Let me tell you: no matter how "inflexible" it may seem, it is a tremendous load off my mind to know that I can always find the bus at the same stop at the same time heading to the same destination
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In fact it's kind of a precondition for my being able to rely on it at all
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One of the worst things about the bus schedules where I live is the sheer variability: a given route runs one schedule on weekdays, another on saturdays, a third on sundays, and may operate entirely different weekday, saturday, and sunday schedules when schools are on vacation
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Other routes simply won't run at all on Sundays--or on Sundays AND Saturdays--and a few *change their route* depending on the day of the week. Some routes operate different schedules on Thursdays and Fridays than they do Monday thru Wednesday.
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Possibly the worst offender is Route 38, which connects Amherst w Mount Holyoke College: this route operates every half hour when the colleges are in session & doesn't run at all during vacations... ...except during winter break, when it operates every 40 minutes...
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...and then it has *yet another* schedule which it operates during the end of December and Spring Break, where it operates 4 round trips a day. The regular school year schedule is different on M-W, Thursday, Friday, Sat, and Sun. Winter schedule is similar, but M-Th is constant.
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Needless to say, this is dizzying to keep track of--trips that are easy to make during the week (while I'm working) become impossible as soon as I get some time off. The aforementioned Route 38 is ideal for hiking--but doesn't run during the summer, which is the best time to hike
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Oh one more thing: schedules for all routes get updated as many as *four times every year,* so by the time you memorize one you might be too late.
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It would be one thing if we needed to keep changing schedules because of runaway population growth or decline--but neither are issues in Western MA. It's a very stagnant place! We ought to be able to simplify most routes to a "weekday & weekend" schedule, or even a constant one!
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End of conversation
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I think they usually mean this when they say rail transport lacks flexibility... Although some do think route flexibility which you don't need if you build the line right the first time.pic.twitter.com/jsohDZvoxs
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Flexibility = “oh hai im skipping ur stop today”
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