An Observation

[whopper_49]

I have lurked here for about a year and have had many laughs from these posts. We just returned from a great trip the first week of December and I observed the following:
ALL and I mean ALL CMs were very courteous and friendly. I saw some roll their eyes at rude guests but they handled themselves better than I would have.
I don't think I saw any SGs, at least not at the levels posted here.
One bus driver turned off the canned spiel and actualy talked to us, just like it used to be.
I do have one question for you transportation experts:
It seemed odd to have three empty buses in a row pull into an empty slot, let's say All Stars, while 40-80 of of us waited for our first bus back to Pop Century. I know WDW is unequaled in people moving, so it did not make any sense to a novice such as myself. What is the criteria for bus dispatching?
Keep up the good work and Merry Christmas.

[DisneyMom]

WELCOME WHOPPER
Come in from Lurkdom, you've been outside too long(it's way funner in here :) )

[turkeyham]

Welcome to the best chat board in the world. SGT is the best place to tell and share stories. :)

[Ms. Matterhorn]

Benvenido, whopper!

[Big Wallaby]

STAND BACK, EVERYONE! A TRAINED MARSUPIAL HAS ARRIVED!

Once again, stand back. It's been awhile since I've done this.

Ahem.

HAAAAACK!

Cough, cough.
whopper_49 to from and :wallaby: !!!

Wow. Did I hit anyone?

I do have one question for you transportation experts:
It seemed odd to have three empty buses in a row pull into an empty slot, let's say All Stars, while 40-80 of of us waited for our first bus back to Pop Century. I know WDW is unequaled in people moving, so it did not make any sense to a novice such as myself. What is the criteria for bus dispatching?

It comes down to the way they are running the routes. It used to be that when a bus pulled into, say, Magic Kingdom, the driver would be given a route to Coronado Springs. They would make the trip, stop at all the stops, and return to the Magic Kingdom. Rinse, repeat, but this time going to All Star Sports, and so on. With the current dispatch, a driver might be told to start at Downtown Disney, drop off and pick up at the Epcot resorts (Swan, Dolphin, Yacht/Beach Clubs, Boardwalk), but pick up and take them to Blizzard Beach and the Animal Kingdom. Upon arriving at AK, they pick up for the EC resorts, go to them (stopping at BB on the way), and pick up there for Downtown. In a world where all drivers run the same speed, such as in a transit system that runs on a schedule, there is no reason this won't work. But at Disney, you have some drivers that always run well over the speed limit, and others who won't go above 35 mph come hell or high water... despite being in the 50 mph zone on World Drive. Because of this, you get lots of bunching, which the system is in place to fix. Before, the coordinators would be the ones to unbunch the buses.

[Big Wallaby]

In a perfect world with all drivers driving consistently and on a good schedule, it should run smoothly. To demonstrate, I will use the route mentioned above.

DD= Downtown Disney
SW= Swan
DO= Dolphin
YC= Yacht Club
BC= Beach Club
BW= Boardwalk
BB= Blizzard Beach
AK= AK

First bus is dispatched at DD. Picks up, arrives at SW. About the time it's pulling into DO, another bus is being dispatched on the same run from DD. When the first bus arrives at BW, the second bus should be at DO, and a third is leaving DD. First bus gets to somewhere right between BB and AK, a fourth bus is dispatched. First bus gets back to BB, a fifth, and so on. In all, by the time the first bus gets back to DD, there are about 9 buses on the same route.

Problem comes when the first bus is really slow, the driver won't go over 28 mph, and the speed limit most of the way is 45. Second driver goes the speed limit exactly, so about BB they are meeting up. Third driver is really fast and passes the first at about BW (first bus's first time through). Now, the fourth driver is another fast one, and the fifth runs on time

The problem comes if you are at the Beach Club trying to get to Downtown Disney. That third bus races by about 15-20 minutes ahead of schedule. The second driver then arrives, right on time, closely followed by the fourth. The first driver putzes in without a care in the world. Now, the fifth driver comes in on time or a few minutes late due to traffic, about 40-70 minutes after the last bus was there for DD. Meanwhile, in the DD zone you've watched three or four buses for Magic Kingdom come by, two for AK, and none for DD, while you've waited an hour or more. You did a lot of work to be here at Disney World, and you don't want to spend it waiting for a bus. Understandable.

That's where it gets sucky for the bus driver who runs on time, because he gets screamed at. Never mind he was doing what he needed to be safe, but because three of the four drivers ahead were not playing the game properly, the fifth gets to try to explain to understandable irate guests that it's not his fault, and that is the truth. But do you think the guests understand this after waiting so long? Didn't think so.

In order to ever have any sort of automated dispatch, it is going to be necessary to get all drivers driving the same speed. That would require a timetable.

To a much lesser degree, we run into the same issue in Monorails. I consider myself a fairly fast driver, and I am working to get faster all the time. I believe that everyone should be driving the way I do, because when you do you tend to pay attention better (and that's coming from one of the first five kids in Oregon ever diagnosed with ADD) to what is going on ahead of you and around you. When you drive the way I work to drive, you have to focus.

You can imagine how I feel when I get behind someone who doesn't know the last three power settings (25, 30 and 40 mph). I wind up getting as close as one can these days to pulling into the station as they pull out. I have a quick mentality, and I think everyone on the beam should as well. I understand new drivers taking their time, but use that time to learn to run trains efficiently, not to distract yourself.

While I went off on a tangent, I do hope I helped you understand the issue a bit better.

[BRWombat]

STAND BACK, EVERYONE! A TRAINED MARSUPIAL HAS ARRIVED!

Once again, stand back. It's been awhile since I've done this.

Ahem.

HAAAAACK!

Cough, cough.
whopper_49 to from and :wallaby: !!!

Wow. Did I hit anyone?...

Ahhhhhh... (<-- the sound of another marsupial relaxing his typing fingers... ) :D:

[kurtisnelson]

You can imagine how I feel when I get behind someone who doesn't know the last three power settings (25, 30 and 40 mph). I wind up getting as close as one can these days to pulling into the station as they pull out. I have a quick mentality, and I think everyone on the beam should as well. I understand new drivers taking their time, but use that time to learn to run trains efficiently, not to distract yourself.

Why wouldn't someone like to go fast?

[whopper_49]

Thank you for the explanations. I now remember that some drivers do indeed drive faster then others.
Thanks again.

[Eeyore Tattoo]

And one just drives all over the place because he got lost :hysteria: