A good week

Announcements:

50 is asking all employees, student and FTE alike, who have not been in touch with her over the summer to contact her ASAP at 5031. 50 needs to get your status regarding availability and to prepare for the Fall Semester, which begins 24 August 2009.

Our training week begins the week before school starts, on Monday the 17th. All FTEs and as many student drivers as possible should be here for this.

FTEs and student CDL drivers who are contracted to drive on Saturday, 08 August, should show up to pre-trip their vehicles NO LATER THAN 6:00 am.

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The summer is beginning to draw to a close. This week, we worked hard and got a lot of things accomplished. More pullouts were painted, people trained, routes covered, candidates interviewed and Skillz plotted.

Everyone did a great job!

We obviously weren't going to pass up on our regular BBQs. And this was a good one, with burgers and dogs, grilled corn-on-the-cob, and frozen pops.

We made sure the coals got hot ... maybe a little too hot ...

... as our grill master disappears behind the smoke.

It was great to see several new drivers and guests mixed among the veterans at the BBQ.

And then an odd sort of Extreme Skill, perhaps to keep away the threatening rain, was performed ...

... to no avail ... but at least the rain was brief.

We wrapped things up with chair frisbee and more corn-on-the-cob.

Lumberjacks get CDLs

Four of our drivers recently attained their Commercial Driver's License. We want to recognize them and congratulation them all for a job well done!

Congratulations 99!

Way to go 88 and 83!

Nice job 87!

We wish you all safe driving, with the wind at your back!

Evolving

Changes are coming ... and they will affect us and our service.

Not all fun 'n games

Sometimes we have a bit of fun ...

Then there's toiling in the hot sun preparing our routes for the anticipated multitudes ...

Joined at the hip?

4th of July

Hi everyone! In lieu of Pete being on vacation, I, 63, get to post about our awesome 4th of July bus! The parade went off without a hitch, mostly. Due to technical difficulties, we got to carry the band on our bus.

Yay! The NAU fight song, Louie Louie, Hey Baby, and more were played with gusto for the crowd. Thanks NAU band members for a great job. Special thanks goes out to 91 for driving the parade bus, sadly the camera was acting up so I don't have visual proof but he got his work out keeping a watchful eye on those crazy kids in the crowd, the walkers in front of us, and waving too! Good job 91, you rock! We didn't have many riders this year, so I encourage everyone to get ready for next year. Its a load of fun! Better than sitting out in the hot sun. Also, special thanks to everyone who worked on decorating the bus. (80, 91, etc.) You all did such a great job and everyone was impressed at how great it looked! Have a good summer for all of you who are off, and for those of you who aren't we have some fun painting projects among all the other great stuff we get to do this summer!

Peace!

Hang in there ...

... the long weekend is almost here!!

Staging & 4x10

HOLIDAY!

The Fourth of July is upon us, and because the 4th falls on a Saturday this year, closures of most institutions will be the day before, on Friday, July 3rd. NAU will be closed July 3rd, there will be no classes or bus service. Payday is Thursday the 2nd. Enjoy the long weekend!

MCT is participating once again in the local downtown Fourth of July Parade on Saturday. Any employee who is interested may ride in the bus through the parade. Meet at the barn NO later than 7:30 am. Dress with TRUE BLUE shirts or similar, freeze a bottle of water or two and bring it with you, and come have a good time. There will be tens of thousands of folks lined along the patriotic mile downtown. Refer to the earlier post for photos.



4x10sThis is not code. No! Rather, 50 is encouraging a 4-day 10-hour work week for all FTEs this coming semester.

Whether this appeals to you or not, 50 wants to know. If instead everyone is silent about this, then our schedule will most likely be designed with 4-10s in mind.

Regardless, it is a good idea that if it is instituted you speak with 50 on whether you would prefer Monday thru Thursday or Tuesday thru Friday. Other options include slightly different times to begin the morning shift.


Staging
Even more significant to our routine will be a shift in our departure method. Rather than depart periodically from the Dome as we have done for years, now we will be departing from staging points at different parts of campus as each class change unfolds.

Each driver will be assigned a starting location for his route, and at an exact moment into each class change will depart from the bus stop. Some buses will stage and depart from SBS, others from the Dome (etc).

Details will be forthcoming; however, for now, you can take a look at preliminary plans for staging on the map below. Click on the image to enlarge. The large bold numbers at our staging bus stops represent the departure times in terms of minutes into the class change. The staging bus stops include the Dome, SBS, Old Main, Wilson and the Rec Center.

For example, where there is a bold 7 at SBS, that means that the Route 1 bus (the smaller number there) will leave SBS 7 minutes into a class change.

While there will undoubtedly be some tweaking needed to improve our current estimates, a general idea of the flow of departures can be had from the map.

We know there will be lots of questions. Please feel free to ask 50 or 61 here at this blog or in person.

Happy Fourth of July!

Flagstaff on Independence Day 98 years ago

And at roughly the same spot and direction on
San Francisco Street as the photo above,
this festive scene is from 2008

Our submission sparkled with Old Glory

Hot diggity

It was just another bbq Friday.

Later, 63 stopped by with her oh-sooo-cute son, W ... perhaps he is a future bus driver? :)

Of seats and doors

NEWS

Stimulus populous











An update on June 26 from the Federal Transit Administration shows that of the $48 billion to be "invested in transportation infrastructure" as part of the $787 billion American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA) stimulus package, only 27 percent remains unallocated (see chart).

President Obama last week signed a supplement to ARRA that now allows up to 10 percent of a transit program's capital investment to be used for "operating assistance."

Is any part of the transportation program at NAU eligible for such assistance?

When they're handing out money ...














"Thanks to strong DOT partnerships with state and regional stakeholders, every state and territory has met the deadline to obligate 50 percent of their highway recovery funds within 120 days. That's right; every single one," writes US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood in his blog, Welcome to the Fast Lane. Vice President Joe Biden (pictured) joined LaHood in making the announcement.

Arizona's share, according to an email from LaHood on June 25, was $260 million. These are funds that have already been put to work in Arizona toward roadways, bridges and other infrastructure.

While funds from the feds does not qualify, one location in dire need of quick "shovel-ready" attention is the SBS parking lot. Oh well, we can dream, can't we?


VIEWS

Of seats and doors
Editorial by 61

“Bottom line is, getting people on and off the trains faster allows us to keep our on-time performance and accommodate more passengers,” says Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Chief Spokesperson Linton Johnson.

How to get people "on and off the trains faster?" And buses too, for that matter? According to Johnson, his agency is removing seats closest to entrance doors. While this reduces the number of seats available for transit users, it actually increases flow-through of passengers both exiting and boarding the vehicle, because it relieves bunching around the doors.

Fewer seats near doors means faster boarding and shorter dwell times at bus stops. And when fewer people sit, carriage capacity per vehicle increases.

NAU is anticipating continued enrollment growth in the semesters ahead. In addition, zone parking will be instituted for Residence Halls this Fall. It is not unlikely that the 25,000 peak riders we transported each week last semester will increase this year.

It is vital that every step that our transit department and our University can take regarding transit improvements be implemented in order to meet these ridership challenges.

As with BART above, reduced seating on our vehicles is one step. Our riders are not typically on a bus much more than 6 or 7 minutes. Unlike commuter service, standing for the trip across campus does not impose an undue hardship upon most people. Seating will still be available to those who need and ask for it.

Likewise, acquiring multi-door buses, similar to Denver's 16-Street Mall buses (pictured) which have 4-doors on the curb side (and are powered by Compressed Natural Gas), is another step.

An even speedier solution would be to have 4 doors on each side of the bus, requiring riders to board from one side and exit from the other. Such flow patterns would require true bus station designs. High-flow vehicles and stations should be implemented for at least the busiest north and south bus stops in the system, such as at SBS.

Capital investment funding such as ARRA should be sought after as one of many strategies for the bus lane ahead, which seems to have all the earmarks on our campus of becoming increasingly utilized.

The first Mack ...

... was a bus.

Announcements and deadlines

Time cards due Thursday, 25 June 2009, by 10 am please. If the office is closed please place your time card in 50's box before the deadline.

Thanks to everyone wishing 61 well while sick over the weekend! Most appreciated!

If you are intending to apply for one of the FTE driver positions just posted, delay no more! One of the positions closes later tonight, 24 June 2009. The other two FTE positions remain open and will continue to accept applications after today.

The big driver news is now public! 84 has announced nuptials to his lovely fiance R. !! A list has been started for all those interested in attending the wedding. See 84 for more info. RSVP to 84 if you will attend and how many there will be in your party NO LATER THAN Tuesday 30 June 2009. Thanks!

Skillz at work. During the Road Xtreme Skillz course, 84 skillfully tucked this bus perfectly next to the curb in one smooth move. This part of the course requires backing around a corner and aligning the bus body parallel to the curb and no farther away from the curb than the concrete gutter. 84 nails this one. Nice job!

Above two photos courtesy of 84

We were fortunate to have an old-timer join us for a week before the National Park Service called him in for their employment. 79C helped us with odd jobs and route driving. Good luck to you on your new post!

We have a new member of the family! Christened Van 520, this sleek and shiny brand-new unit will promote additional service for our customers using The Lumberjack Express and the College-Shop Hop (CCC and Wal-Mart). A big-time THANK YOU goes out to everyone at EMSA for supporting the Transit program and providing the vans and buses to do it!

We broke in two more events this week for this summer's Xtreme Skillz course at the Dome. The first event was the Forward Offset lane maneuver. After a couple tries, 77, 91 and 84 succeeded in snaking through this without tapping a cone. *Cheering section was provided by 87 and 80 at no extra charge*

This was followed by an adaptation of the old CDL Alley Dock, tightened up to make it more challenging. The approach calls for backing a bus into an extremely short "alley" from the driver's side without using any pull-ups. 91 readily shows that it is possible to do, making it look easy, but it is certainly not a cakewalk.

Then we attempted to do what had never before been tried in the history of humankind: An Xtreme Skillz Blind-side Alley Dock. 84 is visible from the driver's seat clearing the pole during backing. (Get a haircut lol.) The feat eludes conquest. Still, we think it is possible.

61 here indicates the elusive geophysical end-goal of the Blind-side Alley Dock.Above photo by 84

Watch for future pictures of the near-impossible Skillz Left Turn and Right Turn to be posted soon right here. Also, two new events, the Excessively Horrible Way Far Beyond Anything Ever Imagined Left Turn and Right Turn, suggested by that lovable sadist 79, will soon be incorporated into the Skillz Maze. Get that adrenaline flowin'!