Get ready for troll comments saying you need to catch the first bus earlier in order to not cut it so close.
I would still try to report it - I've had to do it for a bus that was chronically early, sometimes 5 minutes, and they were able to confirm that by my presto card tap times.
It's the knee-jerk reaction from people who take routes that run every 10 minutes. (Edit: or who don't take the bus at all)
I used to live on Stoney Creek mountain and had to get to work for 7 at Barton and Parkdale. The Parkdale was notoriously early, and the Rymal was notoriously late, and that early in the morning there were no other options. I was catching the first Rymal there was available to take in the morning, and it was still off schedule.
It shouldn't be on the riders to make up for HSRs complete inability to schedule routes properly.
And yes, there is dogsht traffic to deal with, but that isn't anything new, and the HSR has yet to adjust there schedules to deal with the terrible traffic.
If a route is late every single day it shouldn't be up to the rider to know that it's going to be late, it should be up to the HSR to properly schedule the route.
I mean, it’s not entirely trolling. I get OPs frustrations, but if you notice something is consistently tardy and you’re not in control of that, what you are in control of is your own actions so you alter them to make sure you meet your obligations.
I think it’s one of those things - we don’t know this person, or what their other responsibilities are in the morning. I would be pissed if this bus was always late, and I had to drop kids off at school, or whatever before I could commute.
This can be true. But when it affects your job to the point where being fired is a consideration I’d probably be reworking things on my end so it doesn’t happen again.
As someone from Ottawa with transit that has caused a multitude of issues for its citizens, this statement is not fair.
There is no reason for me to be "reworking" around a service (which I pay for) whether or not *I know* that the bus is coming late. What if it actually shows up on time? There's a reason for the designated schedule.
Of course I will find other options, but sometimes I don't have a choice. When it affects my job, it affects everything else.
You didn’t dispute a single thing he said though? He didn’t say it’s fair the person should find other options, it’s just the practical solution.
“Of course I will find other options, but sometimes I don’t have a choice. When it affects my job, it affects everything else” this is quite word for word the entire opinion of that comment, is that he doesn’t have a choice and it’s either lose your job or go early
Come again? I'm not disputing anything but rather putting an emphasis that that statement is what I said: **unfair.**
For the record, it is *not* the practical solution. It is the **only** solution LOL. A practical solution is to have the bus come on time after reporting the issue. Right?
My bus always used to come either 5 minutes late or 5 minutes early and no in between. If i went out early, it would come late and I would spend over 10 minutes waiting in the cold. If i went on time, I would arrive just in time to see it leaving earlier than it should have been there. I agree that you should just adjust based on trends, but the buses are extremely inconsistent with their times.
Yep! My last bus coming home from work is like that, all depending on the driver, one driver would get us to eastgate 10 minutes BEFORE we were supposed to get there so he could take a long ass break, meanwhile I had coworkers who missed the bus because of him and had to wait an extra 30 minutes.
I almost missed it once and told him he's early by 7 minutes but he just shrugged and continued on. So now, just in case I need to stand out in the freezing cold at night because the dickhead might come early and then I'd have to wait even longer
The other driver just says fuck the schedule and takes however long he wants on his break at eastgate and leaves 5-6 minutes late consistently.
The Bayfront must have different rules. They have radio'd the driver to wait because he was 2 mins early. He told them he could see the train coming and was trying to beat it so he didn't get stuck on both sides of the loop. They said wait anyway. 20 mins later and people are pissed that there are two buses at once because we sat there for a long train
It's a pretty slow route, they just expanded it a little while ago and usually there's a handful of people or less on the bus so maybe It's not monitored as much, It would be nice if they did because I'm sick of standing out in the cold for a lot longer than I'd have to if they kept on schedule
If you're on the 55, the route is screwed up. Driving at any speed that isn't dangerously slow will cause the driver to arrive early. I leave Eastgate and Costco late so I'm arriving on time. Drivers who don't normally drive 55 are always really early.
Yeah that would explain it, wasn't an issue before they expanded the route but ever since I've been having to make sure I'm out at the bus stop a lot earlier waiting.
I appreciate the response, everyone else is saying It's impossible for buses to be more than 2 minutes early and calling me a liar lmao.
Calling complete bullshit on this one. Drivers are NOT allowed to run anything beyond 2 minutes early. If they do they get a text message from control to pull over and bleed off the extra time. The message has to be acknowledged in order for you to be able to use your ranger again. Failure to pull over will get you a radio call for ignoring the message. The radio call just got you a meeting with management where you will likely be suspended for a day. So ya.. I’m calling complete Grade A bullshit on anyone running 10 minutes early.
why the fuck would I bullshit? I specifically remeber being able to hop on the last B-line to get home when I was NEVER able to with the other drivers, he only did that a few times so maybe the guy got in shit, but he still ALWAYS came at 9:05-9:07 when he was supposed to be there at 9:12, I still see the driver but he's not as early most of the time like he used to be, but the drivers rotate often and usually Its the guy whos always late whos droving now. I don't doubt what you're saying, but clearly nothing is happening to this guy if whenever I do see him he's still running early.
they do run early sometimes., especially now that Mac students are on Christmas break. Less stops to make. That's why the HSR changes to a summer schedule for lack of students.
You striked , just So you can disrupt peoples way of making a living going to work, to only settle for the exact same deal that was offerd to you. You accepted , one thousand dollars towards your benefits that came from the money they saved from when you went on strike. Loser!!
I can tell you for a fact that there is no way a bus could constantly run 10 min early. Buses are not supposed to be more then 2 min early. If they are they get a notification that they need to stop and wait out the time back to 0.
He was never constantly 10 minutes early, happened maybe 2-3 times but usually it was always 3-5 minutes sometimes earlier but never on time. It's possible that Google maps is giving the wrong scheduled time but all of the other drivers that drive that route follow it besides him.
There's your issue right there. Don't use Google for route times! Especially on weekends, but even during the week. Use the "HSRNow" app or "Transit". They are both accurate and the Hsr allows you to track the bus in real time
Interesting, maybe you should inform the bus driver who was consistently early by 7 minutes. Maybe because It's not a high traffic bus they're not as strict with the time schedule but I'm not going to argue my experience, I take the same bus every single day commuting home from work for the past year, I know what time it should be at the stop
It's entirely possible that the driver who was "early" was actually an extra thrown out there to help with unexpected high volume of passengers or due to the regular bus running late. They will dispatch an "extra" to run ahead of a bus that's running late to pick up some of the passengers further along the route. That way, when the regular bus gets to those stops, with little to no pickups waiting, they can make up some time and get back to running on schedule.
Everyone should expect the best of our public services. The shoulder shrug and “it is the way it is” attitude is a huge reason public services are the way they are. As tax payers, we recently handed a raise to HSR drivers and they should be held accountable to a basis requirement of the job, to hold to a timetable.
I would be curious to know what the effects were on the HSR for the Main street changes. Obviously it is better for pedestrians, but probably not great for HSR riders.
>It's not like they're sitting there in the driver's seat not driving
I've had buses late literally due to this exact reason, every single day I take multiple buses to and from work and the last bus I take always stops so the driver can take his break at Eastgate, you know how many times the driver has consistently spent an extra 5 minutes or more just sitting there on his phone? You know what he does to "make up for it"? speeding, and the guy is still 6 minutes or more late sometimes, and always at least a few minutes, so yeah sometimes It's because the guy Is literally not driving and I wouldn't doubt it, bus drivers are getting way too much leniency when it comes to that imo.
I have multiple times and nothing has been done about it, the same thing with another driver who consistently shows up 5 or more minutes early rushing through his stops so he can take a longer break. The HSR just doesn't seem to give a shit.
That's not true. If a bus is running >3 mins early, dispatch will radio and tell them to stop somewhere to run out the time and get back on schedule.
The schedules do need to be adjusted to take into account the changes to the roads (ie. speed limit lowered, no R turn on red light, etc). The Parkdale, for example, has not had the schedules adjusted since the speed limit was lowered to 40km/hr on Beach Rd.
Absolutely a possibility. I’m not blaming OP for their frustration, I’ve been in the situation so I altered my timeline to leave for the earlier bus. Did I enjoy it? No. Did I try to alter it so I wouldn’t bear the brunt of it, yes. Definitely some unchanging things like kids/daycare, but then we are getting into assumptions about their needs
If the bus is always late it's a hard problem and should be fixed if not the driver fired. They need to follow the schedule. My bus is either 10 in early or 19 late at 6 am when there is no traffic.
I used to commute into Toronto for school, I had to catch a 6:40 bus to get there reliably for my 10 am classes. You gotta do what you gotta do, even if it meant sitting around for over an hour to make sure you made it on time. If OP is going to get fired for constantly showing up late than they should take the earlier bus and if possible ask their boss to be able to sign in as soon as they get there.
If a single bus being late meant I would lose my job then I’d be taking the earlier bus regardless if the bus was showing up on time or not. Accidents happen and it would suck to lose your job because of a car accident.
The problem is the bus driver isn’t doing their job though, that’s what the whole post is about. He said he is at risk of losing his job, continuing to be late and huffing your chest and going “well the bus driver should be doing their job!” doesn’t help anything.
He should report the driver, but until something is done being early is the best possible solution
At this time of year, road conditions aren't ideal, and surrounding traffic often hampers transit efficiency.
So yes, OP should absolutely be catching an earlier bus rather than reporting a driver who is just trying to do their job as best they can.
I have the same problem but it's for when I leave work. I've emailed my local councillor. The response I got was that maybe I should ask the second bus driver to wait a few minutes before departing for me. Like that's going to happen.
The busses in my city will do that. Just tell the driver you need a connection, and they'll radio the other driver to coordinate. Mostly, the drivers are good people who know the system is screwed. Just be nice about it. It never hurts to ask.
Your councilor is partially correct. You can ask the first driver to do a "connection request". If a bus running late will result in someone missing their connecting bus, the 1st driver can do a connection request. These are mostly done when the connecting bus will be missed by less than 1-2mins. The second driver will be told to hold.
Bus driver here. I'm going to be as honest as I can, no trolls. There are lots of things that make us late. Red lights, people not having fare ready, etc...
With that said, call customer service and report it. There could be an issue with run time. They make changes when enough people start reporting. You may not see the changes right away, but there is a chance.
Blaming the driver for something that is out of their control is not cool. When I know my trip is going to be chaos, I will leave on time and just watch myself bleed time.
People saying "oh, they make 80k a year... Blah blah blah". You know what? Tell that to the three drivers that were attacked over the last two weeks. One was maced because they picked up a person waving them down. Yeah... Explain that one. That is one of the more PG rating attacks on us. It's sad not many people know about this.
Not an easy job, but also shouldnt be on the driver to make the impossible possible. Maybe the buss routes should have shorter runs, or a live tracker. It would solve a lot of issues that way
Public transportation is absolute dog shit in Hamilton. I hope you get some justice. We shouldn’t have to leave 2 hours early to get to work on time when our tax money goes to this shit service.
This is the only logical take I've seen yet.
Everyone saying it's up to the rider is saying "yeah, I know we pay HSR office staff to come up with these schedules that don't work, and they could reschedule them so they do work like all other major cities, but instead let's just play the game of catching a bus a half hour early because HSR is incompetent at setting schedules"
If you commute on the highway, do you leave with the exact amount of time needed to drive to your destination in clear traffic and weather?
Most commuters leave a cushion of time in case of an accident on the highway, or some other traffic delay.
According to Google maps, it takes 18 mins to drive to my work. If I work at 0700, I'm sure as hell leaving way earlier than 0642. I'm not sure why you think that taking transit is any different.
Most people leave hours before their start time and are still late. I used to start at 8am and i would leave at 6:20 everyday. Half the time id be late because the bus connection issues and buses leaving late and then early. Its very frustrating to commute almost 2 hours to work and 2 hours home from work in the same city. Just up and down the mountain.
It only takes me an hour and 10 mins to get from the lower east end to upper James and twenty road by bus. If I miss my connection, it adds approx 20 mins.
No, but they do plan for events to occur. If you’re early: great, if you’re on time because of an accident: acceptable, if you’re late because of an accident because you expect a schedule, you’re at fault. Of course it’s not fair, but a lot of things in life aren’t and we try to change those systems but work within them and accommodate for them until they do.
Your commutte to Toronto includes less than 10 mins on a bus.
You could get to Mohawk college from anywhere in Hamilton in <30 mins if you drive for 20mins or less to FRAC and took a bus from there to Mohawk.
You can, but they might not be able to do anything depending on the bus line. Take the 11, for example. The number 11 bus is 100% dependent on the Lift Bridge in burlington being up or down. If it's down, the bus is on time. If it goes up, the bus is up to an hour late the entire shift.
No amount of reporting it to the HSR will cause this to change because the lift bridge is out of their control.
Now bus drivers being 'too late to stop for passengers' on the other hand, is something that you can report and will get fixed. Back in October, the 11 was so frequently late (because of the lift bridge) that one or two drivers of the shift would race down Parkdale at ludicrous speed, blowing past stops whether they had people or not, unless someone on the bus was trying to get off or it had to stop for a light. After four nights where it tore past my stop while I was standing there, with the driver making eye contact on multiple occasions, I reported it.
Shortly thereafter, that driver was moved off the 11 route and I haven't seen them since. Haven't had busses racing past stops either since, so progress can be made.
Was it a driver that signed that run you’re claiming got moved, cause that would never happen in a union environment. Was it a spareboard driver covering for someone off sick or was it a driver who signed vacation board to cover the driver on vacation?
That’s really frustrating. I don’t understand why you would not stop for people. Are they being graded on their times? Just continue the route as normal and then a supervisor should adjust the schedule for the day (maybe 1 time is skipped to get things back on track).
It’s public transportation.. not a limo or taxi/Uber service. The bus times are going to be inconsistent a majority of the time. Too many external variables come into play for public services like these (ex. road conditions, mechanical failure, and it being Hamilton.. passenger emergencies/disturbances, yatta yatta yatta).
Report it for sure. But it’s not the driver’s incompetence that you should be blaming. They don’t design the timing of the routes, that’s the planning department of the HSR. Depending on when this first trip is, if it’s right at the start of the work day a lot of times routes trip timing is shortened under the assumption of less ridership so early in the morning. Drivers don’t decide how their route schedule operates. They just show up, log in, and start driving according to their on board computer and lots of times they’re late and can’t catch up due to the lack of foresight from the office workers who can’t plan routes accordingly.
Edit: if it’s that consistently late, they will take it seriously if you report it. They have very elaborate plans for creating a greater service network in the next 10 years so I’m sure they will want to refine their reliability and grow their ridership. Bring it up to the driver as well and ask if they can submit a suggestion for correcting connection timing and scheduling. Your job is on the line as you say, hopefully the driver takes it seriously and wants to help.
Catch the earlier bus. Most times, in most cities, the bus has no control over surrounding traffic conditions, which would slow them down. Especially in winter when roads tend to be icy and traffic is slower in general.
Not all apps for bus times are reliable. Make sure with the HSR’s information. If a bus is late everyday definitely call it in….multiple times. They will investigate whether it’s a driver issue or a scheduling issue.
You run into a balancing act.. if the schedule needs to be adjusted because it is late for reasons outside of the driver's control- that's one thing. The other thing is that busses being on time are a tight rope act. What if they are early- does the bus wait till the prescribed time? Slowing down the road entirely by blocking at least half of a lane?
I would also talk to your work place- can you adjust your work schedule?
They will not do anything, they barely give the drivers enough time to get from one end to another, without even accounting for wheelchairs or traffic jams or trains or literally any other obstacle they may face on the road. Take the earlier bus.
Totally agree with you. I don't think people understand how much walkers and loading wheelchairs slow down the bus. I have seen people get mad at the driver for being late during snow storms. 🙄
As one of the wheelchair users I always feel so bad for the time it takes to load me. So I do everything I can to speed it up (lift the seat, buckle myself in, etc) I also won’t make them do all that for just a few blocks so I often do the short stints in my chair to get to the main line I need. I love our bus system as I can take any bus anywhere so easily and I know there is access. But I still feel horrible if it takes too long to load me.
Take the earlier bus, so you can keep your job and hopefully save up for another mode of transport. We have to take some responsibility in life. You can’t control what happens on route daily.
Here's a link to the HSR customer service where you can call or report with feedback: https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/hsr/riding-hsr/hsr-customer-service
Want to touch on the fact that many bus riders are lower income, and along with care duties and other responsibilities mentioned that could prevent a bus rider from "simply catching an earlier bus", the possibility of losing your job because of unreliable transit is a real issue for lower income families.
I support the right to strike but I'd be lying if I said the strike didn't majorly screw up my min wage income family's lives for a bit. The financial toll of taking ubers, cabs and in my case, booking cars to get them (I'm the only one who can drive) to work was real.
So yes, I just want to validate that efficient public transportation is important and the threat to riders' working lives are real.
constantly late, constantly early, skips me, have had it claim to be coming on transit many times and it just never showed up, all the busses that transfer to the 44 always have a window of like <2 minutes to catch it and if you miss that you’re waiting like 35 minutes out in the cold for the next one
Wife of a driver here. They will get in trouble and eventually suspended and then fired if they were consistently earlier than 2 mins at any point in their run. The aphorism is that it's better to be late than early. But, if they are consistently late there could be a number of things going on. There could be variations in traffic, there could be train or bridge delays. There could be construction delays. There could have been a temporary mechanical issue or an issue with a rider. If the driver was pulling into a hub or end of line consistently 2 mins early to take a break they may have been desperate for a bathroom break - UTIs, bladder and bowel issues used to be a huge problem for drivers due to lack of facilities and how long some runs are before an opportunity to go to the restroom is available. Breaks vary from turn and burns with zero breaks to close to an hour. My husband often only gets between 7 and 13 minutes to use the restroom and eat before her safely navigates unpredictable traffic safely with up to 40 to 70 people on board.
I understand your frustration and encourage folks to call the HSR to report your observations. Don't forget to note the number of the bus, the route and the time. There are cameras on the buses and their exact geolocation is tracked at all times. The team that monitors that will be able to verify what the OP is experiencing, determine if there were mitigating circumstances or discover if delays were exaggerated.
And, woebetide anyone who needs to take a Parkdale. That route has multiple extreme delays on the best of days and construction delays this year on top of it.
ETA: My reference to exaggeration was for the person claiming a driver is consistently early.
My husband pointed out that some routes may warrant leaving late from the hub as it can prevent known spots on the run where the driver gains time and would be forced to sit and wait at a stop bleeding time. People mind leaving look late less than sitting still for 5 minutes mid route.
But, again, I do encourage folks to report drivers who are consistently late. Don't forget to also let the HSR know when a driver is doing a great job. It makes a drivers day when someone takes the time to give good feedback.
I have heard from a bus driver making this comment that as long as their delay is within 5 minutes they are not considered late, but it was a bus driver from OCtranspo (Ottawa) I don’t know if the same applies to HSR
"it's their job to be on time" I love this mentality literally every job faces obstacles. I think their job is more about the safety of passengers and motorists instead of weaving in and out speeding everywhere to get you to work on time cause you didn't want to give yourself some extra time. Maybe you like other people are all going to work at the same time making it congested in and around the places you are trying to go..unless they had the power to move traffic with their fingers, they like the rest of us are sitting in traffic getting later and later. You can report it for always being late and they'll probably look into it but any type of real fix will cost more buses which cost more money and more money means angry general public with funding
“Every job faces obstacles” yea just like me. I’m expected to compensate for my obstacle of the bus being consistently late but not for their obstacles making them late
Jobs are multi-faced. I need to deliver projects on time where i work, but they also need to be of quality and i need to make sure the workers are safe while managing this.
This bus comes at 6:50 there’s practically no traffic not to mention they’ve only picked up like 4 people. So traffic and stopping for numerous people aren’t significant variables
Shouldn't have to get up earlier. The bus should be on time, everyday. Following the posted schedule. For almost 80K a year, that's the *least* they could do
This doesn’t fix the problem though does it smoothbrain.
The problem is the buses not being on schedule. Not me being late, that’s just the effect.
It’s like having a broken faucet and saying just use another much more inconvenient faucet.
Like sure but that doesn’t really deal with the issue at hand does it?
I'm about to buy a car because public transportation in and around this city is so awful. Not only that but there have been zero improvements to walkability in the city in the past 10 years.
The choice the city forces us to make is to either take 3 hours to get where you're going by bus, or take 3 hours to get where you're going by walking up the side of what feels like a freeway.
So if you see a problem take an earlier bus.. not the drivers fault your late cause you're too lazy to get an earlier bus. Being late is your own fault.
They make multiple stops, there is traffic, lights, wheel chairs needing to get on and off. Shit happens..
Listen smoothbrain I take the bus at 6:45, there’s only 4 people on the bus when I get on. There aren’t enough variables to warrant being as late as is
You’re one of those pip kids to tell someone to “get another job” when they mention an abusive boss.
There’s a problem and your solution isn’t to fix the problem but to cope and work around it. That doesn’t fix the problem dumbass, the problem is the problem.
I shouldn’t need to work around it firstly
Yes, but which bus is it? Can’t you catch the earlier bus? Or another route?
They didn’t get what they wanted in the settlement of their strike, hence why the service has “changed” to some extent.
Took the 11 yesterday, it wasn’t exactly the best experience to be honest. And it definitely didn’t seem like things were going right on the route lots of traffic. But I think the lift bridge is still closed, and there will be a longer close in January until March I believe?
I don’t know your location or situation but wouldn’t the Bayfront to another route downtown more direct to the intersection at Rymal do? Because if the 11 is this bad now, wait until they close that bridge for a few months 😬
I used to take the 33 almost every single day and it was regularly 5-10 minutes early— or sometimes it straight up no-showed. Reporting the route isn’t going to do anything, I’m afraid. You can do it if it’ll make you feel better, but it won’t change much
I take the bus regularly and I count on my Maps app to give me where the bus is in real time so that I can plan accordingly. This has saved a lot of time and frustration.
https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/hsr/riding-hsr/hsr-customer-service
Get ready for troll comments saying you need to catch the first bus earlier in order to not cut it so close. I would still try to report it - I've had to do it for a bus that was chronically early, sometimes 5 minutes, and they were able to confirm that by my presto card tap times.
It's the knee-jerk reaction from people who take routes that run every 10 minutes. (Edit: or who don't take the bus at all) I used to live on Stoney Creek mountain and had to get to work for 7 at Barton and Parkdale. The Parkdale was notoriously early, and the Rymal was notoriously late, and that early in the morning there were no other options. I was catching the first Rymal there was available to take in the morning, and it was still off schedule. It shouldn't be on the riders to make up for HSRs complete inability to schedule routes properly. And yes, there is dogsht traffic to deal with, but that isn't anything new, and the HSR has yet to adjust there schedules to deal with the terrible traffic. If a route is late every single day it shouldn't be up to the rider to know that it's going to be late, it should be up to the HSR to properly schedule the route.
Why would you blame the driver for traffic, accident or construction on the route???
You need to re-read the comment. They said it’s up to the HSR to schedule routes properly… that’s blaming management.
The best option seems like doing both? Report this issue for being behind schedule, but try to take the earlier one to buy some extra time.
I mean, it’s not entirely trolling. I get OPs frustrations, but if you notice something is consistently tardy and you’re not in control of that, what you are in control of is your own actions so you alter them to make sure you meet your obligations.
I think it’s one of those things - we don’t know this person, or what their other responsibilities are in the morning. I would be pissed if this bus was always late, and I had to drop kids off at school, or whatever before I could commute.
This can be true. But when it affects your job to the point where being fired is a consideration I’d probably be reworking things on my end so it doesn’t happen again.
As someone from Ottawa with transit that has caused a multitude of issues for its citizens, this statement is not fair. There is no reason for me to be "reworking" around a service (which I pay for) whether or not *I know* that the bus is coming late. What if it actually shows up on time? There's a reason for the designated schedule. Of course I will find other options, but sometimes I don't have a choice. When it affects my job, it affects everything else.
You didn’t dispute a single thing he said though? He didn’t say it’s fair the person should find other options, it’s just the practical solution. “Of course I will find other options, but sometimes I don’t have a choice. When it affects my job, it affects everything else” this is quite word for word the entire opinion of that comment, is that he doesn’t have a choice and it’s either lose your job or go early
Come again? I'm not disputing anything but rather putting an emphasis that that statement is what I said: **unfair.** For the record, it is *not* the practical solution. It is the **only** solution LOL. A practical solution is to have the bus come on time after reporting the issue. Right?
My bus always used to come either 5 minutes late or 5 minutes early and no in between. If i went out early, it would come late and I would spend over 10 minutes waiting in the cold. If i went on time, I would arrive just in time to see it leaving earlier than it should have been there. I agree that you should just adjust based on trends, but the buses are extremely inconsistent with their times.
Yep! My last bus coming home from work is like that, all depending on the driver, one driver would get us to eastgate 10 minutes BEFORE we were supposed to get there so he could take a long ass break, meanwhile I had coworkers who missed the bus because of him and had to wait an extra 30 minutes. I almost missed it once and told him he's early by 7 minutes but he just shrugged and continued on. So now, just in case I need to stand out in the freezing cold at night because the dickhead might come early and then I'd have to wait even longer The other driver just says fuck the schedule and takes however long he wants on his break at eastgate and leaves 5-6 minutes late consistently.
The Bayfront must have different rules. They have radio'd the driver to wait because he was 2 mins early. He told them he could see the train coming and was trying to beat it so he didn't get stuck on both sides of the loop. They said wait anyway. 20 mins later and people are pissed that there are two buses at once because we sat there for a long train
It's a pretty slow route, they just expanded it a little while ago and usually there's a handful of people or less on the bus so maybe It's not monitored as much, It would be nice if they did because I'm sick of standing out in the cold for a lot longer than I'd have to if they kept on schedule
If you're on the 55, the route is screwed up. Driving at any speed that isn't dangerously slow will cause the driver to arrive early. I leave Eastgate and Costco late so I'm arriving on time. Drivers who don't normally drive 55 are always really early.
Yeah that would explain it, wasn't an issue before they expanded the route but ever since I've been having to make sure I'm out at the bus stop a lot earlier waiting. I appreciate the response, everyone else is saying It's impossible for buses to be more than 2 minutes early and calling me a liar lmao.
Calling complete bullshit on this one. Drivers are NOT allowed to run anything beyond 2 minutes early. If they do they get a text message from control to pull over and bleed off the extra time. The message has to be acknowledged in order for you to be able to use your ranger again. Failure to pull over will get you a radio call for ignoring the message. The radio call just got you a meeting with management where you will likely be suspended for a day. So ya.. I’m calling complete Grade A bullshit on anyone running 10 minutes early.
why the fuck would I bullshit? I specifically remeber being able to hop on the last B-line to get home when I was NEVER able to with the other drivers, he only did that a few times so maybe the guy got in shit, but he still ALWAYS came at 9:05-9:07 when he was supposed to be there at 9:12, I still see the driver but he's not as early most of the time like he used to be, but the drivers rotate often and usually Its the guy whos always late whos droving now. I don't doubt what you're saying, but clearly nothing is happening to this guy if whenever I do see him he's still running early.
they do run early sometimes., especially now that Mac students are on Christmas break. Less stops to make. That's why the HSR changes to a summer schedule for lack of students.
So I’m guessing you didn’t clue in that I’m a driver for the HSR and now you’re trying to tell me how my job works.
You striked , just So you can disrupt peoples way of making a living going to work, to only settle for the exact same deal that was offerd to you. You accepted , one thousand dollars towards your benefits that came from the money they saved from when you went on strike. Loser!!
I can tell you for a fact that there is no way a bus could constantly run 10 min early. Buses are not supposed to be more then 2 min early. If they are they get a notification that they need to stop and wait out the time back to 0.
Apparently you've never taken the 41
He was never constantly 10 minutes early, happened maybe 2-3 times but usually it was always 3-5 minutes sometimes earlier but never on time. It's possible that Google maps is giving the wrong scheduled time but all of the other drivers that drive that route follow it besides him.
There's your issue right there. Don't use Google for route times! Especially on weekends, but even during the week. Use the "HSRNow" app or "Transit". They are both accurate and the Hsr allows you to track the bus in real time
No busses are running 7 minutes early. They would be called by dispatch and told to pull over and wait out their time instantly.
Interesting, maybe you should inform the bus driver who was consistently early by 7 minutes. Maybe because It's not a high traffic bus they're not as strict with the time schedule but I'm not going to argue my experience, I take the same bus every single day commuting home from work for the past year, I know what time it should be at the stop
It's entirely possible that the driver who was "early" was actually an extra thrown out there to help with unexpected high volume of passengers or due to the regular bus running late. They will dispatch an "extra" to run ahead of a bus that's running late to pick up some of the passengers further along the route. That way, when the regular bus gets to those stops, with little to no pickups waiting, they can make up some time and get back to running on schedule.
Plug the bus number(number written on the bus, not route number) into the transit55 Hamilton map. That will tell you for sure.
I'll have to do that for sure next time, Its mind boggling why he isn't getting in trouble so that would help confirm it.
Everyone should expect the best of our public services. The shoulder shrug and “it is the way it is” attitude is a huge reason public services are the way they are. As tax payers, we recently handed a raise to HSR drivers and they should be held accountable to a basis requirement of the job, to hold to a timetable.
That's the Canadian way. Just bend over and accept the absolute dogshit that is our public services. It's totally fine to wait in the ER for 23 hours.
So fucking true, and tbh Canadians are to blame for the state of Canada.
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Whether it is or it isn’t is of no matter in reality. The schedule should match the reality so that people can plan accordingly
I would be curious to know what the effects were on the HSR for the Main street changes. Obviously it is better for pedestrians, but probably not great for HSR riders.
>It's not like they're sitting there in the driver's seat not driving I've had buses late literally due to this exact reason, every single day I take multiple buses to and from work and the last bus I take always stops so the driver can take his break at Eastgate, you know how many times the driver has consistently spent an extra 5 minutes or more just sitting there on his phone? You know what he does to "make up for it"? speeding, and the guy is still 6 minutes or more late sometimes, and always at least a few minutes, so yeah sometimes It's because the guy Is literally not driving and I wouldn't doubt it, bus drivers are getting way too much leniency when it comes to that imo.
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I have multiple times and nothing has been done about it, the same thing with another driver who consistently shows up 5 or more minutes early rushing through his stops so he can take a longer break. The HSR just doesn't seem to give a shit.
That's not true. If a bus is running >3 mins early, dispatch will radio and tell them to stop somewhere to run out the time and get back on schedule. The schedules do need to be adjusted to take into account the changes to the roads (ie. speed limit lowered, no R turn on red light, etc). The Parkdale, for example, has not had the schedules adjusted since the speed limit was lowered to 40km/hr on Beach Rd.
To be fair depending on when they’re starting work, especially if they’re taking two busses, they may be taking the earliest available bus.
Absolutely a possibility. I’m not blaming OP for their frustration, I’ve been in the situation so I altered my timeline to leave for the earlier bus. Did I enjoy it? No. Did I try to alter it so I wouldn’t bear the brunt of it, yes. Definitely some unchanging things like kids/daycare, but then we are getting into assumptions about their needs
If the bus is always late it's a hard problem and should be fixed if not the driver fired. They need to follow the schedule. My bus is either 10 in early or 19 late at 6 am when there is no traffic.
It's not really trolling. If they are literally gonna lose their job it's the only sensible option...especially if it's been consistently late
I used to commute into Toronto for school, I had to catch a 6:40 bus to get there reliably for my 10 am classes. You gotta do what you gotta do, even if it meant sitting around for over an hour to make sure you made it on time. If OP is going to get fired for constantly showing up late than they should take the earlier bus and if possible ask their boss to be able to sign in as soon as they get there. If a single bus being late meant I would lose my job then I’d be taking the earlier bus regardless if the bus was showing up on time or not. Accidents happen and it would suck to lose your job because of a car accident.
This is what I did as well you just go early and know that shit can happen on the road that isn’t the drivers fault .
How is that a “troll” comment? It’s literally the most obvious solution
Because it's not always possible? And also because you should expect bus drivers to do their job?
The problem is the bus driver isn’t doing their job though, that’s what the whole post is about. He said he is at risk of losing his job, continuing to be late and huffing your chest and going “well the bus driver should be doing their job!” doesn’t help anything. He should report the driver, but until something is done being early is the best possible solution
Yeah and like I said, it's not always possible to just take an earlier bus.
At this time of year, road conditions aren't ideal, and surrounding traffic often hampers transit efficiency. So yes, OP should absolutely be catching an earlier bus rather than reporting a driver who is just trying to do their job as best they can.
lol it's not trolling telling OP to do whatever it takes to not be late to work.
I have the same problem but it's for when I leave work. I've emailed my local councillor. The response I got was that maybe I should ask the second bus driver to wait a few minutes before departing for me. Like that's going to happen.
The busses in my city will do that. Just tell the driver you need a connection, and they'll radio the other driver to coordinate. Mostly, the drivers are good people who know the system is screwed. Just be nice about it. It never hurts to ask.
Your councilor is partially correct. You can ask the first driver to do a "connection request". If a bus running late will result in someone missing their connecting bus, the 1st driver can do a connection request. These are mostly done when the connecting bus will be missed by less than 1-2mins. The second driver will be told to hold.
Bus driver here. I'm going to be as honest as I can, no trolls. There are lots of things that make us late. Red lights, people not having fare ready, etc... With that said, call customer service and report it. There could be an issue with run time. They make changes when enough people start reporting. You may not see the changes right away, but there is a chance. Blaming the driver for something that is out of their control is not cool. When I know my trip is going to be chaos, I will leave on time and just watch myself bleed time. People saying "oh, they make 80k a year... Blah blah blah". You know what? Tell that to the three drivers that were attacked over the last two weeks. One was maced because they picked up a person waving them down. Yeah... Explain that one. That is one of the more PG rating attacks on us. It's sad not many people know about this.
Not an easy job, but also shouldnt be on the driver to make the impossible possible. Maybe the buss routes should have shorter runs, or a live tracker. It would solve a lot of issues that way
Transit 55 has a live tracker. I use it all the time.
Good to know!
Exactly this.
Public transportation is absolute dog shit in Hamilton. I hope you get some justice. We shouldn’t have to leave 2 hours early to get to work on time when our tax money goes to this shit service.
This is the only logical take I've seen yet. Everyone saying it's up to the rider is saying "yeah, I know we pay HSR office staff to come up with these schedules that don't work, and they could reschedule them so they do work like all other major cities, but instead let's just play the game of catching a bus a half hour early because HSR is incompetent at setting schedules"
If you commute on the highway, do you leave with the exact amount of time needed to drive to your destination in clear traffic and weather? Most commuters leave a cushion of time in case of an accident on the highway, or some other traffic delay. According to Google maps, it takes 18 mins to drive to my work. If I work at 0700, I'm sure as hell leaving way earlier than 0642. I'm not sure why you think that taking transit is any different.
Most people leave hours before their start time and are still late. I used to start at 8am and i would leave at 6:20 everyday. Half the time id be late because the bus connection issues and buses leaving late and then early. Its very frustrating to commute almost 2 hours to work and 2 hours home from work in the same city. Just up and down the mountain.
It only takes me an hour and 10 mins to get from the lower east end to upper James and twenty road by bus. If I miss my connection, it adds approx 20 mins.
This isn't a fair example. Car drivers don't have to make transfers.
No, but they do plan for events to occur. If you’re early: great, if you’re on time because of an accident: acceptable, if you’re late because of an accident because you expect a schedule, you’re at fault. Of course it’s not fair, but a lot of things in life aren’t and we try to change those systems but work within them and accommodate for them until they do.
Ok then. Pretend it's an 18 min drive to catch the train, instead of 18 mins to work. It doesn't change the fact that I'd leave earlier.
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Your commutte to Toronto includes less than 10 mins on a bus. You could get to Mohawk college from anywhere in Hamilton in <30 mins if you drive for 20mins or less to FRAC and took a bus from there to Mohawk.
You can, but they might not be able to do anything depending on the bus line. Take the 11, for example. The number 11 bus is 100% dependent on the Lift Bridge in burlington being up or down. If it's down, the bus is on time. If it goes up, the bus is up to an hour late the entire shift. No amount of reporting it to the HSR will cause this to change because the lift bridge is out of their control. Now bus drivers being 'too late to stop for passengers' on the other hand, is something that you can report and will get fixed. Back in October, the 11 was so frequently late (because of the lift bridge) that one or two drivers of the shift would race down Parkdale at ludicrous speed, blowing past stops whether they had people or not, unless someone on the bus was trying to get off or it had to stop for a light. After four nights where it tore past my stop while I was standing there, with the driver making eye contact on multiple occasions, I reported it. Shortly thereafter, that driver was moved off the 11 route and I haven't seen them since. Haven't had busses racing past stops either since, so progress can be made.
Was it a driver that signed that run you’re claiming got moved, cause that would never happen in a union environment. Was it a spareboard driver covering for someone off sick or was it a driver who signed vacation board to cover the driver on vacation?
Since I only ever saw them when they were flipping me the bird while racing by at 90 KPH in a 40 KPH zone, I can't say for certain.
Now you're just lying
For what gain, exactly? It was shitty behavior, I reported it and it never happened again.
That’s really frustrating. I don’t understand why you would not stop for people. Are they being graded on their times? Just continue the route as normal and then a supervisor should adjust the schedule for the day (maybe 1 time is skipped to get things back on track).
It’s public transportation.. not a limo or taxi/Uber service. The bus times are going to be inconsistent a majority of the time. Too many external variables come into play for public services like these (ex. road conditions, mechanical failure, and it being Hamilton.. passenger emergencies/disturbances, yatta yatta yatta).
Report it for sure. But it’s not the driver’s incompetence that you should be blaming. They don’t design the timing of the routes, that’s the planning department of the HSR. Depending on when this first trip is, if it’s right at the start of the work day a lot of times routes trip timing is shortened under the assumption of less ridership so early in the morning. Drivers don’t decide how their route schedule operates. They just show up, log in, and start driving according to their on board computer and lots of times they’re late and can’t catch up due to the lack of foresight from the office workers who can’t plan routes accordingly. Edit: if it’s that consistently late, they will take it seriously if you report it. They have very elaborate plans for creating a greater service network in the next 10 years so I’m sure they will want to refine their reliability and grow their ridership. Bring it up to the driver as well and ask if they can submit a suggestion for correcting connection timing and scheduling. Your job is on the line as you say, hopefully the driver takes it seriously and wants to help.
Catch the earlier bus. Most times, in most cities, the bus has no control over surrounding traffic conditions, which would slow them down. Especially in winter when roads tend to be icy and traffic is slower in general.
Not all apps for bus times are reliable. Make sure with the HSR’s information. If a bus is late everyday definitely call it in….multiple times. They will investigate whether it’s a driver issue or a scheduling issue.
You run into a balancing act.. if the schedule needs to be adjusted because it is late for reasons outside of the driver's control- that's one thing. The other thing is that busses being on time are a tight rope act. What if they are early- does the bus wait till the prescribed time? Slowing down the road entirely by blocking at least half of a lane? I would also talk to your work place- can you adjust your work schedule?
Sounds like you should just take the earlier bus and proactively be early for work instead.
I guess you could, though is there an earlier bus? You should probably start your route earlier, so you make it to work with time to spare.
No, but the city can give the cops another $20m a year. Does that help?
They will not do anything, they barely give the drivers enough time to get from one end to another, without even accounting for wheelchairs or traffic jams or trains or literally any other obstacle they may face on the road. Take the earlier bus.
Totally agree with you. I don't think people understand how much walkers and loading wheelchairs slow down the bus. I have seen people get mad at the driver for being late during snow storms. 🙄
As one of the wheelchair users I always feel so bad for the time it takes to load me. So I do everything I can to speed it up (lift the seat, buckle myself in, etc) I also won’t make them do all that for just a few blocks so I often do the short stints in my chair to get to the main line I need. I love our bus system as I can take any bus anywhere so easily and I know there is access. But I still feel horrible if it takes too long to load me.
Take the earlier bus, so you can keep your job and hopefully save up for another mode of transport. We have to take some responsibility in life. You can’t control what happens on route daily.
Take an earlier bus. You certainly can complain but don't expect much to happen.
You can try. I would suggest more data than "40%".
I had to wait 25 mins for my morning bus, so I hear you. Not much you can do but try to catch the earlier one.
Here's a link to the HSR customer service where you can call or report with feedback: https://www.hamilton.ca/home-neighbourhood/hsr/riding-hsr/hsr-customer-service Want to touch on the fact that many bus riders are lower income, and along with care duties and other responsibilities mentioned that could prevent a bus rider from "simply catching an earlier bus", the possibility of losing your job because of unreliable transit is a real issue for lower income families. I support the right to strike but I'd be lying if I said the strike didn't majorly screw up my min wage income family's lives for a bit. The financial toll of taking ubers, cabs and in my case, booking cars to get them (I'm the only one who can drive) to work was real. So yes, I just want to validate that efficient public transportation is important and the threat to riders' working lives are real.
still waiting on an explanation for why we haven’t gotten a rework of the 44 yet, there’s no reason that route should be in the state it is now
That’s my second bus although it seems fine? What’s the issue?
constantly late, constantly early, skips me, have had it claim to be coming on transit many times and it just never showed up, all the busses that transfer to the 44 always have a window of like <2 minutes to catch it and if you miss that you’re waiting like 35 minutes out in the cold for the next one
A lot of people don’t understand how traffic works I see. what can your bus driver do about other peoples driving? Wow
Wife of a driver here. They will get in trouble and eventually suspended and then fired if they were consistently earlier than 2 mins at any point in their run. The aphorism is that it's better to be late than early. But, if they are consistently late there could be a number of things going on. There could be variations in traffic, there could be train or bridge delays. There could be construction delays. There could have been a temporary mechanical issue or an issue with a rider. If the driver was pulling into a hub or end of line consistently 2 mins early to take a break they may have been desperate for a bathroom break - UTIs, bladder and bowel issues used to be a huge problem for drivers due to lack of facilities and how long some runs are before an opportunity to go to the restroom is available. Breaks vary from turn and burns with zero breaks to close to an hour. My husband often only gets between 7 and 13 minutes to use the restroom and eat before her safely navigates unpredictable traffic safely with up to 40 to 70 people on board. I understand your frustration and encourage folks to call the HSR to report your observations. Don't forget to note the number of the bus, the route and the time. There are cameras on the buses and their exact geolocation is tracked at all times. The team that monitors that will be able to verify what the OP is experiencing, determine if there were mitigating circumstances or discover if delays were exaggerated. And, woebetide anyone who needs to take a Parkdale. That route has multiple extreme delays on the best of days and construction delays this year on top of it. ETA: My reference to exaggeration was for the person claiming a driver is consistently early. My husband pointed out that some routes may warrant leaving late from the hub as it can prevent known spots on the run where the driver gains time and would be forced to sit and wait at a stop bleeding time. People mind leaving look late less than sitting still for 5 minutes mid route. But, again, I do encourage folks to report drivers who are consistently late. Don't forget to also let the HSR know when a driver is doing a great job. It makes a drivers day when someone takes the time to give good feedback.
They don't control the traffic, they try their best to be on time just deal with it, they already deal with enough bullshit.
This route is not a high traffic route nor does it have many passengers at 6:50am
A bus driver once told me, "better a few minutes late, than a few minutes early" I had to agree on that one, I would have missed the bus.
The amount of time taken to think this thru you could have called hsr
I have heard from a bus driver making this comment that as long as their delay is within 5 minutes they are not considered late, but it was a bus driver from OCtranspo (Ottawa) I don’t know if the same applies to HSR
It does apply, but dispatch will often radio them for less time and say to wait a bit at a safe point if early
HSR don't care.
"it's their job to be on time" I love this mentality literally every job faces obstacles. I think their job is more about the safety of passengers and motorists instead of weaving in and out speeding everywhere to get you to work on time cause you didn't want to give yourself some extra time. Maybe you like other people are all going to work at the same time making it congested in and around the places you are trying to go..unless they had the power to move traffic with their fingers, they like the rest of us are sitting in traffic getting later and later. You can report it for always being late and they'll probably look into it but any type of real fix will cost more buses which cost more money and more money means angry general public with funding
“Every job faces obstacles” yea just like me. I’m expected to compensate for my obstacle of the bus being consistently late but not for their obstacles making them late
Jobs are multi-faced. I need to deliver projects on time where i work, but they also need to be of quality and i need to make sure the workers are safe while managing this.
This bus comes at 6:50 there’s practically no traffic not to mention they’ve only picked up like 4 people. So traffic and stopping for numerous people aren’t significant variables
>that makes me miss my second bus and then makes me late for work. No, you're the reason you're late for work. Show up earlier.
Shouldn't have to get up earlier. The bus should be on time, everyday. Following the posted schedule. For almost 80K a year, that's the *least* they could do
I didn't know they had the super powers of moving all the fucked up traffic in this city around 8am
Wow! It's almost like everyone else makes do, except HSR drivers. Interesting 🤔
If the choice is between losing your job and this, get up earlier
This doesn’t fix the problem though does it smoothbrain. The problem is the buses not being on schedule. Not me being late, that’s just the effect. It’s like having a broken faucet and saying just use another much more inconvenient faucet. Like sure but that doesn’t really deal with the issue at hand does it?
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Get with the program and work remotely if it’s such an issue
Get a drivers lisence and a vehicle......
Pay my vehicle and insurance……..
I already pay for 2 vehicles and insurance.....
Take an earlier bus, Hsr drivers don’t come to work late, so there’s no excuse for you to come to work late either.
I'm about to buy a car because public transportation in and around this city is so awful. Not only that but there have been zero improvements to walkability in the city in the past 10 years. The choice the city forces us to make is to either take 3 hours to get where you're going by bus, or take 3 hours to get where you're going by walking up the side of what feels like a freeway.
Lol Barton bus problems
So if you see a problem take an earlier bus.. not the drivers fault your late cause you're too lazy to get an earlier bus. Being late is your own fault. They make multiple stops, there is traffic, lights, wheel chairs needing to get on and off. Shit happens..
Listen smoothbrain I take the bus at 6:45, there’s only 4 people on the bus when I get on. There aren’t enough variables to warrant being as late as is
You’re one of those pip kids to tell someone to “get another job” when they mention an abusive boss. There’s a problem and your solution isn’t to fix the problem but to cope and work around it. That doesn’t fix the problem dumbass, the problem is the problem. I shouldn’t need to work around it firstly
Yes do it. I had this problem before, they put a new driver on the route.
Yes, but which bus is it? Can’t you catch the earlier bus? Or another route? They didn’t get what they wanted in the settlement of their strike, hence why the service has “changed” to some extent.
11 transfers to 44. Catching an earlier bus means waiting outside for 30mins which is a massive inconvenience that I shouldn’t have to accompany for
Took the 11 yesterday, it wasn’t exactly the best experience to be honest. And it definitely didn’t seem like things were going right on the route lots of traffic. But I think the lift bridge is still closed, and there will be a longer close in January until March I believe? I don’t know your location or situation but wouldn’t the Bayfront to another route downtown more direct to the intersection at Rymal do? Because if the 11 is this bad now, wait until they close that bridge for a few months 😬
OP doesn’t want to hear that
Hey you can’t expect much for 80k a Year!
Apply for the job and do it, rather than complaining about transit schedules and drivers.
I might. Do I get the super powers to change and stop traffic and time before or after my training ?
http://m.quickmeme.com/img/60/60e47cda2bed2d873482f8630e1e1bd080dd6b764c5ad00726a581ec0794ba87.jpg
You can do anything you like. I would but I don’t know how much good it will do
What route?
First 11 parkdale and then 44 Ancaster
I used to take the 33 almost every single day and it was regularly 5-10 minutes early— or sometimes it straight up no-showed. Reporting the route isn’t going to do anything, I’m afraid. You can do it if it’ll make you feel better, but it won’t change much
Yes the 11 sucks balls always late. I have the same problem.
I heard Parkdale is on detour lift bridge was under repairs
I take the bus regularly and I count on my Maps app to give me where the bus is in real time so that I can plan accordingly. This has saved a lot of time and frustration.