Friday fun poll: do you run to catch a transit vehicle?
Friday fun poll: do you run to catch a transit vehicle?
If you like, you can skip to the end of this post to answer the running poll.
Results from last poll: favourite SkyTrain car
Last week I asked about your favourite SkyTrain car.
Hands down, the Mark II was the favourite — out of 224 votes on this poll (a new record!), 71% chose the Mark II, and 29% were fans of the Mark I.
Poor old Mark I! Lots of people picked out of sheer nostalgia, or really liked its seating design. Here’s Kewl:
I chose the Mark 1 easily. The flip up seats by the doors makes it easy for the physically challenged to get into and creates the perfect common area for luggage, strollers, wheelchairs or bikes. The Mark 2 has that stupid barrier that forces strollers and wheelchairs to block the doorway way. Also the Mark 1 bench seat design provides a wide opening for people to stand.
But the Mark II had plenty of fans of its seating arrangement, plus points for a smoother ride. Here’s Robert:
MK2 hands down. A lot smoother and more quiet than the MK1s. Extra standing room in the joint more than makes up for the narrow aisles in the 2-2 seat area. Better lighting and less claustrophobic as well. But please, no more 2-car train sets to Surrey during rush hour; let’s use more of the platform for faster loading and unloading! We do need the MK1s to keep up with rush hour demand. Slight nod to MK1 for engine sound and MK2 for wheel sound (sounds more modern and high tech).
Many more comments can be found at the original post, as usual.
This week’s poll: Do you run to catch your transit vehicle?
This week’s poll was kindly suggested by Eric! Edit: Eric has now written an actual post on his blog detailing why he doesn’t run for transit vehicles.
Comments are welcome, as always! And enjoy the long weekend, everyone!
I used to chase buses when I was younger. One thing I learned to never chase bases in San Francisco or New Westminster….. the hills are killers!
Today with more frequent service and my blackberry, I can now plan better to be at the stop appropriately so I don’t need to chase buses as often.
When I need to catch the westbound B-Line out of Broadway/Commercial Station, I run to the bus if I see it sitting there, because I don’t know how long I have to reach the bus before it departs.
I’d like a sign that counts down to departure like the one at the SeaBus and WCE terminals, that way I know when to run and when to take my time.
It really depends on the frequency and situation. When I was in Abbotsford going to UCFV there were many cases when I ran after the 3 UCFV GoLine, usually cutting through a block so I could intercept it at another bus stop.
If I see a bus idling at a layover/terminus stop I will probably jog a bit just to be safe, and especially if I see the doors close.
If a bus has anything more than a 15 minute frequency I will probably run. Unfortunately I live in Richmond and the norm in my area seems to be 20/30/60 minutes between buses.
Most bus operators I’ve encountered are nice and will wait for you if they see you running or are at a crosswalk and they think you’re trying to catch the bus, especially the 351/601 operators at the northbound Highway 99 Offramp @ Steveston Highway.
I’d like to second Tsushima’s comment on how drivers on the less frequent routes are courteous enough to wait for people running for the bus. I was walking down Alma Street one day, crossing Broadway, and I saw the C19 sitting there. It had just closed it’s doors, and it continued to sit there until after I had passed it. The driver must have been waiting to see if I would get on, because there was no traffic — he could have pulled-away at any time. It would be too much of a coincidence that he would have been holding for time until the exact moment I passed his front door.
[…] 17 May 2009 in Running, Transit | Tags: buzzer, poll, speedwork, training [Buzzer Blog] Friday fun poll: do you run to catch a transit vehicle? […]
I have also noticed that generally drivers on the less frequent, evening, and community shuttle routes are more likely to wait for a running passenger. That makes sense since waiting for another 30 mins would waste so much time. Furthermor I think if you are the last passeneger to enter a bus, you should quickly look back to see if someone is running to catch the bus and maybe you could kindly hold up the bus for that person. Someone did that for me and it’s really appreciated.
Running for public transport is really dangerous and should be discouraged. I have found that people loose their sense of what is around them and causes accidents. Many times I have seen other people been hit, pushed and generally frightened by some out of control person heading towards them. It is extremely inconsiderate of other people to behave this way especially on services when the next bus or skytrain is only minutes away. In other cities I have lived people have been charged with minor assault for these incidents and if someone whacks me I will have no problem in reporting it to the police. So, I never run for public transport!
At my North Burnaby Sktyrain station you can see over a mile to the east, so you know if it’s worth running or not, but generally that’s the only place I’ll run.
Broadway/Commercial is too crowded, and if I miss an E/B Millenium line train I’ll just resign myself to a 5 minute wait for the next train. What gets me is people that run for a W/B train at Broadway in the AM rush…trains dwell there for 45 seconds so usually I just casually walk on after the runners have passed, and if the train leaves it’s only 90-100 seconds until the next one.
Dave2
I voted Yes, but it’s actually a yes and no. Generally yes, if I need to catch a transfer — example if I’m on the #25 to UBC & getting off @ Cambie to catch the #15 to downtown (in plain sight), I will really huff it if the traffic lights are in my favour. otherwise, the schedules available online and txt save me the trouble of running.
George, I agree that if you are the last person to board the bus, and do see a runner in sight, either alert the driver of one more person coming, or if you’re like me, do see the runner, very slowly board the bus to give him/her enough time
of course, weather is another factor if I decide to haul-ace or not.
Some operators are nice when they see you a few feet away from the bus, and wait while to run for the bus. Kudos to them.
However, I don’t think they should wait for the “suicidal” passenger/riders that run across traffic, or jay-walk endangering themselves and the driving public… it’s not worth it… there’s always another bus to catch.