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ChineseMetro Busdrivers: Yellow means “Honk”!
I take transit every weekday, from the SGV to the financial district downtown: usually one Foothill Transit bus and two Metro trains (Gold and Red lines). I generally have no (major) issues with either the FT buses or the Metro trains. I do, however, have a pretty big issue with Metro buses.
I only ride Metro buses rarely, but I see them all the time, working in the financial district, and have increasingly noticed an appalling habit nearly every metro busdriver seems to have. That’s the two-pronged thinking that a) a yellow light (and sometimes even a red) means “Speed up and race through the intersection,” and b) honking somehow makes it okay. These busdrivers - and this includes DASH buses, too - ALL seem to think that if you honk, thus alerting someone - in theory - that you’re rushing through a yellow-changing-to-red, that makes it alright and no one will get hurt. I’m honestly amazed I’ve yet to see a pedestrian (or maybe a bike messenger wearing an iPod) get hit by one of these errantly speeding multi-ton missiles. Downtown is a heavily pedestrian area, thanks to its concentration of office buildings, yet these busdrivers seem to have qualms about speeding through intersections as if not making a stoplight will completely throw them off schedule. As if Metro buses are generally on time, anyway!
I can’t be the only person to have observed this, can I?
(By the way: hi there, I’m a new contributor and longtime reader of MetroRiderLA. I’ve lived here (just east of Pasadena) for 2 1/2 years, and have utilized transit for most of that time to get to and from work (I’ve worked in Glendale and downtown Los Angeles) on a (week)daily basis.)
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No you are not the only one to observe this. As you mentioned it seems to be common practice. Unfortunately as with most things MTA is will take someone getting hurt before they crack down on the drivers and over time it will come back. The bus system is pretty bad. I’ve complained to the MTA about the #4 route and how late and unpredictable it is and if I’m luckly I’ll notice an improvement for a few days and then it will go right back to awefully unreliable.
I see this a lot, too.
Keep this in mind. A bus driver coming near a yellow light has two choices: stop or continue through.
Also keep in mind buses do not handle like cars. Drivers can’t floor the gas and expect a sudden burst of acceleration.
Drivers also cannot slam on the brakes and stop immediately. Air brakes do not work that way. Plus, passengers will fly out through the front windshield.
Drivers have no way of knowing what’s behind them, or how closely vehicles behind them are following.
And the rule for commercial vehicles is do not cross unless the entire vehicle can clear the intersection before the red light.
Drivers must factor these decisions on whether to brake or to continue. If they continue, they honk to let drivers know not to turn as a long, slow-moving vehicle is approaching.
Conversely, Los Angeles has many near-side bus stops. When a bus has to pick up passengers and then cross the street, drivers will often wait out the light and not cross, even when green, because they know buses accelerate slowly and cannot get the entire vehicle across the street.
This is one of many reasons why far-side bus stops are preferred by almost everyone in the industry.
I haven’t seen this too much, but I’ve been almost run over by several buses making right turns at green lights when I was crossing with a walk sign.
It’s better to honk than to slam on the brakes, because folks in the bus will be jostled more. Transit is already non-time competitive with the automobile, so why make it even more so?
Incidentally, Damien, there are real reasons why transit agencies do nearside, and they are not “preferred by almost everyone in the industry”. A good discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each one is at http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/tcrp/tcrp_rpt_19-b.pdf
http://www.mta.net/board/Items/2004/10_October/20041014OtherSectorGAT_Item9.pdf
Buses accelerating from a nearside stop are under better control in the intersection
than vehicles decelerating at a farside stop. Operators attention is not diverted by
cross traffic and turning vehicles when pulling into a nearside stop. Compared to a
farside stop, nearside stops eliminate the practice of loading and of unloading at nonestablished
loading points, and eliminate the tendency for persons to run out into the
street, trying to board a bus at a non-established loading point while it waits for a
signal change. Operators have a direct view of three directions from which
passengers may come at a nearside stop. Farside stops provide direct view only in
front with unsatisfactory view of sides. A bus stopped at an intersection waiting for a
signal change at approach to farside stop may encounter difficulty pulling into curb
lane due to vehicles attempting to pass on the right side.
Farside stops encourage greater approach speed near the intersection and more
frequent signal violation in effort to beat the signal in order to reach farside stop.
Nearside stops encourage the stopping and slowing at intersections and become
much easier for the bus to leave the curb from a nearside stop.
Many riders automatically wait for their bus at a nearside stop out of habit. Refusal
of a bus driver to load or unload at a non-established point while waiting for a signal
change, at the approach to a farside stop irritates some riders. At a nearside bus
stop, buses continue to load while waiting for traffic signals to change, thus making
productive use of time. In suburban areas, nearside stops eliminate curb parking
near intersections by location of nearside bus stops, thereby increasing street
capacity.
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