Transit and weather
Not news-related, but just an observation from today while I was working on real-time bus data
At 1:30pm, just over 80% of buses were on time (by my fairly stringent metric of all buses; all stops).
That was just before a band of strong wind and moderately heavy rain. Afterwards, at 3:15pm, we’re down to about 70% of buses on time
Update: 4pm: — 53% on time
Rain messes up Auckland traffic, so it will inevitably mess up buses to some extent– bus lanes help, but even with bus lanes, they are affected by other traffic at most intersections. There isn’t any straightforward solution; making buses allow lots of extra time and take regular naps along the route might fix the on-time metric, but it wouldn’t fix the problem.
PS: The interactive map –when it’s working — is here; the corresponding Wellington one is here
PPS: Bus performance has continued to deteriorate, but now it’s probably down to the likely coming Covid lockdown. Masks on public transport, folks. It’s not just the law, it’s a good idea
Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »