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Does 7 minutes really make a difference? Presumably departure times are available in real time, meaning you could shave a few minutes off your time at the stop

Does 7 minutes really make a difference? Presumably departure times are available in real time, meaning you could shave a few minutes off your time at the stop and spend them somewhere more pleasant

wott 7y ago
It brings a completely different way of using the transport, in fact. When the period between 2 trains/buses/whatever is below 5 minutes, you don't check the timetables, you don't plan anything, you don't calculate anything, you just walk to the stop without thinking. When the period is 10 minutes or more, you handle it more like an intercity train, you check, you plan, you calculate. Or you don't and you wait, and wait, and wait. Personally, I don't have a problem with it, but it is a bit of an obsession of mine to plan and calculate everything... also I've lived most of my life in places where you'd be happy with a train, or a bus, every 2 hours (supposing there was a line). For people who have been accustomed to the comfort of mind of the first option, it is felt harder to switch to the second option. ------- But then there is the problem of transfers. There, low frequency strikes badly and there is nothing you can do about it, contrary to the first wait at the first stop. Personally, I had no problem with 15 minutes period buses, but the transfers were killing me, and it was getting much worse during low-activity times. Just a small-looking increase in the period has exponentially bad consequences. Less terrible, there is also the case when you have to arrive at a fixed time. Unless the arrival time matches, a low frequency forces you to start earlier. So, the time is wasted even if you calculated your first wait.
usrusr 7y ago
It's the difference between just walking to the station whenever convenient and making an effort to time your arrival to the schedule. There is a big jump in UX quality between stressing yourself about punctuality and not caring, because a train will come soon enough. And it's not just a subjective "good enough" thing where it's not worth optimizing the last few percent: even if you did want to perfectly optimize to the fraction of a second, you'd still want to include some buffer time for unpredictable delays on the way to the station. When the train interval isn't bigger than your buffer then all that synchronization effort is completely wasted. (PS: not related to your post, just a remark on the wider discussion: it's quite misleading to say "Germany" when referring to a service level that is pretty much exclusive to Berlin)
thescriptkiddie 7y ago
Transfers are the big issue. Many if not most trips will require at least on transfer. When you show up at the station at a random time, you have to wait on average 1/2 of the headway time, but if you miss your transfer, you have to wait the entire time. With buses and streetcars typically being delayed by traffic, you have to count on missing the transfer more often than not. If you have to make two transfers on a 15 minute headway, then count on adding 30 minutes of waiting to a trip that might have only taken 30 minutes total. There is a massive difference between a 5 minute headway and a 15 minute one.

Does 7 minutes really make a difference? Presumably departure times are available in real time, meaning you could shave a few minutes off your time at the stop and spend them somewhere more pleasant

wott 7y ago

It brings a completely different way of using the transport, in fact. When the period between 2 trains/buses/whatever is below 5 minutes, you don't check the timetables, you don't plan anything, you don't calculate anything, you just walk to the stop without thinking. When the period is 10 minutes or more, you handle it more like an intercity train, you check, you plan, you calculate. Or you don't and you wait, and wait, and wait. Personally, I don't have a problem with it, but it is a bit of an obsession of mine to plan and calculate everything... also I've lived most of my life in places where you'd be happy with a train, or a bus, every 2 hours (supposing there was a line). For people who have been accustomed to the comfort of mind of the first option, it is felt harder to switch to the second option. ------- But then there is the problem of transfers. There, low frequency strikes badly and there is nothing you can do about it, contrary to the first wait at the first stop. Personally, I had no problem with 15 minutes period buses, but the transfers were killing me, and it was getting much worse during low-activity times. Just a small-looking increase in the period has exponentially bad consequences. Less terrible, there is also the case when you have to arrive at a fixed time. Unless the arrival time matches, a low frequency forces you to start earlier. So, the time is wasted even if you calculated your first wait.

usrusr 7y ago

It's the difference between just walking to the station whenever convenient and making an effort to time your arrival to the schedule. There is a big jump in UX quality between stressing yourself about punctuality and not caring, because a train will come soon enough. And it's not just a subjective "good enough" thing where it's not worth optimizing the last few percent: even if you did want to perfectly optimize to the fraction of a second, you'd still want to include some buffer time for unpredictable delays on the way to the station. When the train interval isn't bigger than your buffer then all that synchronization effort is completely wasted. (PS: not related to your post, just a remark on the wider discussion: it's quite misleading to say "Germany" when referring to a service level that is pretty much exclusive to Berlin)

thescriptkiddie 7y ago

Transfers are the big issue. Many if not most trips will require at least on transfer. When you show up at the station at a random time, you have to wait on average 1/2 of the headway time, but if you miss your transfer, you have to wait the entire time. With buses and streetcars typically being delayed by traffic, you have to count on missing the transfer more often than not. If you have to make two transfers on a 15 minute headway, then count on adding 30 minutes of waiting to a trip that might have only taken 30 minutes total. There is a massive difference between a 5 minute headway and a 15 minute one.