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Comment by knz | Hacker News Reader

Wouldn't you time your arrival at the bus stop to coincide with the arrival of the bus?

If you're waiting 30 minutes for an uninterrupted service you're doing it wrong....

You seem to think Denver is Tokyo where the actual people driving the buses and trains have pride in their work. That's not the case in Denver; when I came back from Tokyo in 2002 I was disgusted watching two or three buses nearly bumper to bumper pull up to my stop. If they had pride in their work this wouldn't happen; instead people just run their routes because it's there job, they don't care at all. Not sure why this is, maybe just a US thing? I hate to say it's a blood type thing by my ex-wife swore it was because Japan is largely A-positive blood type.

The entire concept of a "blood type thing" has no basis in fact, and isn't commonly accepted in the West.

Yeah it was surprising how often it came up. We'd just gotten married and every single relative I met asked my blood type within the first minute. And everyone was shocked that I had no idea what mine was, or that my my ex married me without knowing it. I just chalked it up to a sort of horoscope for Japan, or fan will kill you if left on while sleeping Korean myth type of thing.

Its mainly b/c mass transit is considered an afterthought and is not a first class citizen in America. That is why we are stuck...

That is simply the state of public transportation in the US. I don't use buses very frequently, but the times I had to, my success rate with getting on a bus at the time it was scheduled is somewhere around 40%.

Sometimes it comes 15 minutes late, sometimes it doesn't come entirely and then it's a 30 minute wait (or longer) until the next one. One time it actually came early AND left early. I have no idea what the people who expected it 10 minutes later did. I guess they had to wait 40 minutes.

And it's not a walkable distance either (5-6 miles), so I still have to wait.

I took the bus in Pittsburgh PA for many years. I'd often show up 10 minutes before the scheduled arrival time and quite commonly the busses were 20-30 minutes late... or didn't come. Or came by, but didn't stop.

Waiting for 30 minutes seemed about the average.

Buses, given they lack a prioritized corridor, are still up to the whims of traffic, so it's not like they show up at exactly 30 minute intervals...

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