[ExI] mass transit again

spike spike66 at att.net
Fri Jan 21 06:56:57 UTC 2011


... On Behalf Of mail at harveynewstrom.com
Subject: Re: [ExI] mass transit again

>...That's just poor scheduling.  If routes are running with one person on
them, they should be cut to fewer times.
But maybe you're just in a slow spot between other areas of heavy activity.
A bus that is full for a mile compensates for times when it is empty for
many miles.  And every full bus compensates for many empty buses. It still
can work out mathematically, with lots of empty buses and empty miles. --
Harvey Newstrom


Ja and I thought of something else too.  It could be that one particular
route is bad for having few riders.  It goes to that big industrial park
right beside Moffett Field in the Bay Area.  Probably some of you have
visited it, a huge industrial park with lots of jobs where people don't know
for sure when they will get finished in the evening, so they want the
convenience of a personal car.  Yahoo headquarters is in there, Lockheed
Martin, the usual collection of internet fly-by-nights, a bunch of other
stuff.  There is no reason to hang out anywhere near Moffett Park if one
does not have a job there, and there are no low paying jobs in that area.
So nearly everyone who has any reason to be there drives a car.  So we have
thousands of people who daily witness the absurdity of 300 cars backed up to
allow a light rail car to pass with two persons aboard, one of whom is
driving.  That's how we get such an attitude.  

This is the only train I see on a regular basis.  I can imagine there are
other lines that are more heavily used.  That one to Moffett should probably
be retired, but the unions might not let them do it, lest they strike.

A possible solution to the collective attitude is to paint human figures on
the windows to make the trains appear full.

spike









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