how reliable do you find nightly service?

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

How reliable do you find the bus service at night? ( Say 89, 101, 96, etc)
Particularly with the increasing cold of winter, I'm wondering if people find it more difficult to get around.

Comments

[marphod.livejournal.com]

As the hour gets later, I find the buses to be more reliable. They are less likel to be affected by traffic oddities or congestion.

That doesn't stop some level of fluctuation. The buses here only have a handful of timed stops per route, and drivers don't bother to slow down (or wait at a timed stop) if they're running ahead of schedule mid-route. In general, though, its not too bad.

[autumnsshadow.livejournal.com]

i generally find that the later it gets, the closer to on time the buses run, depending on whether it's snowing or not of course...

[nowalmart.livejournal.com]

Living in Davis and working near Lechmere, I rely on the 87, 88, and 80 busses daily. I agree with everyone else so far - the later it gets, the more reliable the busses become. The exception is what someone else mentioned - the later it is, the more likely the bus driver is to fly through the route, being ahead of schedule for most of the route.

The only problem I have ever seen is the second to last runs of the night. I guess for some drivers this is their last run, and they know there is a run after them (the w1:00A departures), so they sometimes skip that run.

[georgy.livejournal.com]

I just have to share... last Wed. night, I was headed to Davis around 8:30PM. It was frigid, wind chills in the teens. The bus was late, of course, and I was about to go head back home. Then a bus came by, out of service. But he saw me standing there, waved his arm to me and pulled over. He offered to give me a lift to Powderhouse since he was heading toward Clarendon. "It's too cold to be standing out there waiting," he said.

I know that must be against MBTA policy, and maybe it wasn't my best judgment to accept a ride alone from a strange bus driver, but I was most grateful for that lift. It shows that some of them do care!