Finally figured out why my bus was always late in the mornings

For like 3 years I took the 7:15 AM bus on the Main Street line in Portland and it showed up 5 to 10 minutes late almost every single day. I just assumed it was bad scheduling or traffic or whatever. Last month I had to catch the 7:45 bus because I missed mine and guess what... it was on time. Then I realized I was standing at the stop right after a busy intersection where the light always holds the bus up. Now I walk one block further to the stop before that intersection and my bus is early every time. Has anyone else had a similar light timing issue mess up their commute for months without noticing?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jordan11d ago

Funny thing about those lights, in my experience a lot of cities actually have a "bus priority" system at intersections but it only works if the bus is running on schedule. So if the bus is already a few minutes late, the light sensors don't catch it in time and it just keeps getting delayed. Might be worth checking if your city has that feature - it could explain why that one light always screws things up.

amybarnes11d ago

The 38 bus in Seattle did this to me for about a year and a half. There's this one light on 15th Avenue that would hold the bus for almost 90 seconds because of a weird sensor issue. I remember one morning I had to run after the bus because it was early for once, and I tripped on the curb and twisted my ankle real bad. My neighbor finally pointed out that if I just walked two blocks south to the stop before that light, the bus would be there at exactly 7:05 instead of 7:15. Now I always check the light timing on Google Maps before I pick a stop, it saves me like 15 minutes of standing around in the rain every week.