Metrobus customers may soon have to walk an extra block to catch a ride.
Metro officials are considering spacing out bus stops — which are placed on almost every block along many routes — as part of a broader plan to improve the speed and reliability of the bus network.
“That’s one thing we’re looking at — spacing out the bus stops,” Metro Assistant General Manager Gerald Francis said. “Right now, the buses stop all the time — that backs up traffic, and we don’t gain anything.”
Francis said many people wouldn’t mind walking an extra block to catch the bus if they knew their ride would be quicker because of it.
Metro’s erratic bus service is by far the most common customer complaint in the system.
Metro officials last week unveiled a proposal that would create 18 new limited-stop or express bus corridors throughout the system during the next six years, bringing the total to 24.
Bus service would be between 20 and 30 percent faster along those corridors, agency planners estimated.
Metro is also planning to bring back the popular NextBus system within the next year, General Manager John Catoe told the agency’s board of directors last week.
Metro started NextBus, which uses GPS tracking and advanced computer technology to analyze traffic patterns and predict when a bus would be arriving at a stop, in November 2006, but discontinued it in October 2007 because it was inaccurate 20 percent of the time, officials said.
Francis told The Examiner earlier this month that the agency is also considering giving dispatcher authority to bus supervisors.
“We’re going to make a gallant effort to get out there and see what we can do about schedules,” Francis said.
Bus supervisors currently respond to accidents and make sure the correct number of buses are on the streets, but are not responsible for altering buses’ schedules when traffic causes them to bunch up and arrive at stops two or three at a time.
With dispatcher authority, bus supervisors could send some buses forward or reverse some when buses pile up.
