Smiley's mega UTA thread

[smileyeagle1021]

I admit that I've before waited for a bus to go only a few blocks rather than walking, but I also am going to a train station that the bus is timed to transfer with, so it doesn't matter if I wait at the bus stop or the train station... that lady was just nuts.

[smileyeagle1021]

seriously wtf

Well on behalf of all of the 811 riders who missed our connections in sandy let me give some shout outs.
first, fuck you dude on farm tractor who absolutely had to be in front of the bus and wouldn't let us pass.
the same fuck you goes out to the trucker out of Montana who doesn't know how to ready the advisement that oversize trucks should please use the frontage road... but that would deny the opportunity for you to box in a bus that is trying to get passengers to their connections.

[teh_blumchenkinder]

Wait, there are trains in Utah? ... Huh.
I mean, yeah there's trains, but like, passenger trains? Color me impressed. I want passenger trains!

[Kogarashi]

Wait, there are trains in Utah? ... Huh.
I mean, yeah there's trains, but like, passenger trains? Color me impressed. I want passenger trains!

There are, but they're all in the SLC area. Anywhere else in the northern part of the state, you have to take the bus, and in the southern part of the state (as I recall from family visits), you're out of luck.

[smileyeagle1021]

There are, but they're all in the SLC area. Anywhere else in the northern part of the state, you have to take the bus, and in the southern part of the state (as I recall from family visits), you're out of luck.

The system is rapidly expanding though, there is already a line between Salt Lake and Ogden, and a line is being built right now to Provo. Eventually they will expand that as far north as Brigham City and as far south as Payson. In Salt Lake the system is getting ready to more than double in size (current light rail system length is 20 miles, and there is 20 miles currently under construction for service to the west side and the airport).

[smileyeagle1021]

People of Route 200

Yeah, I know, long time since update... it's been relatively sane though... then yesterday I took the route 200.
Now, for those of you who are familiar with People of WalMart, well, all those people take the 200 to get there.

Nice job
So, lady in a wheelchair and her male friend are boarding the bus... the entire time the guy was spilling coffee on himself and on her... smooth prince charming.
As an added bonus, they were arguing over the price of a $5 footlong at Subway (dear God, I wish I was making that part up).
When they went to exit the bus, the guy missed a restraining belt on the chair and ended up getting her stuck because she tried to move before the chair was clear.
Then they argued with the bus driver over using their fare card (which has to be tapped on the reader both when boarding and exiting).

Which leads us to
Crazy conspiracy guy
So apparently those fare cards serve only one purpose, so the government can know where you are at any time. We as riders should refuse to use anything other than cash fares because even buying a paper pass and having to sign it is giving them too much...

Okay, so apparently them asking us to tap on and off has nothing to do with them tracking ridership and transfers so they can improve routing and schedules... it's just so they can know where we are.
Oh, by the way the readers are only updated once a day... quite an inefficient way for them to know exactly where we are when it only updates once a day.

general mayhem
So, in general people were loud, obnoxious, a few hadn't bathed, and at least two I'm not sure were on their meds... yeah, next time I'll deal with the two transfers to go to the Taylorsville branch of my bank rather than the downtown brach... it takes longer but doesn't require to ride the 200.

Not on the 200, but still stupidity
Waiting for the train today, idiot was standing past the yellow line on the platform... train approached and blew his horn to get people to back up. Mr. Genius shouts out "I saw you asshole, you don't have to be such a dick"
Well, if you saw him why were you standing in front of the safety line?
Even my 10 year old niece who has never been on a train in her life can look at a yellow line on the ground near the edge of the platform and figure out "hey, I should stay behind this until I board"

[Jay 2K Winger]

Not on the 200, but still stupidity
Waiting for the train today, idiot was standing past the yellow line on the platform... train approached and blew his horn to get people to back up. Mr. Genius shouts out "I saw you asshole, you don't have to be such a dick"
Well, if you saw him why were you standing in front of the safety line?
Even my 10 year old niece who has never been on a train in her life can look at a yellow line on the ground near the edge of the platform and figure out "hey, I should stay behind this until I board"

As they say in London: Mind the Gap.

[Chromatix]

The yellow lines are also very common in the UK and in Finland.

In the UK, they were originally introduced on platforms where express trains would pass through platforms without stopping (and at high speed). The idea was to stop people being sucked into the side of the train by turbulence. At some stations this is even now suppliemented by long-winded and annoying announcements (which are universally ignored).

The yellow line has been extended to most platforms, even on lines where nearly all trains stop at every station, partly because people had a habit of opening doors while the train was still moving - a practice now curbed by central door locking on express trains and the elimination of slam-door commuter trains. Now everyone just complains about the length of time they have to wait for the Guard to unlock the doors.

In Finland, the platforms are lower than in the UK (even at major and commuter stations, where they are higher that at rural stations), so there is more temptation to step down off them to cross the tracks, and similarly there is much less "vertigo effect" for people standing right at the edge (where they might actually be hit by outlying bits of even a slow-moving train). At my station there is a yellow line with the local equivalent of "Beware of Trains" painted in the margin, and there is also a fence between the two tracks. Both of these are routinely ignored.

Even so, incidents involving people at the edge of the platform are reasonably rare.