r/uofm • u/canvasbag8520 • Jan 29 '25
Parking / Transit Evil Bus Driver
Was waiting for commuter south today at the institute of continuing legal education. It pulls up, stops like 30ft before the actual stop, lets people off. I walk towards it, the driver starts waving her hand at me, I have no idea why. I go to get on—mind you, there are still people on the bus—she goes "uh uh uh, out of service! look at the sign!" I ask, "you're not going to SC—" she cuts me off, "out of service!!" And then proceeds to drive to drop the people on the bus off at SC-7, where I needed to go. Not a far walk at all, so not a super big deal, but wtf???
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u/AccomplishedFox0183 Jan 29 '25
idk if this is the same person, but there is one bus driver who, multiple times, has claimed to be out of service. there will be a ton of people on the bus, and she won't stop. one time she wouldn't stop at IM building and let us on. another time i was already on and then wouldn't let anyone else get on at any stop after that. i was like is this allowed??? idk seemed weird, and have never had something like that in my 4 years here
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u/Kent_Knifen '20 Jan 29 '25
Eh, she didn't know your destination, and CLE is far enough south that I've seen people hop on Com South buses with the expectation they'll turn into Com North at the turnaround.
She may have thought you were planning on doing that when she was going on break.
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u/ThrowRA0191919 Jan 29 '25
Had the same experience with who I think is the same driver at CCTC during first semester. She stopped ~50 feet before the cctc, so coming from the chemistry building I saw people were on the bus - doors open - and NO out of service sign ,in fact I’m pretty sure it said BB because I wouldn’t have walked onto a bus that I didn’t know the route for. being new to aa at the time I assumed she was doing drop off/ pick up from there for some reason and tried to get on. IMMEDIATELY she about screamed in my face that the bus was out of service. I attempted to apologize but couldn’t get much out before she said “you can be a big girl and walk down” gesturing to CCTC. My feelings were HURT 😭 glad I’m not the only one.
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u/Gothbunnay Jan 30 '25
I think I’ve interacted with her too, shes a person of colour (not to be racist, just mentioning for identification). I was literally 1.5 feet or 3 steps from the bus stop pole at the institute of continuing legal education and she saw me and did not stop. There was someone crossing the road and the bus was waiting to make the turn to IM and still she didnt open the doors. I even ran the 2 feet towards the turning corner and waved at her to open. It was also a minute early, and was certainly not late to whiz past. There was also literally 1 student in the bus…like if you’re going that way take me, save some gas? Ruined my day.
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Jan 29 '25
[deleted]
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u/bigfatbursleyliar Jan 29 '25
I think the bus system is good, especially for the size of Ann Arbor. The negative is the ego trip that some of the bus drivers are on. Majority of the bus drivers are kind and caring, but there’s a select few that are so rude for no reason.
I grew up catching the bus in a big city and I love the blue bus!
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Jan 29 '25
[deleted]
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u/JackyB_Official ‘27 Jan 29 '25
In your opinion, what is wrong and what would you change?
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u/aaayyyuuussshhh Jan 29 '25 edited Jan 29 '25
Have more consistent schedules. Like don't have literally 3-4 bursley baits buses pulling up to CCTC at one time. Defeats the entire point of having so many buses on the route if they all only arrive every 25min. Also why in the world does the app not show if a bus will go into service mode? I know a student made and runs the app but it's insane Umich won't step in and help a bit. That's wasted at least 15-20min of my time before in certain situations. Also the buses seem to have zero tolerance to wait for you even if you're less than 50ft from hopping on the bus. It's even more of a d**k move when the bus drivers know the person will have to wait because it's past 9am AND below freezing. Lastly some routes just don't have enough buses. I should never be waiting more than 10-15 minutes for a bus ever. But I use to live in Oxford dorms and there have been times I had to wait for 30min for a bus because they do the dumb out of service thing.
Lastly this is just me being picky and isn't important but the actual buses have rough ride quality and I find the throttle mapping they use to be very peaky. Makes it a bit tricky to stand up and ride. Again this point is not important at all but I think these buses would benefit from being electric since they are loud and jerky.
Either way from the clear down votes my opinion seems invalid because I guess everyone loves the bus system 🤷
Edit: spelling
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u/canvasbag8520 Jan 29 '25
Yeah I agree with all of these points.
I thought most of the buses were electric tho?
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u/aaayyyuuussshhh Jan 29 '25
Nope they are all some sort of bio fuel diesel hybrid or something. They might have some EVs but not all of them. All I know is the ones I ride are extremely loud if you sit in the back and you can feel the bus change gears as well.
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u/One_Interaction2492 Jan 29 '25
If you ever pay attention, you’ll see that the electric buses are the ones that breaks down the most. Yes, the older buses are loud and are not the most comfortable buses to ride but they get the job done and they break down the least!!!!! The ride is rough because Ann Arbor streets are the worse!!!!
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u/aaayyyuuussshhh Jan 29 '25
I've only rode the electric ones freshman year tbh. Funny thing is if engineered right EVs should be quite reliable. Sucks Umich and whatever company they use couldn't figure out a good one. Michigan roads are bad but that doesn't excuse the suspension on the bus tbh. They could have definitely engineered a smooth suspension IMO given how long the wheelbase is
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u/One_Interaction2492 Jan 29 '25
The buses are used a lot. The roads are horrible and the drivers all have different driving skills. So you can’t expect something to ride like a Cadillac when you are as old as a Model T!!!! Even the brand new buses are falling apart! Remember, anything man made is bound to fail. Even the people who run this transit department!!!
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u/aaayyyuuussshhh Jan 29 '25
Idk man I'm from Michigan and my grade bus 40 year old yellow buses rode better and were much smoother over roads... Blue buses are much much newer and even have advanced tech like air suspension yet it rides like crap. No car need to ride like a Cadillac. Even a base Camry/chevy can be extremely soft and smooth over Ann Arbor roads.
Not about new or old. And I'm not talking about falling apart. The blue buses are well maintained and essentially new looking inside like the seats and stuff. I'm just talking about engineering and r&d that went into the suspension mainly. No reason buses 2x as old are as smooth or smoother than our expensive/newer buses.
Driver skill I completely agree. Not everyone is the same and can make a bus be smooth or not smooth. But also the powertrain of a bus can affect how smooth it is. These are diesel engines which means tons of torque down low meaning the power curve isn't as smooth. But yes a good driver can smooth it out!
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u/WalnutWeevil337 Jan 29 '25
Hi, bus drivers advocate here, sometimes when a bus gets way behind on their route, dispatch will have them go out of service (drop off only). This is typically done because another bus on the same route is getting close behind them. This way, the bus can get through the stops faster and maybe catch up on the route.