[PRCo] Re: F Market GPS

[Herb Brannon]

Last night I watched the S.F. Muni map for a while and noticed how one can
speculate as to what is happening. One of the Peter Witt cars (# 1893) kept
sitting at Mission and Market. A 1000 series PCC was closing in on 1893 and
then came up behind it. They both sat for around three minutes then ran
right beside each other to Market and Castro. At that point the marker for
1893 went off the board. Also during all this with 1893 a second PCC was
sitting at Castro & 17th until 1893 and the first PCC got to that location.
When the marker for 1893 went off the board the PCC sitting at Castro & 17th
left, inbound. So I guessing 1893 (which is back on the board right now at
21:27edt/18:27pdt) either had a minor breakdown or a minor accident which
took it out of service last night but was not bad enough to keep it in the
shop for another day. Also the PCC which sat at 17th & Castro was probably
told to do so and change operators with 1893. There was then a big, big gap
inbound on Market.Then another 1000 PCC which was outbound on Market (1007)
suddenly changed direction around Market and 11th or 12th and started
inbound and filled in the gap. The system worked pretty well last night.
On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 20:56, Herb Brannon <hrbran at cavtel.net> wrote:

> At PRCo and PATransit it was/is termed "Car On Time or Coach On Time
> depending as to streetcar or bus. Times when I worked the extra board I
> always enjoyed a "COT Car". At Library we would pull into the spur and at
> Drake we would pull into the short piece of track just before the beginning
> of the old bridge over Drake Road. There was just enough room to put a car
> into the former main line at Drake. When a Library car was running late I
> would pull back onto the main (loop) track, reset and plug the switch for
> the curve, then leave on the late cars time. I knew what car to look for as
> did the operator of the late car. When we met we stopped and exchanged cars.
> Then I took the late car to Library Loop, discharged the passengers, backed
> north again to clear the switch, set the switch for the old main, now a
> spur, reset and plugged the switch and waited for the next late car. Drake
> operated the same way using the old mainline spur to hold the COT car until
> needed. Resetting and plugging the switches had to be done properly to
> prevent a derailment at both locations. At Clearview Loop if it was during
> the times that the 42/38A (Shannon extension) was NOT running then I would
> set the COT car on the 38A track just clear of the switch at the car stop.
> If it was during the operating hours of the 38A then I waited at the "back"
> of Clearview Loop. As ON TIME cars arrived I just let the on time operator
> take the COT car and I took his/her car. I would keep trading cars until a
> LATE arrival was reported. Then I left on the late cars time and met up and
> exchanged cars again then back to Clearview Loop to exchange and wait for
> another late car. Buses were done in the same manner only without the track
> work involved with the streetcars.
>
> When I worked at Capital Metro in Austin I suggested the COT system and
> they started a version (similar to the Harrisburg plan) where a couple buses
> were held at S. Lamar Blvd & Barton Springs Road, downtown, and then sent to
> start the outbound trips of late buses. The driver exchange occured and the
> COT driver brought the late bus into downtown Austin then went back to the
> waiting area for another assignment.
>
> COT systems work nicely.
>
> On Sun, Jul 10, 2011 at 15:40, John Swindler <j_swindler at hotmail.com>wrote:
>
>>
>> That's why PRC had 'put on time' cars.  (is that official name???)  One
>> location was Jane St. loop for route 76 in pm peak.
>>
>> CAT in Harrisburg is considering stationing an extra driver and bus at 7th
>> and Dock St. in pm peak.  This has been discussed with Tom Collins, which is
>> a name Fred will recognize from high school.
>>
>> Cheers
>> John
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> > From: dwightlong at verizon.net
>> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> > Subject: [PRCo] Re: F Market GPS
>> > Date: Sun, 10 Jul 2011 10:34:16 -0400
>> >
>> > Fred
>> >
>> > It's an old Pittsburgh expression regarding PRC service disruptions.
>> David H. Hamley ought to remember it--he used it often enough. So should
>> Rick Hannegan.
>> >
>> > Dwight
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: Fred Schneider
>> > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> > Sent: Saturday, 09 July, 2011 22:25
>> > Subject: [PRCo] Re: F Market GPS
>> >
>> >
>> > I never thought of grapes also coming in bunches. :<)
>> >
>> > Years ago it was Boston that had such lax supervision that a friend of
>> mine coined the term banana dispatching.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Jul 9, 2011, at 9:18 PM, Dwight Long wrote:
>> >
>> > > Fred
>> > >
>> > > Is that a tropical version of the grape method?
>> > >
>> > > Dwight
>> > >
>> > > ----- Original Message -----
>> > > From: Fred Schneider
>> > > To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>> > > Sent: Saturday, 09 July, 2011 13:45
>> > > Subject: [PRCo] Re: F Market GPS
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > I see that today, just like the last time I looked at this, Muni is
>> still using that ever dependable banana system of dispatching.
>> > >
>> > >
>> > > On Jul 9, 2011, at 1:29 PM, Ray wrote:
>> > >
>> > >>
>> > >> http://www.nextmuni.com/googleMap/googleMap.jsp?a=sf-muni&r=F#
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >> One of the wonders of GPS.
>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
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>> > >>
>> > >>
>> > >>
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>
>
> --
> Herb Brannon
> In Cuyahoga Valley National Park
>



-- 
Herb Brannon
In Cuyahoga Valley National Park