Saturday, May 23, 2009

Omni to Straphangers: No Barbecue for You!

I rode over to Fontana today, and while onboard the Omnitrans 67 I overheard the driver say something curious. "Nope. None of our buses run on Monday." I thought that this surely must be a mistake on the driver's part, so I checked the Bus Book. True enough, there is no Omnitrans service on Memorial Day, nor Labour Day nor Independence Day. (And obviously none on Thanksgiving or Christmas- bus drivers are people too.) Metrolink will not be operating either, though this seems more reasonable.

What gives, Omni? Most of RTA will run on a Sunday schedule. Do you just hate grilled corn on the cob that much?

2 comments:

cph said...

Different systems have different levels of holiday service, based on perceived/historical usage, among other factors.

The bigger systems (MTA, etc.) will run on all of the "Big Six" holidays (New Years, Memorial, 4th July, Labor, Thanksgiving and Christmas), usually with Sunday levels of service. Smaller systems may not run on some or all of these holidays (e.g. RTA runs on Memorial Day but not Christmas). The three summer holidays are more likely to be served than the three winter holidays.

Systems may also observe other holidays, such as President's Day, MLK Day and the day after Thankgiving, with either reduced or no service. (This is particularly true of commuter services, since there are fewer work trips on those days)

Allie Cat said...

Oh, I get why they do it... I'm just a little upset that it leaves transit-dependent customers with precisely no options in the entirety of the Omni service area, which stretches from Pomona to Yucaipa, from the foothills to Chino Hills. I didn't mind Metrolink cancelling their service, or RTA curtailing it significantly... but to have NO options at all is not healthy policy.