Comments on: The Strange Accuracy of Bus And Train Schedules http://www.whatithinkabout.com/the-strange-accuracy-of-bus-and-train-schedules/ by an INTJ Thu, 30 May 2013 09:11:55 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.2 By: Warren http://www.whatithinkabout.com/the-strange-accuracy-of-bus-and-train-schedules/comment-page-1/#comment-900 Warren Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:32:58 +0000 http://www.whatithinkabout.com/the-strange-accuracy-of-bus-and-train-schedules/#comment-900 I’m in the San Jose area and I’m mostly referring to the airport shuttle and the light rail.

Ohhh, that’s interesting about the extra “green time” thing! Hmmm… what if two buses approaching from two directions both want it to be green?

Yeah, so how do they get past the traffic light thing without the override? Just seems like that’s kind of random :)

Hmm I see – so it seems like the drivers compensate a lot for the schedule. It’s weird though, since I’ve never seen them waiting at a stop for no particular reason. It’s usually like “this train is stuck, so we need to wait 5 minutes”. And yet, even with all these delays, even like at night, the train still arrives within +/- 5 minutes of the indicated time!!

]]> By: thom http://www.whatithinkabout.com/the-strange-accuracy-of-bus-and-train-schedules/comment-page-1/#comment-899 thom Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:18:52 +0000 http://www.whatithinkabout.com/the-strange-accuracy-of-bus-and-train-schedules/#comment-899 On traffic lights: They’re normally not that intelligent. Although some transit systems have things like street-car or bus overrides, which cause the lights to extend the “green time” longer to let the transit vehicle through.

On the unpredictability of people/etc: Drivers are normally responsible for compensating for the schedule. So if they’re behind, they speed up (if possible). If they’re ahead, they might wait an extra few seconds at a stop.

]]> By: thom http://www.whatithinkabout.com/the-strange-accuracy-of-bus-and-train-schedules/comment-page-1/#comment-898 thom Fri, 23 Nov 2007 20:16:01 +0000 http://www.whatithinkabout.com/the-strange-accuracy-of-bus-and-train-schedules/#comment-898 I’m a transportation engineer. Trains don’t arrive on-time very often. What area are you in?

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