blue bus etiquette

Laura sent us a link to some advice on being a good rider at the Ann Arbor Crier.

Above all else, follow two simple rules: Do not be in the way, and pretend everyone on the bus is your grandma. Use these as your rubric for courtesy and you’ll notice fewer Death Stares in your direction.

Students are one of the more neglected carfree groups (along with disasbled folks, homeless people, and the elderly population) on our site. While we are trying to correct this oversight, it is nice to see others picking up our slack, helping to define a local bus culture.

The list of tips focuses on being a polite rider. Among the 13 suggestions, this is our favorite:

When it’s 4:30 and the older University employees are leaving their jobs, laden with briefcases and coats, give them your seat. They need it more than you do. The same goes, of course, for pregnant women, kids and the elderly. Relevant stops: the entire medical campus.

Good manners start on the bus.

UM student shuttle to basketball games

"Parking down there is such a pain," Liner said. "This time I parked my car outside of East Quad and then waited at the closest bus stop. It seems like a good system."

It's a little surprising to find that students actually drive to Chrysler Arena, but it is nice to see another example of UM promoting carfree alternatives for short driving trips. LSA Student Government will be providing bus transport from select dorm locations for at least a couple more games. Hopefully they will continue the program throughout the season. It's unclear whether non-UM folks are allowed on the bus, but we doubt anyone is checking.

UM staff may get a free ride

The Mayor continues to build momentum on his goal for commuter rail service between Howell and Ann Arbor. Hieftje announced that UM has offered to pay for its employees to use the service. Note that while the Mayor pins the promise on Hank Baier, associate vice president for UM facilities and operations, there are no official promises from the university just yet. Also still missing is the rail service that they would ride. UofM backing is a great boost for this project, and hopefully this is a step closer to realizing some inter-city transit options. But for now, chickens should remian uncounted.

It's not clear whether it is the AANews or the Mayor who is implying a link between the commuter rail and more parking structures downtown. The article drifts towards foreboding vagueries about how more downtown parking is inevitable but at the same time, no one is advocating it. If they are trying to say that free train rides for UM staff will reduce downtown parking demand, we don't buy it. Any mode swith would be from people currently parking in UM blue lots. But that doesn't mean we don't need to invest in some additional infrastructure, both for transit and parking. Hopefully the DDA's coomprehensive parking study will give us more info on what the parking needs will be. We wonder how that same info might be used to support the North-South commuter rail as well.

Magicbus: UofM realtime bus data

Simply put, Magicbus is "as an effort to improve the experience of University bus passengers by enabling them to see where buses are and when they can be expected at bus stops." You can check bus location online through three different interfaces (route, line, and stop). The service is brand new, but the information seems to be accurate and updated every minute or two. They also offer an AoL Instant Messager service and an xml feed, which we hope someone will use to make a simpler, map-less version.

This is the best thing to happen to buses since bike racks, which UofM buses don't have. AATA buses have bike racks, but not this great online service. It's time these two did a little technology sharing. Real-time, online info would be VERY useful for AATA buses.

website: mbus.pts.umich.edu

Contributed by: Scott TenBrink

UofM bus service

the University of Michigan has a free bus service, and it's not just for students. As "guests" of the University, anyone can ride the UofM buses. They offer 11 different routes that cover North, Central, South, and Medical campuses as well as commuter lots. While these places might not be your final destination, a little creative transit scouting will reveal that there are a lot of non-university destinations nearby many of the stops.

Website: www.parking.umich.edu/transit/bus_routes/index_fw.html
(note the disheartening file hierarchy of the url where bus routes are a subsection of parking!)

Contributed by: Scott TenBrink