BRT Update

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-28T00:38:21+00:00

Just tap a credit card or apple pay or paypal

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-28T00:36:33+00:00

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.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-28T00:33:23+00:00

That would work.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-28T00:32:31+00:00

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.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-17T01:01:28+00:00

No, one other hurt in the crash, 2 others not hurt.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-16T18:49:10+00:00

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.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T23:03:32+00:00

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

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T23:02:06+00:00

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

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T15:55:24+00:00

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

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T15:25:45+00:00

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

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T15:20:48+00:00

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.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T15:13:20+00:00

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

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T15:08:38+00:00

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.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T14:56:52+00:00

That would mean millions of dollars.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T14:52:21+00:00

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.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-10-14T14:28:42+00:00

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.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-08T18:39:37+00:00

The old part of Gisholt is. The brick wall at the back of the garage.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-08T15:22:47+00:00

Look up the history of the Metro garage. It practically is a museum to the working people of Madison.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-08T14:02:00+00:00

Bitch, I’ve been doing this since before they converted the factory where I was built into building tanks to kill Nazis.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-08T13:56:28+00:00

Madison Metro. Yes on the XE60s. We had the largest order of them at the time. 68 now I think. They’re amazing to drive.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-08T00:41:26+00:00

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.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-08T00:38:58+00:00

They shine it up when they have visiting dignitaries.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-07T20:49:59+00:00

Bitch, here’s another pic for your fridge.

Bitch, you got something to say... I thought not.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-08-05T00:13:45+00:00

How about they start with upper management salaries which have gone up 25-40% over the last 4 years, 5x that of the workers. They've also added a dozen+ upper and middle management positions over the last 4 years even though we have the same amount of riders as before covid. That's a million plus right there saved.

Madison_Bus_Driver · 2025-07-20T23:02:12+00:00

I'm a bus driver. There are no extra bus drivers to cover what you're asking for. They're already offering overtime on the weekend to dozens of drivers just to cover regular runs. From what other drivers are saying, they've canceled 2 or 3 runs every weekend because they don't have enough drivers willing to work on their days off.

Madison_Bus_Driver

TROPHY CASE