded.

You have someone who doesn't have a clue as to what they're doing [[Gary Brown noser) that was appointed to a position where they're running shit through nepotism.

[Wesley Mouch]

There is a statistical theory on bunching and gaps in a flow that was expounded on in a book called "Why Do Buses Run In Threes".

Thanks so much for that comment. This forum provides opportunities for thought, and for challenges to my ideas. I would never have thought of this -- but it is so obvious. Thanks.

[Hermod]

I was speaking from memory. The actual title of the book is Why Do Buses Come in Threes? The Hidden Mathematics of Everyday Life by Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham. It is a slim book and shows that it is more likely that buses which depart the depot every fifteen minutes will really tend to bunch in twos [[though they may bunch in threes at times). The reason is that passengers arrive irregularly at bus stops. If a surge of passengers hits a bus stop and a bus arrives, the bus will have to wait while the passengers board, pay, and get seated. This delays bus number one and the following bus will catch up and not be delayed because there are no passengers to board because they all got on the first bus.

[professorscott]

I was speaking from memory. The actual title of the book is Why Do Buses Come in Threes? The Hidden Mathematics of Everyday Life by Rob Eastaway and Jeremy Wyndham. It is a slim book and shows that it is more likely that buses which depart the depot every fifteen minutes will really tend to bunch in twos [[though they may bunch in threes at times). The reason is that passengers arrive irregularly at bus stops. If a surge of passengers hits a bus stop and a bus arrives, the bus will have to wait while the passengers board, pay, and get seated. This delays bus number one and the following bus will catch up and not be delayed because there are no passengers to board because they all got on the first bus.

This is why good bus systems have active dispatching and line supervisors out on the street. When this starts to happen it's easy to correct: you could instruct, for example, the first bus to skip stops unless people signal to get off, and/or you could make the second bus hold for a few minutes at a particular stop. So back when DDOT had an adequate support staff, they were able to do this, and did. Now DDOT hasn't got adequate anything.

[Islandman]

This is why good bus systems have active dispatching and line supervisors out on the street. When this starts to happen it's easy to correct: you could instruct, for example, the first bus to skip stops unless people signal to get off, and/or you could make the second bus hold for a few minutes at a particular stop. So back when DDOT had an adequate support staff, they were able to do this, and did. Now DDOT hasn't got adequate anything.

Exactly. This is not rocket science. If some bus systems have schedules that are down to almost the minute, and other have three buses playing whack-a-mole, there is a logistics issue.

[thoro]

Taking lunch break together is the most common reason.
Seriously, we have the worst mass transit system on the planet. In any other 3rd world city, I can get from A to B in a timely fashion using public transportation. Here, good luck.
Unless, Duggan digs up another crony to run the system, if we get another 100 buses, there will be 5 or 6 in the bunch. Instead of 2 or 3.

[stasu1213]

The selection of the type of busses that DDOT uses was done poorly. Other major cities have busses with wider aisles and better seats. Even the SMART busses aisles are a little wider than DDOTS. One person could barely walk down the aisle without bumping a passenger's knee or the passengers themselves. What idiot is left in charge of purchasing these busses. Gary Brown the assistant EM. Who? The busses continue to run slow as we speak. Duggan gets an E for this. Get a transit person from New York and not some retread pencil pusher from SMART. But of course this is the Motor City where any form of public transportation for poor to middle income people is not taken seriously

[Russix]

Does a map exist of where each bus stops at the transit center?

[Russix]

Does a map exist of where each bus stops at the transit center?

I've seen the bay assignment list, but its confusing where routes that run around the center stop at.