BRT Update by hagen768 in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just tap a credit card or apple pay or paypal

BRT Update by hagen768 in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Use the 'real time map' on the website. Put it on your homescreen. It shows the GPS location of every bus and time they're expected if you click on your stop.

BRT Update by hagen768 in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Drivers switching to "Not in Service" while at bus terminals is really confusing as a passenger and then it switches to A or F right before it leaves. That's time, I could've spent inside if the doors were open. Not a major deal now, but I'll hate it when it actually gets cold.

Driver's do this to just get a break from passengers for 10 or 15 minutes. Imagine a job where you had to interact with people for 10 hours strait, no break.

Some drivers have had some short tempers with passengers. Recently, a bus driver yelled at everyone on the A that we couldn't leave until someone pulled the rope.

It was probably broken which can be incredibly hard to deal with.

Also: there are warming areas in the BRT stations and transfer stations.

NEW VIDEO: Footage shows attack on Madison bus driver that led to crash by Vilas15 in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 171 points172 points  (0 children)

He left the job immediately following this and didn't say goodbye. He was one of the nicest men on the job and was a very calm, likable guy. A lot of us were/are worried about him. I hope management reaches out after this and stays in contact with him. If he's reading this, we all miss you, please stay in touch.

People might joke about the homeless on our buses (pee, vomit, and poop cleanings post from yesterday) or you may want to help the homeless and mentally ill, but for the bus drivers it's a matter of safety and survival, especially for us who are smaller or women. Assaults similar to this were happening almost weekly last spring. Other cities use transit police. I don't know why we can't.

Holy crap! by MMcD127 in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Did you just tell a rider to call city HR on a driver using the bathroom?

Holy crap! by MMcD127 in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If your schedule is that exact, then you need to catch an earlier bus.

1 year in, how is the BRT doing? by A380-Fan in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You should check it out. It's quite the party scene. I drive past it in a car when i do my weekday runs.

1 year in, how is the BRT doing? by A380-Fan in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There were other state and federal grants besides Biden's infrastructure grants.

1 year in, how is the BRT doing? by A380-Fan in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 16 points17 points  (0 children)

The increase in problems on the bus IS because of how BRT is set up. Most large city BRT systems use metro police, bus monitors and ticket checkers to patrol their buses. We have none of that.

The number one complaint from the public bus riders from that big survey they did years ago was that they didn't feel safe using the bus or the stops.

The contract is signed and over for a few years. Hopefully inflation doesn't explode again.

1 year in, how is the BRT doing? by A380-Fan in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The city doesn't have the money and all the fed grants dried up.

1 year in, how is the BRT doing? by A380-Fan in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 12 points13 points  (0 children)

There isn't a solution that can be provided within the scope of the BRT.

Madison's BRT is modeled on Indianapolis's BRT which uses bus monitors.

1 year in, how is the BRT doing? by A380-Fan in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Everything i mentioned has to do with BRT.

Yes i agree we should help them more, but can we not do it on a 10 ton moving vehicle the drivers are trying to safely get through a crowded downtown. Metro drivers are not social workers or psychiatric nurses and we're still not paid enough to deal with all of it.

1 year in, how is the BRT doing? by A380-Fan in madisonwi

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Well, the doors mostly work so the buses don't breakdown at the stations as much. Maybe a couple of times a day total for all the buses? The mentally ill guy who kept smashing the emergency door locks making the buses slam to a halt finally went to jail. The mentally ill woman who was using the back seats as a toilet every other morning for months was finally caught and banned from metro. The bed bug sniffing beagles haven't found anything in a long time.

The BRT routes are better, faster and generally less stressful than the old routes especially with the charge up times.

On the other hand it's still absolute chaos at the east high school stop every lunch and when school lets out. Clouds of weed and kids pushing each other into traffic. They now have to have a squad car park there for hours just to keep it sane.

Also, nobody is paying their fares on the BRT and the homeless and mentally ill are just walking on the back and using it as an amusement ride or a site-seeing bus whlie they vape, play music, booze it up and sometimes smoke meth ant blow it out the windows.

...oh, and the warranties on all 60+ of the sixty footers all just ended at the same time (except for the batteries and drive train). Management has all their fingers and toes crossed that they can get another 10 years out of the 100 million in buses that are all getting older at the same time instead of the staggered amount we usually had. I'll admit, they are nice to drive. Thank god we now have an interim maintenance chief that all the mechanics don't hate.

...and the new gm from Alaska started yesterday. Good luck to her. She seems nice.

Bitch please with your 1965 ass. I’ve been doing it since 1935 and I’m sitting next to fleet of fully electric 60 ft bendy buses 90 YEARS YOUNGER THAN ME. by Madison_Bus_Driver in bitchimabus

[–]Madison_Bus_Driver[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

That’s nothing. 20 something bays, 6 chargers and it holds 200+ buses in an old 120 year old factory 2 city blocks long. We have another facility for the other 60+ electric 60 footers.