The Observation Deck

A friend was telling me this morning at brunch about RTA buses idling in the RR Loop during their layover. She lives in the Mayfair, and she says that they idle their buses at high RPMs, and she has trouble sleeping because of this. The drivers are supposed to shut their engines off during a layover.

She has contacted RTA many times, and it seems as if it's falling on deaf ears. Is there anything else that can be done?

Walk outside and kindley ask the driver to turn off the motor when he is just sitting there...

I am quite sure they will ablige. If not get the drivers name. That will almost always scare them into compliance...

Yes Stephen that would be the american way. NOTE There is plenty of shooting in the above link.

If we are going to use movies as the source of solving problems, maybe Axel Foley's idea to stick bananas in the tailpipes to stall out the engine?

I second the stopping out. The only problem is that it is tough to do over and over if there are different drivers that you have to explain yourself to every day. Do it once, report the person by name and see what happens. If it still continues to happen, I don't know. Call the police? Noise pollution is a crime. Even if it doesn't rise to the level in court it can be reported and investigated.

A woman that lives by the Nature's Bin complained at a Council Meeting a while back (this was back during the West End era, so that dates it) about hearing the AC unit on one of the buildings across the street or something. I think the city had to investigate by sending out someone to do sound readings and a certain decibel level was criminal (in her case, it seems she has sensitive ears...the data showed it was far below the level the law calls pollution).

It seems a pain in the butt to do all this but it would be better than sitting and "taking it" every night.

If we are going to use movies as the source of solving problems, maybe Axel Foley's idea to stick bananas in the tailpipes to stall out the engine?

LOL I actually thought about posting that clip...

They do let the busses idle there - I'm not sure why. The black soot caused us to have to clean the building when we were there much more often than normal and wash the front windows much more often than normal.

However the highlight was when the driver got out of the bus - leaving it running to go into our building at the time to use the restroom. While she was gone - somehow the bus shifted into gear ran down the road and took out several cars and ramed into the building causing damage.

RTA paid for the damage - but I was stunned that even after that they still left the buses run.

I wonder if anything can be done at the City Hall level about this...

David,

Who know maybe, maybe not. But the point is that do we really want to be wasting the city’s resources (of witch I guess they have little) when you have not yet tried to just ask the driver to turn the darn bus off. Then if that does not work go to the RTA and give them the driver’s name. Then when that does not work sit across the street and make sure the driver sees you taking pictures of him and his polluting bus. Then write and article on it. I think one of the points of this past couple days is to stop relaying on the city to solve all your problems. Good Luck!!! Let us know how you faired!!!

The city council did pass an ordinance to limit idling engines of city vehicles. However, I don't know if it would apply to non city vehicles.
I do think that RTA could make a good case that the idling engines are necessary to maintain heat in the buses in winter and air conditioning in the summer. Both of these comfort features are important in encouraging ridership to public transit from private vehicles.
Stan Austin

Last summer there was a problem with the ambulance engine's idling at the hospital and there was no law in place. After people made calls (many, many times ) it was taken care of. It did take a couple of months, I think they had to talk to the Cleveland people who are in charge of the ambulances.

I once knew a trucker, and many of them own their rigs and have to pay all expenses, so they are always watching their dollars.

Anyway, this fellow said he would leave his rig running when he stopped for meals. His reasons were that it kept the engine at running temperature, so it was more efficient when he left the plaza, than if he let it cool and had to wait for it to warm up, or drive it cold. Another reason he gave was that with the engine already running, he didn't have to worry about whether it would start (roadside repairs are expensive, both in dollars and time lost).

I think also, as Stan Austin posted above, keeping the bus comfortable is in the best interests of the passengers and drivers; I often see riders sitting in a nice cool idling bus during the summer, rather than waiting in the heat for the departure time. Need I say anything about waiting outside in the winter?

Also, in a crowded city like Lakewood, with little parking, and gas prices going up, perhaps more of us will wise up and realize we can save thousands of dollars a year by dumping our cars and switching to RTA, and I want my bus appropriately warm or cool when I get to that point.

I don't know, but it seems possible that keeping the bus running produces less pollution than starting it up over and over. Certainly there is a lot of visible pollution when a bus is started. I would hope RTA would have the expertise and concern to look into that and do the right thing on balance.

I wouldn't recommend running out and berating the driver unless you were very certain what RTA policy is concerning letting the bus idle, and you would probably have to write RTA to get that information. Calling a service representative may get an answer (just to appear helpful), but is unlikely to get an authoritative answer.

Will Brown wrote: I wouldn't recommend running out and berating the driver unless you were very certain what RTA policy is concerning letting the bus idle, and you would probably have to write RTA to get that information. Calling a service representative may get an answer (just to appear helpful), but is unlikely to get an authoritative answer.

There is a sign at the Loop that instructs drivers to turn off their engines during a layover.