urbanSTL

^Have they raised pay? I drove busses for a while. I quit pretty quickly because the pay was mediocre at best and the hours and working conditions were abysmal for a newb. (Lots of split shifts, lots of cranky customers, which I can only imagine is even worse now, and driving a bus wasn't easy even before every second dunderhead started driving like a complete maroon.)

Anything that involves dealing with the public is short staffed right now because there's a pandemic and a disproportionate amount of the people out and about are sociopaths who don't care about killing their neighbors and who bristle at the slightest inconvenience imposed for the sake of others.

Risking starting a loop trolley war in a metro thread… speaking of automated vehicles…

The Loop Trolley infrastructure (separated lanes and dedicated platforms) would be perfect testing ground for autonomous shuttle busses in the STL region.

addxb2 wrote: ↑

Aug 19, 2021

Risking starting a loop trolley war in a metro thread… speaking of automated vehicles…

The Loop Trolley infrastructure (separated lanes and dedicated platforms) would be perfect testing ground for autonomous shuttle busses in the STL region.

Navya shuttles are intriguing, but they'd need to be scaled up to run across the city.  They run about 9 hours on a charge, and top out at about 25 KPH (or roughly 15½ MPH for you imperialists).  You can read more info about them here.  
Keep in mind too that these currently cost more than a traditional city bus and carry far fewer people. 

That said, cost of ownership should be lower - at least in theory. And something like this in a dedicated BRT lane is an interesting possibility.  If a model could run at 25-30 MPH it a real alternative to, say, a N-S streetcar.

In limited areas though - say, a downtown circulator - these could be quite useful even as-is.

-RBB

There is now free WiFi in the metro trains, apparently! Neat.

^Neat indeed!

A reminder that our bus system is disintegrating.

The electric buses are quieter.

the electric buses are great, but it's hard to give Metro credit while the system is imploding.

dweebe wrote:

sc4mayor wrote: ↑

Nov 23, 2021

MetroBus Electric Bus Fleet Grows with 6 GILLIG Buses
https://www.metrostlouis.org/nextstop/m ... kwVXI_kRPA

Metro took delivery of another 6 electric buses this month, bringing the fleet up to 28 combined. Ten 40 footers, eighteen 60 footers. Nice to see this continue.

I recently read an article in the Trib about potential infrastructure projects in the Chicago area with the recent passage of the federal bill. Apparently the entire CTA is only running 8 electric buses.

Still a long way to go here (and even longer in Chicago) but sometimes I don’t think Metro gets their fair shake.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/bre ... utType=amp

Anyone that’s been to Chicago in 2021 knows their bus system is a mess. Lines that used to have nice regular 10-15 minute headways are either 20-30 minutes apart then another bus on the same line 3 or 4 minutes behind. Transfers are unreliable. 3 different trips I bailed on waiting for buses and either walked, used the EL or rideshare.

Not that any of that excuses the gutting in St. Louis.

My 152 has been exceptionally strong recently. But I generally agree with the statement.

Same - the 146 we typically use when we're in Chicago has been pretty much right on schedule whenever we've used it.  But I totally get that they're probably having staffing issues / each route may be impacted differently.

Re: free transit, there was an article in the Washington Post recently about some communities that are considering making transit (generally buses) free. The question is whether the increases in ridership/political support are better by making the system free, or redirecting the money that would be lost by going free into increasing service: Bus systems are eyeing lower fares, leaving passengers and advocates to wonder at what cost

Losing fare revenue, which typically covers roughly one-fifth of operational budgets, could put service at greater risk of cuts, some transportation officials say. At stake, they say, could be the frequent and reliable service that studies show riders — including those with lower incomes — prioritize over costs. The debate is gaining momentum nearly two years into a health crisis that shifted the makeup of public transportation ridership.

Alexandria’s DASH bus system went fare-free this fall, prompting transit organizations across the region to track the experiment. Along with free service, DASH restructured bus lines to increase frequencies and expand its service area to cover more underserved communities. Ridership has grown by about 26 percent since the revamped service launched Sept. 5.

TransitCenter studies before the pandemic found a majority of low-income bus riders rated lower fares as less important than better service. In a summer 2018 survey, respondents cited frequency, crowding, safety and reliability above fares. “If you ask people, including low-income people, ‘Why don’t you ride the bus?’ By far, the leading reason is it doesn’t come often enough, and it doesn’t take me where I need to go,” Bragdon said. “A bus that is free, but only runs every two hours and doesn’t run on weekends — that’s no bargain at all.”

“Frequency, reliability, that’s what they want,” Kannan said. “Pricing is not the second or third or fourth most important thing. It’s the 15th most important thing. So if you make it free but the bus is only running half an hour, you haven’t done anything.”

StlToday - ‘Begging for employees’: Metro Transit cuts service amid staffing shortages

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/met ... df38c.html

quincunx wrote:StlToday - ‘Begging for employees’: Metro Transit cuts service amid staffing shortages

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/met ... df38c.html

They ought to stop begging and start paying


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SeattleNative wrote: ↑

Nov 28, 2021

quincunx wrote:StlToday - ‘Begging for employees’: Metro Transit cuts service amid staffing shortages

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/met ... df38c.html

They ought to stop begging and start paying

It's not like Metro can just cut into their profit margin to pay more. They'd have to pass another sales tax or something.

If Metro/Bi-State is unable to operate the current system, more radical change may be necessary. Perhaps investment in BRT?

Higher wages, along with trillions in government spending (and hand-outs), is leading directly to a nasty bout with inflation. People don't seem to be taking it seriously yet, but trouble is brewing. 

Inflation is happening in countries that didn’t have trillions in gov spending and “hand outs”     Don’t have to be a full on economists to see why inflation is happening.    People have changed what they buy because of Covid.  It’s more goods and less services and the goods can’t be produced fast enough due to increased buying but also due to Covid closures of factories and raw material producers.    Once people starting spending more of services the pressure on goods production will ease as will inflation

VW- one of the biggest car producers is saying today that they see the supply chain issues on the backslide finally