WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED??
Thursday I was enjoying the 6 route before my long three day weekend. Then rush hour hit. All the Nicollet buses were detoured onto Hennepin. I was coming from the U of M and was perfectly on time until I hit 4th street. The buses were packed from corner to corner on Hennepin and when I looked down 4th street it was even worse. They were backed up as far as you could see. I have NEVER seen it like this. I sat there wondering what the hell happened? Bad accident? Fire? Intersection continually blocked by idiots wanting to be the last one through?
About 15 minutes later, when I got TWO BLOCKS further, I saw part of the problem. The Nicollet buses were trying to turn onto 6th street to get back over to Nicollet. They were averaging ONE bus per light and then the one behind him would get stuck in the intersection pulling the idiot move of trying to be the last one through.
Most of my passengers were understanding, though as confused as I was. One loser did tell me to pass the other buses. I tried to explain that there was no where to go if I tried to pass. I couldn't pass the bus stops and passing on Hennepin is illegal in the bus lane.
After we got up to 7th street and things were getting back to normal, I noticed the traffic coming toward me. It was even worse. Eventually, I saw that it was backed up bumper-to-bumper in all three lanes all the way down to 16th street! That was unreal. I heard there was a game at the Target Center. I guess that didn't help traffic matters during rush hour either.
In the future, I would suggest that Metro Transit do our part by continuing the detour all the way from Washington to 11th/12th streets like we normally do. I think this would have made a HUGE difference in the whole traffic jam situation.
For those of you that were rude and mad at the bus drivers...shame on you. I'll let you know I spent the next few hours trying to catch up to my schedule...that means NO breaks and no stretching of the legs or trying to relax. People were getting on that didn't know what happened and were angry with ME...like it was my fault. For every minute we are late, that is a minute off our breaks. Being about 20 minutes behind, as I was due to the traffic, I got NO break for 3-4 hours.
For you patient people on the bus...THANK YOU! It's nice to see some people understand that there ARE situations beyond the bus drivers' control! Thanks, also, to those of you that boarded with their fares ready and who were quick to get on and off the bus. Especially, to those that use the BACK door when you see people waiting to board. This helps us to catch back up to our schedules. You are very much appreciated.
About 15 minutes later, when I got TWO BLOCKS further, I saw part of the problem. The Nicollet buses were trying to turn onto 6th street to get back over to Nicollet. They were averaging ONE bus per light and then the one behind him would get stuck in the intersection pulling the idiot move of trying to be the last one through.
Most of my passengers were understanding, though as confused as I was. One loser did tell me to pass the other buses. I tried to explain that there was no where to go if I tried to pass. I couldn't pass the bus stops and passing on Hennepin is illegal in the bus lane.
After we got up to 7th street and things were getting back to normal, I noticed the traffic coming toward me. It was even worse. Eventually, I saw that it was backed up bumper-to-bumper in all three lanes all the way down to 16th street! That was unreal. I heard there was a game at the Target Center. I guess that didn't help traffic matters during rush hour either.
In the future, I would suggest that Metro Transit do our part by continuing the detour all the way from Washington to 11th/12th streets like we normally do. I think this would have made a HUGE difference in the whole traffic jam situation.
For those of you that were rude and mad at the bus drivers...shame on you. I'll let you know I spent the next few hours trying to catch up to my schedule...that means NO breaks and no stretching of the legs or trying to relax. People were getting on that didn't know what happened and were angry with ME...like it was my fault. For every minute we are late, that is a minute off our breaks. Being about 20 minutes behind, as I was due to the traffic, I got NO break for 3-4 hours.
For you patient people on the bus...THANK YOU! It's nice to see some people understand that there ARE situations beyond the bus drivers' control! Thanks, also, to those of you that boarded with their fares ready and who were quick to get on and off the bus. Especially, to those that use the BACK door when you see people waiting to board. This helps us to catch back up to our schedules. You are very much appreciated.
posted by Jeanne Ree at 12:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home