Rutgers Busing: Needs SERIOUS Reform

Rutgers Busing: Needs SERIOUS Reform
By some website I visited

Rutgers University has what I believe to be one of the most poorly managed public transportation systems in all of Western civilization.

Rutgers New Brunswick is made up of four campuses: Livingston, Busch, Cook/Douglass, and College Ave. These campuses are spread out over several miles — it is not possible to walk between them, and bicycling is extremely difficult for a variety of reasons.

A large number of different bus lines are run:
A, between College Ave and Busch;
B, between Busch and Livingston;
EE, between College Ave and Cook/Douglass;
F, also between College Ave and Cook/Douglass;
G, between Busch and Cook/Douglass;
GG, between Livingston and Cook/Douglass;
H, between College Ave and Busch;
L, between College Ave and Livingston;
LX, between College Ave and Livingston

This setup creates a fully connected graph; all campuses have bus lines running to all others (with College Ave being doubly-connected).

If only it worked. In theory, each bus runs on an interval schedule; on any given line, at any given stop, a bus is to arrive every n minutes, where n is specified by the applicable schedule. In practice, this is implemented by putting m buses on the route and having them depart the garage n minutes apart – with little subsequent communication or coordination – where m is (supposedly) determined by dividing the line’s trip-time by the desired n.

Result? Chaos! Several variables interact to make this system collapse by midday.

* Vehicular traffic is not uniform. Variations in road conditions mean that a route segment that one bus takes four minutes to cover might take another bus only two – thus making the arrival intervals irregular.
* Passenger demand is not uniform. Classes let out at specific times, and so a bus arriving at a stop at 11:06 might drive by, not even having to stop to pick up or discharge, while one arriving at 11:11 might not be able to accommodate all the people wanting to board. Again, this leads to irregular intervals arising.

These irregular intervals by their very nature grow worse. Suppose a steady stream of students is arriving at a bus stop, and buses are arriving at regular intervals. Then, each bus takes the same number of passengers and spends the same amount of time at the stop. Suppose now instead that the buses are not arriving at regularly. Then, they instead come in pairs — say, two buses five minutes apart, then a fifteen minute wait for the cycle to restart. What happens? The first bus in the pair takes fifteen minutes worth of accumulated passengers, whereas the second takes only five — and spends less time stopped. This again draws the pair closer together, until you get to the common sight of a completely empty bus following close behind one with students mashed into the stairwells like sardines.

What can be done? The UMass (University of Massachusetts Amherst) transit system is no less complex than Rutgers, spanning five campuses (UMass, Amherst, Hampshire, Smith, and Mt Holyoke) with nearly a dozen different lines; yet buses run, for the most part, on schedule. The trick? UMass buses have a schedule, and they actually stick to it. Unlike Rutgers’ interval-based system, UMass bus drivers have a specific timetable detailing the exact times they are expected to depart their stops. These times are sufficiently generous to ensure that buses always arrive with time to leave as scheduled; buses wait at their stops if they have arrived early.

This method has several advantages.

* A real schedule exists and may be depended on. Students may wait in a nearby building, out of sight of their stop, with confidence that they can walk outside at 2:44 to see their 2:45 bus pulling in to pick them up. This is a rather nice feature in the winter.
* Buses may be scheduled according to demand. More bus departures can be scheduled around class transitions. The Rutgers system cannot provide a granularity of control this fine.
* Multilane (transfer) trips may be planned with confidence. If bus 1 from X is scheduled to depart Y a minute or so before bus 2 is scheduled to depart Y for Z, you can make definite plans to take buses 1 band 2 from X to Z, and not worry you might be stuck in the cold at Y, waiting.

Asian Female on Asian Female Bashing

Reprinted without permission – original post here: http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=15063&post=139082&uid=2214375888#/topic.php?uid=2214375888&topic=15063

“Asian Female

I don’t understand this group anymore. It’s beyond ridiculous with the amount of AAF bashing. It almost seems as if all the major issues of AA Media went out the door when IR became a topic. Sure, there is discussions about other issues but it’s so focused on the IR and issues surround AAF sexuality. Just calling out one issue about AA in the media is not going to help anything. The issue needs to be address as a WHOLE. There is rarely holistic views on the portrayal of AA in the media in relation to race, culture, history, minority, majority powers where is the discussions about those things and how it affects AA in THE MEDIA?? I’m sorry if people feel that I am attacking this group but I am not. I merely pointing out and voicing how I feel that this group is faltering away from the main issues at hand.

I don’t get why everyone just resorts to calling AAF whores and etc. And who are you to be talking NKAO like that? Just because she may or may not be Hmong her cousin gang bangs? You’re no better than the ignorant people of the world that believe all Asians are good at math and have tiny pee pees. Yeah, I said it. It’s just crap on a lot of these boards. I used to see so many good posts about so many different issues that affect AAF but lately I’m just heart broken at how sad this became.

It’s not even a extreme militant stance like the educated Black Panthers, it’s almost as if it is a bunch of 5 year olds that resort to name calling and random self analyzed statistic that they use as backing to call AAF whores. (this doesn’t apply to everyone, you know who you are)

On top of it why would your Asian sisters want to be a part of this board? You don’t even invite the ones that you said “turn their backs” on being AA to address these issues you just lurk around and call them names behind their backs. It’s so productive, I clearly see it working. *sarcasm* Well, it’s not.. in fact it’s counterproductive. If someone was to come here and try to find some people to speak on a board about AA issues in the media, they would turn away in an instant at how appalling this group has become.

And then when you meet your Asian American sisters that have fallen from the path just remember your hands are not unclean in the way you treat them back. And so what if your Asian sister do choose to date a white guy. If she so happens to date a white guy that can’t respect her for who is she as a person while fantasizing about her little geisha ways, maybe you should try to help her see her worth. (educate her, lecture her, FOR PETE SAKE DRAW CIRCLES IN CRAYON IF IT GETS THE MESSAGE THROUGH BUT DON’T CALL HER A WHORE) And if she finds a white guy that loves her down to her core, isn’t ignorant in the issues of AAs, and respects what she has to offer beyond an Asian fantasy of “Me Love You Long Time” and see her as A HUMAN BEING WITH A SOUL (which also seems to be a hard feat in this forum), is that so wrong? Love is Love.

Gosh, Dammit. If you’re going to talk down on someone for their dating ethics PLEASE sound some what educated. Maybe, I’m just a little frustrated or just ignorant to assume that everyone here has the skills to analyze and critically think about social/racial/etc. issues in various facets and dynamic ways.

This isn’t addressed to everyone. You’ll know who you are and where you stand. But consider this group one less supporter. I’m going else where to find people that are truly inclusive and holistic about the issues on being an AA. It’s difficult enough being AA with the media reflecting us in a certain light, but it’s even worst when the people that you expect to understand you seems to punish you even more.

mind you that I’ve been in this group for about 2-3 years. I’ve just never posted anything since I thought most of the discussions were really educating to read as is. It just makes me sad that for the tons of people that bring up good points and issues, a handful is just messing this up for everyone else. There is a reason why all the girls are disappearing. And it’s going to be hard when the girls that care about these issues turn their backs because of the way you guys treat them.

You can’t expect respect when you don’t give it. For the ones that want to lead and to educate, you need to be an even better example THAN EVERYONE ELSE on ALL accounts or else your credibility is gone. No one will ever listen to you. Look at the all the greats in civil and humanitarian efforts, they knew what they had to do. You want people to listen, you should listen back too.

It’s late, my head hurts, and I can go on and on..but it’s pointless… I hope at least one person understands what I am trying to convey in a fit of disappointment.”

“My main point as my head is clearing from being up at 5 am.
You can’t be a proponent of gay marriages, if you don’t believe in interracial marriages.
You can’t be a feminist, if you don’t believe that men should have rights either.
You can’t be a advocating civil rights while you are at home telling your grandmother to shut up because she’s old isn’t entitled to her opinions anymore.
And that means you can’t be bashing your Asian sisters, if you want to change the world for AA.”

I’ve been waiting for someone to post something like this for a long time now. Thanks.

Anything *I* say is taken as trolling or ignorance, so fuck those douches.