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- Name: Brother Bear
- Location: Olympia, Washington, United States
I am a bear. I am big only because I am small. But don't cross me or anyone in my tribe.
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I'm a "special needs" bus driver. Special needs qualifications can be anything from a broken ankle to severe cognitive and learning disabilities. This is a record of some of the things that happen there. Well, that was the case. Now I'm just going to use this space to speak my mind about the Stratagen ADEPT system.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Sunday, 12 march one of our most stalwart employees walked off the job. He has been here since the beginning and been through some pretty rough times and just couldn't stomach it anymore. He came back, but that had more to do with not wanting to abandon the rest of us who he knew would stand by.
Last week, I spoke with the liason between our company and the contractor and told him that two of the seasoned vets said that it was the worst that it had ever been and he had to agree. These guys have both been in this industry for 10 years and been through a couple of start-ups and software changes.
Then I don't know how he did it, but the man with the rose colored glasses said that it's getting better...
Can I even fight for faith in this?
Last week, I spoke with the liason between our company and the contractor and told him that two of the seasoned vets said that it was the worst that it had ever been and he had to agree. These guys have both been in this industry for 10 years and been through a couple of start-ups and software changes.
Then I don't know how he did it, but the man with the rose colored glasses said that it's getting better...
Can I even fight for faith in this?
Thursday, March 02, 2006
I have let this lie for a long time because there hasn't been the kind of thing that I wanted to post here, but now I have decided to change the point of this blog. Now I'll tell you what is going on since we implemented the Stratgen Adept system here.
Our man hours have increased by 48 percent, our fuel consumption has raised by a figure that I don't have to quote and our efficiency has been halved.
This program was sold to our contractor as one that would recognize traffic patterns, geographical barriers and travel in real time. I don't know what they have implemented improperly, or even if they have, but Here are some examples of it's handy ability.
We cater to special needs passengers, people to and from dialisys, work sites for the develpomentally disabled, seniors grocery shopping, etc.
Adept scheduled the pick up of one passenger in one region of town followed by the pick-up of a second passenger going to the same destination with an arrival time 30 minutes earlier, so it scheduled the second passenger to be dropped off first, the first passenger (having arrived at his destination) was to stay on the bus and ride to pick up another passenger who would then ride a ten minute round trip in the direction opposite of his destination to drop off the original passenger.
Another debacle was picking up one passenger at work, about a mile north of her work.
She was carried on an adventure west, picking up two passengers along the way, the furthest being 35 blocks away west and 20 blocks north. They were happy to ride back past the firsts origin to get her home before they began their trip to work 7 miles and across a waterway, again passing both peoples origins to get there.
This system has had me personally on a 25 mile dead head, from one end of the county to the other through the heart of the populated city.
These are but a few issues. I'll add more as time permits, but these 12 to fifteen hour days don't permit much.
Our man hours have increased by 48 percent, our fuel consumption has raised by a figure that I don't have to quote and our efficiency has been halved.
This program was sold to our contractor as one that would recognize traffic patterns, geographical barriers and travel in real time. I don't know what they have implemented improperly, or even if they have, but Here are some examples of it's handy ability.
We cater to special needs passengers, people to and from dialisys, work sites for the develpomentally disabled, seniors grocery shopping, etc.
Adept scheduled the pick up of one passenger in one region of town followed by the pick-up of a second passenger going to the same destination with an arrival time 30 minutes earlier, so it scheduled the second passenger to be dropped off first, the first passenger (having arrived at his destination) was to stay on the bus and ride to pick up another passenger who would then ride a ten minute round trip in the direction opposite of his destination to drop off the original passenger.
Another debacle was picking up one passenger at work, about a mile north of her work.
She was carried on an adventure west, picking up two passengers along the way, the furthest being 35 blocks away west and 20 blocks north. They were happy to ride back past the firsts origin to get her home before they began their trip to work 7 miles and across a waterway, again passing both peoples origins to get there.
This system has had me personally on a 25 mile dead head, from one end of the county to the other through the heart of the populated city.
These are but a few issues. I'll add more as time permits, but these 12 to fifteen hour days don't permit much.
