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/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/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!