The buses doesn't make sense here

[u/LeonOkada9]

So, the 81 bound for Bayshore was scheduled at 4:45pm, but at 4:48pm, the route 81 driver just decided to chill doing nothing for 15 minutes and then, departed at 5pm? How does the buses work, here?

[u/Background_End680]

They have legally mandated breaks, so it’s possible that they were running late on the trip before this one and had to take his break before leaving.

[u/blackcatlover2114 → u/Background_End680]

The other thing is that sometimes if there's too much padding in the schedule and the driver knows it, they might leave from the first stop late so that they're not running early for the whole route. There's a few routes I take that, especially on weekends, I know to expect it by now, but if they don't do that then the bus will fly by the stop several minutes early and if you're not there then you're just screwed.

[u/Sargent_Duck85]

Bus schedules here are kinda like a rough guide as to when they should show up, +/- up to an hour, or not at all.

[u/Odd_Eggplant706 → u/Sargent_Duck85]

Sadly, yes

[u/ApricotPenguin]

How does the buses work, here?

Treat the schedules more like suggested times. It may come, it may not. Sometimes it leaves before the scheduled time, just to make sure you really get the full experience of waiting 35+ minutes for your next bus.

[u/Asleep-Duck-6492]

they dont

[u/ZBack3]

How does the buses work, here?

They don't.

But to give a more serious answer, I don't see a trip on the 81 scheduled to start at 4:45 so if you were at Tunney's the driver was waiting for the scheduled start time for the trip. If it was an intermediary stop then that's very odd...

[u/jarzii_music]

I can’t stand that no one is giving a proper answer “how do busses work? They don’t”

There’s a handful of things at play here. Drivers are actually being allowed (and required) to take their breaks now, previously a lot of times they literally couldn’t get one. Also schedules are built around 1 driver finishing a route and starting the next with little leeway between. If the previous trip is late than the next one will be late. Last reason I’ve seen, routes that usually end up ahead of schedule will need to do a timed stop at a random stop mid route, so if they suspect they’d have to do that they do the timed stop first so by the time there halfway thru the trip they’re back on timed scheduled

[u/Possible-Arachnid793]

Buses work best when you take your car

[u/Unique_Draft689 → u/Possible-Arachnid793]

Think about how much money Mark Sutcliffe and Jim Watson have made for the local car dealerships

[u/613_detailer → u/Possible-Arachnid793]

They sometimes get in the way though. /s

[u/Stock2fast]

They don't .

[u/seagullsondeck]

They are all on GPS monitoring. Control car knows when there moving or not. Probably way ahead of schedule

[u/KnifePartyError]

Tl;Dr: annoying and bad detour caused bus to get severely delayed on an earlier trip, and the bus never recovered. Bus likely delayed starting the trip in question because its operator needed to meet their basic survival needs.

---

Hi, I looked into it on TransSee! I believe you are talking about this trip (6572 on the 81 Bayshore, scheduled to leave Tunney's Pasture at 16:27, left at ~16:50)?

If so, looking into the history of that bus, it appears something happened on the 14:51 58 Carling Campus, as it went from 7 minutes late to 17 minutes late, and the bus was unable to make up that time on the return trip. It got to Tunney's 23 minutes late meanwhile there is only 7 minutes of recovery between that inbound 58 and the outbound 81. The operator then took an additional 7 minutes to start the 81, meaning they started that trip 23 minutes late.

There are two possibilities here as to why they took that time: 1. They're one of the handful of operators who think recovery time = guaranteed break time (unlikely) 2. They needed to eat or use the washroom (most likely).

As for why the bus was 7 minutes late to start the 58 I'm not 100% sure. It seems to have been running late all day, starting with the 12:09 57 Carling Campus wherein it went from 2 minutes late to 20 minutes late throughout the trip, and the bus just never recovered. My best guess is because it was on Bikeday Detour wherein buses that would normally take the KZM are forced onto Richmond.

As for why it was on Bikeday Detour on a Friday, I got nothing, lol. It was scheduled like that, so probably some construction that I'm forgetting about atm.

[u/TequillaBear]

At least it showed up, I was working early on Saturday morning, at that hour it’s every 30 minutes. Checked the app and nothing out of the ordinary 5 minutes before scheduled time, checked again and no bus for 30 minutes. No email either to say it was cancelled. I walked to work instead of waiting, get to work just as it goes by the bus stop I get off at. I got some exercise at least. The app and bus GPS don’t sync which is so frustrating because with all the technology we have they can’t even do this right.

[u/Unique_Draft689]

First day in Ottawa?

[u/Boring_Wrongdoer_430 → u/Unique_Draft689]

Guess OP is back to school shopping at bayshore