J4/J5: Too Early? C8 Too Late?

[Scrabbleship]

I commute every day from Silver Spring to White Flint (right down the road from Montgomery Division) and I've noticed some unusual patterns about the J5 and C8 which pass by there as well as the J4 that I sometimes take to and from the Metro.

I've noticed that often the J5 will be several minutes earlier than posted, back on Monday I had to run to catch a bus that was *7* minutes early. I know it isn't that intense of a route, but is there any reason why the bus is THAT early? Not that it's bad or anything, but are the schedules THAT padded or is the back way from Twinbrook to Nicholson & Rockville Pike that quick?

The last three times I've taken the J4 back in the afternoon, I've always noticed without fail a bus (usually a 93xx/94xx Flxible) pulling in at 5:25, automatically loading, and leaving. Could this be the 5:10 late or the 5:30 early with no regard to the posted time? Again, a bit interesting even considering the congestion west of Silver Spring and the choke point at East-West & Connecticut, the same choke point that always seems to be at its worst Monday mornings.

This afternoon I tried waiting for a C8 due to some business I had to do on Veirs Mill Road which circumstances would have made taking Ride On 38 too complicated. I arrived at the stop at 5:13. The bus was supposed to be there around 5:20. After waiting 30 minutes, I gave up (it wasn't that pressing). I've heard the C8 has issues with traffic lights and the congestion issues any Montgomery/PG line has, but for a bus to be that late from the terminal, even considering that it was rush hour, was just bad. What could have gone wrong and is this common?

[smithavechuck]

As a suggestion, call 202 962-1234 (Metro switchboard) and ask to be connected to Montgomery Bus Division.  If you're sucessful, try to speak to the Base Superintendent. 

These folks have been trained to be Customer Service friendly.  Let us know what happens.  Remember to call during normal business hours.

Chuck

[Scrabbleship]

I've dealt with Montgomery higher-ups when I lost a couple things on buses (and in my day-to-day travels passing by the depot on my walk to work if I take the Metro in). Nice people, however this might not be just a Montgomery thing from what I've heard.

Perhaps it's time to redraw some schedules if some buses are chronically late/early like clockwork. Not that it's bad sometimes, today I had a J5->J2 commute that got me at home the same time as taking the Red Line to said J4.

[Scrabbleship]

On the same tangent of sorts, I have another story of possible Montgomery (and/or Northern) recurring bizarreness:

Twice in the last week, this situation has happened to me and some others. Picture yourself at the bus stop at Colesville & Second in Silver Spring, facing the McDonalds.

S2 in the right lane
J2 right next to it in the center lane
Light turns green, S2 goes into stop to pick up passengers
Instead of going into stop, J2 just drives by and leaves other passengers to wait 20ish minutes for the next bus, not even making an attempt to stop.

I asked a few of the passed up passengers tonight about this and they said it happens "all the time". If this is recurring, what could be wrong? Bad driver on the J2 or a total lack of coordination to allow the J2 and S2 to stop at the same time. All I know is that at this point I'd rather walk to the Rite Aid, at least there's no S2 to muck things up there!

[Tristan]

You probably got a driver who is accustomed to everyone waiting for the S2, so he assumes no one wants his bus anyway...the cycle begins because he'll never know if anyone wants his bus if he never stops, but as far as he's concerned, everyone at that stop wants the S2.

The Silver Spring population is not one to call Metro and file complaints.  So many people are so jaded by the system that the problems just bounce off and they never push the issue.  That leaves Metro to think people are satisfied.  You should follow the same procedure you followed for your C8 situation.

I doubt there's any coordination between the S2 and the J2, and there's no reason for that to be the case being that they share only that one stop.  They just need to reinforce the no-pass policy and they'll only do that when people start complaining.  It's not always a bad thing to do!