Six years later, and more of the same

Six years ago today, amusingly enough, I wrote about the number of people who were asking the driver on my bus back home about that bus destination.

Today I observed a lot of the same sort of behaviour, but with a light-rail focus. A fair number of train-passengers, many of whom ran to catch the train, asked if the train was going to Golden.

Apparently the signage isn't sufficient for them. Or maybe it was just Friday-afternoon brain-farting. I dunno.

Broken train?

As mass-transit technologies go, trains are among the oldest. The basics of trains running on tracks date back to sometime in the very early 1800s. In that light, it feels kind of surprising when a modern train breaks down, though it probably shouldn't: wear and tear, gremlins and bugaboos... they creep into all human efforts, given enough time.

Today I experienced a train breakdown that didn't stop it from being "drivable," but was still significant enough that it stopped and commuters had to transfer to another train. I'm not honestly sure what the issue/failure was, but I gather it was some sort of pedestrian-related safety system thing.

Whatever it was, it amounted to a 5 to 10 minute delay. Nothing major, though I had to wait for the next bus at the train station, having missed my connection by a scant few minutes.

…and then there's these guys…

The large station that is the transfer point for me from my neighborhood bus and the light rail is RTD's Federal Center Station. It's basically a big loop around the associated parking-area, with a train-platform along one edge:

The entire area along that side (by the map-pin in the picture) is supposed to be for buses only, and has a posted low speed-limit (10mph).

Despite that, it's not all that unusual for me to see someone driving through the bus-only area. Usually it seems like they just missed the turn to get into the parking (middle left side), but a few times I've seen people drive to a bus-stop and wait there to pick someone up from the train or a bus or drop them off. About half the time they don't seem to care how fast they're going through the area. I've seen (once) someone going about 30mph through the area.

And then there's these guys that I saw while waiting for my bus back home last night:

Parked on the sidewalk on the platform.

Engine off, not even idling.

Really?

Holiday Schedules Revisited

I mentioned in an earlier post that the older daughter once nearly got stuck without a bus to take to school because of the observance of New Year's Day and the Sunday/Holiday schedules for the day as a result.

As I'm writing this, it's five days out from Memorial Day, and buses (and trains, presumably) will be running under the same schedule. Odds are good that the older daughter doesn't need to go to school that day (I suspect most college campuses are closed).

I, on the other hand, may have to go into work, at least for a while, on Memorial Day (such is the glamorous life of working in the IT industry, and for a small company to boot). I'm hoping that it won't be necessary, but planning ahead for the possibility.

I digress: If I have to go in, that's gonna be a bit of a pickle for me.

My normal commute is to take the line that comes closest to my house (within a couple of blocks) to one of the larger train-stations on the line. There are three such along the route, and one at each end. From there, it's one train-ride downtown, and a walk of a couple blocks to get to the office. Even if my normal morning bus runs late for some reason, I'd be able to catch the next train after a 15-minute wait.

On the Sunday/Holiday schedule, though, that first bus doesn't even go to that train-station. It doesn't even go as far along that part of the route to get to my normal bus-stop. The only "reasonably" quick way I can find to get to the same train line (at the next large station along it's route) is to take my normal route in the other direction, then transfer to another bus to get to that station. From there it's pretty much business as usual, at least. Getting to the bus isn't going to be horrible either, but it's maybe a quarter-hour walk as opposed to a three-minute one, and the tipple effect of different times and routes means that I'll be spending close to 2½ hours commuting if it comes to that.

And buses only run once an hour on the Sunday/Holiday schedule. Hopefully I won't miss the first train, because it looks like it'll be running every ½-hour, and the window to get from the bus to the train may be pretty tight.

On further reflection, it seems to me that my house is right on the edge of a black hole for public transit service on weekends (well, Sundays, at any rate) and holidays.

What's wrong with this picture?

Working in downtown Denver means that, often, you're never too far from the 16th street mall shuttles. That, in turn, means that it's a relatively quick jaunt to most anywhere else downtown, provided that the shuttles aren't too packed to hop on to.

I took a break today around lunchtime to go to a place called City Pop. They do popcorn and various candies, including a nice variety of sourball candies (orange, cherry, grape, watermelon and green apple flavors at a minimum). It's just a bit further than I'd like to walk if I want to be able to leave for home at a good time, so I took the shuttle both ways.

That's when I saw this sign:

What's wrong with this picture?

Taken from the inside of the shuttle.

Crises on trains...

This morning's ride was somewhat eventful. A passenger's phone started burning at one of the stops. A Samsung,for anyone who's interested.

The reactions of fellow passengers was mixed and interesting. Some bolted, most just got out of the immediate vicinity. The train stayed at the station for a few minutes while the smoke cleared.

Had it happened while the train was in motion, I find myself wondering how things would've played out though. Or, for that matter, if it'd been a "real" fire. That prompted me to look for and ask about the emergency buttons on the train.

For reference, on the Denver RTD light rail trains, they're over the doors.

Not just a flat tire after all…

While waiting for the train this morning, I noticed one of the mountain-route line's buses had what looked like a flat. On closer examination, it turned out that it wasn't just flat — it was off the rim!

Two questions came to mind:

1. How are flats (let alone something like this) actually dealt with on a running line?
2. Does the driver have any notification in the cabin when something this drastic happens?

I know buses can be towed — I've even seen it happen once or twice. But with an active (and in this case, express) line, what's the fallback? There will be people waiting, presumably, for that bus, and it's not going anywhere with this tire.

I gather, from talking briefly with a rider from that bus, that there's either no notification, or that it's easily missed. That rider mentioned that the driver said they didn't know when it happened… It's, admittedly, a jump to a conclusion, but it feels like a pretty safe jump to me…