It's not that bad, it just gets annoying sometimes since it's packed a lot of times and it takes an hour for me to get home, especially if I only have to stay on campus for 50 minutes.

Originally Posted by pocalyuko

A schedule means nothing to them. Late, early, you see it all with them. And not just a minute, sometimes 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 10 minutes.

In addition, the route planning is useless. You have two 51's literally playing reindeer games down emerson going to the exact same location, back to back, within 20 seconds of each other

How many occasions have they actually been more than 5 minutes late though? And how often do you take the bus? I'm not defending the HSR, I'm just curious, as I take the bus frequently and have never had a problem with them being late.

i have never had a bus be 15-20 minutes they're usually on time and never actually experienced a bus not showing up at all and i have been taking the bus for 5-6 years now

Originally Posted by PockyWarrior

I'm guilty of being one of the people who complain about HSR a lot while I was still at Mac, but it honestly really was because I was bewildered by how they could be early/late so often and have buses stacked back-to-back so much (sometimes 4 or even 5 buses back-to-back).

Granted I didn't often consider the issues possibly facing drivers that were well-brought up earlier in the thread already, but it still shocked me a lot over these years whenever I saw buses perpetually late+early for over 15-20 minutes and the whole stacking issue.

I've ridden on public transportations my whole life - in Mississauga, in downtown Toronto (TTC), in Brampton, in Markham. And the countless times I've ridden buses in those cities have always been quite amazingly on schedule and without any bus stacking ever. I dunno, it might just be the routes I use in those other cities (though I've been on a lot of them over the years) or the routes I use in Hamilton, but I still feel something's up with Hamilton buses since I've NEVER experienced buses stacking up so much before and most cities somehow manage to keep their buses on schedule much better than I've seen in Hamilton these past several years.

Just my long-winded 0.02.

This may not be the case for all instances you have experienced but you do know that some routes are purposely scheduled to have busses coming every few minutes at peek travel times of the day, while they have less frequent busses at times when most people wouldn't be traveling, right? Example.

For anyone who "has never been late because of the HSR", I dare you to take any route on a weekend and come back and tell me you still havent been late. I remember back in April, the 5C was 50 minutes late (I know since it said on the driver's GPS system).

I cant completely hate on the HSR though, its the city's fault that the service has as many issues as it does since they dont fund the HSR properly.

For anyone who "has never been late because of the HSR", I dare you to take any route on a weekend and come back and tell me you still havent been late. I remember back in April, the 5C was 50 minutes late (I know since it said on the driver's GPS system).

I cant completely hate on the HSR though, its the city's fault that the service has as many issues as it does since they dont fund the HSR properly.

Mmm, okay, since when does Social Science department teach its students how to accurately read bus drivers dash board?

Also I was late today.... because I didn't leave early enough and I missed my bus.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

Mmm, okay, since when does Social Science department teach its students how to accurately read bus drivers dash board?

Also I was late today.... because I didn't leave early enough and I missed my bus.

Uh, it literally shows on their dash how far behind they are in huge numbers. Most drivers have it around 2 minutes but I've certainly seen it 10+.

Also, most of us show up early. I show up 5 minutes early at my stop and leave an hour before my shift even though the bus ride is only 20 minutes. It's also right in front of my house so I would SEE it if it came early. Sometimes they just don't show up for whatever reason and you can't deny that solely because you haven't experienced it. I've been working in Hamilton for three years and have experienced this many times.

Originally Posted by sarahsullz

Uh, it literally shows on their dash how far behind they are in huge numbers. Most drivers have it around 2 minutes but I've certainly seen it 10+.

Also, most of us show up early. I show up 5 minutes early at my stop and leave an hour before my shift even though the bus ride is only 20 minutes. It's also right in front of my house so I would SEE it if it came early. Sometimes they just don't show up for whatever reason and you can't deny that solely because you haven't experienced it. I've been working in Hamilton for three years and have experienced this many times.

same thing could be said for you though just because you've experienced it a few times doesn't meant that you can generalize it. i have been taking the bus to and from work every weekend for the past 5 years and to volunteering once a week and to campus everyday for the past 3 years and only ONCE was i 10 minutes to work, never been late to school or to volunteering unless i didn't show at the stop on time. i don't mean to be rude but maybe you're looking at the wrong schedule or something :s

Originally Posted by kitty1

same thing could be said for you though just because you've experienced it a few times doesn't meant that you can generalize it. i have been taking the bus to and from work every weekend for the past 5 years and to volunteering once a week and to campus everyday for the past 3 years and only ONCE was i 10 minutes to work, never been late to school or to volunteering unless i didn't show at the stop on time. i don't mean to be rude but maybe you're looking at the wrong schedule or something :s

Rofl. I work 6-7 days a week in two different parts of the city. I call the HSR number that states what time that bus should be coming as well as use google maps. Buses are late all of the time. Weekend buses are FAR better in my opinion and they are hardly ever running late Saturday or Sunday.

Originally Posted by MrPlinkett

Mmm, okay, since when does Social Science department teach its students how to accurately read bus drivers dash board?

Also I was late today.... because I didn't leave early enough and I missed my bus.

...Since when can an Alumni student be unable to read GIANT numbers. A 5 year old can figure out that the HSR uses this, seriously grow up.

...Since when can an Alumni student be unable to read GIANT numbers. A 5 year old can figure out that the HSR uses this, seriously grow up.

Random giant number, always tells you how late the bus is, and nothing else. It can also never be wrong.

I'm with Sarah on this. The issue with the HSR is when you're trying to make a connection with a bus that runs only sporadically. I work in Ancaster and I can't tell you how many times
I've missed the 16 because the 5C was late (quite often more than 5-10 mins). Since the 16 only runs on the hour at some parts of the day, that leaves me waiting around for an hour. I have to leave 90 minutes early for work to plan around late HSR buses. Just today my bus home was >10 minutes late. I don't entirely blame the drivers, but the HSR does have issues, and in some undeserved parts of the city (ie not McMaster, non-Meadowlands Ancaster and Waterdown come to mind) they are endemic.