Bus Fire- Magic Kingdom

[niteobsrvr]

I now have a newfound appreciation for the much-maligned motor coach. It's cool when pulling into the MK bus stop that they play a fanfare which hypes up the crowd. Anyway this weekend I was at SSR and had to endure their myriad of bus stops and the motor coach was jerky and it was as if the driver steps on the gas, then rapidly applies on the brakes. I thought it was just when inside SSR, when we were out on the main road it was doing it as well! I was standing and it did that whole motion all the way to MK and for the most part the crowd seemed ticked, and when it was time to disembark the driver thanked everyone for their patience, but I heard sarcastic "yea, right's" from a few people....and one even slapped the side of the motor coach in frustration. I'm like "Calm down, it got you to where you needed to be!" but I guess as we know there's no pleasing everyone.

That must have been a Nova. THere are quite a few of them with retarders from hades.

 

[Tom]

At park closing you'll see dispatchers around the stops helping dispatch buses and keep an eye on crowds and then radio into the white van the length of queue, number of wheelchairs etc. You'll see as well that a resort further away from the park may get a few buses to clear a load and then your resort which is nearer will get a few. Another factor i always think, though it may not be true, is the type of bus in the queue outside the park makes a difference, as some of the larger resorts will get the nova/gillig buses as they should have a higher capacity due to the wider aisle in the middle.

The priority-pickup for wheelchair guests isnt that great an idea. If that was the case then you would have a number of buses and drivers who are going to be largely redundant most of the day. If a bus is at a resort and there is a guest waiting in a wheelchair, then normally the next bus to the park is on its way to the resort already. By the time it gets there, it would be the same probably as one of these mini-buses. You talk about evil looks - can you imagine the looks they would get if they got a private shuttle? The quoted times and system is designed with additional set-down time for wheelchairs anyway.

My concept for the wheelchair buses would be something of a small fleet of roaming "short buses". Ones that most metro bus systems use for that very purpose. They have elevators and very few seats.

As soon as a regular bus driver pulls up to a stop and sees an EVC or wheelchair, they ask the guest (and their party) where they're going, and then immediately radios it in. Dispatch then finds the closest handicap bus to that area and sends them immediately over.

This eliminates the utter hate that many guests develop toward this poor handicap stranger as they wait an additional 10 minutes for the bus to unload, kneel, load the ECV (clumsily), strap them in, board the rest of their family, retract the ramp, and ready the bus for walking guests.

Everyone has been there. No matter how accepting and how compassionate a person you are, when you're exhausted and have been standing in a park-closing bus queue for 30 minutes, you get a little irritated when 10 more minutes go by along with a good portion of the bus' capacity.

The service I propose would be a courtesy to ALL guests - both capable, and handicapable. And it would allow WDW to get closer to the published "about every 20 minute" rule they've brought upon themselves.

 

[unkadug]

Actually yes, given the flexible dispatching system, it is quite possible to do that and no one would even be aware of the difference.

The people staying at POP would surely notice. :shrug:

 

[mp2bill]

Disney Transportation is really in a shambles. And can still expect a ticket price increase in a few months.

Well what are you expecting? If you want them to update their assets to things like buses that don't catch fire, then they have to raise their prices so that they can maintain or increase profits.

 

[niteobsrvr]

The people staying at POP would surely notice. :shrug:

No, because individual busses are not assigned to a specific route all day long. They can and do go to a different resort each time they return to their assigned park. If one bus takes a long time to return from its last dispatch, no one suffers. So for example a bus leaves the Magic Kingdom at 8pm going to Pop Centry. Lets say the route takes 40 minutes to complete. This particular bus gets held up for one reason or another cause it to take 1 hour to complete that trip. THat doesn't mean that the people at pop century stop at the magic kingdom at 8:40 have to wait the extra 20 minutes for a bus just because the one due back at 8:40 wont arrive until 9pm. Instead the next bus due to arrive at the Magic Kingdom at approximately that time, regardless of where they are coming from, is dispatched to Pop Century. The bus that was late coming back form Pop then gets dispatched on whatever is next to go out at approximatley 9 pm. Thus, except for dispatch human error when something goes wrong liek a breakdown of equipment. It is likely the "missing bus" would never be "noticed".

 

[unkadug]

No, because individual busses are not assigned to a specific route all day long. They can and do go to a different resort each time they return to their assigned park. If one bus takes a long time to return from its last dispatch, no one suffers. So for example a bus leaves the Magic Kingdom at 8pm going to Pop Centry. Lets say the route takes 40 minutes to complete. This particular bus gets held up for one reason or another cause it to take 1 hour to complete that trip. THat doesn't mean that the people at pop century stop at the magic kingdom at 8:40 have to wait the extra 20 minutes for a bus just because the one due back at 8:40 wont arrive until 9pm. Instead the next bus due to arrive at the Magic Kingdom at approximately that time, regardless of where they are coming from, is dispatched to Pop Century. The bus that was late coming back form Pop then gets dispatched on whatever is next to go out at approximatley 9 pm. Thus, except for dispatch human error when something goes wrong liek a breakdown of equipment. It is likely the "missing bus" would never be "noticed".

Gotcha...:wave:

I understand what you are saying now.