Because I know you’re all still sitting on the edge of your chairs wondering how this one turned out…

Monday, I was a bit perturbed by a inconsistent, and somewhat contradictory, information about the location of the bus stop at Kyrene and Bell de Mar. To recap, based on the equation: bench + blue sign + route schedule = bus stop, my dilemma was that within 30′ of each other were two stops, each with two of the three physical cues of a stop, but each also missing one vital cue, thus making the actual bus stop difficult to determine. I hypothesized that Valley Metro was shifting the stop southward.

As I left for work today (driving, not public transit-ing) I noticed that the blue bus stop sign that was previously located at the north stop had been moved to the south stop with the shaded bench and route schedules.

In other words, I was right!

Not that it makes my Monday experience any more or less dissatisfying now…

It’s been three weeks since I last rode the bus (and three weeks since I met Tweety Bird). In that time, indeed probably in the last few days, there have been some minor street improvements on Kyrene. So minor that I haven’t even noticed them despite driving on the street everyday. Until this morning, because this morning it affected me.

I catch either the 65 or the 62 to campus from Kyrene and Bell de Mar. My last time here, the stop consisted of a concrete bench with the city of Tempe logo imprinted on the ends, the standard blue bus stop sign, and the northbound route schedules.

Today, this stop still had the concrete bench and blue bus stop sign, but 30’ to the south was a new concrete pad with the typical brown bus stop shading structure, a green metal bench, and the northbound route schedules, obviously moved from their prior location.

Suddenly a dilemma: if bench + blue sign + route schedule = bus stop, then when faced with two stops, each with two of the three physical cues of a stop, but each also missing one vital cue, which is the actual bus stop and where do I stand if I want to catch it?

It’s all a bit confusing. My best guess is that Valley Metro is shifting the stop slightly to the south for business entry reasons, but there is no on site visual confirmation of if this change is occurring and when it goes into effect. In the meantime, I chose the new south stop. The bus driver saw me, and stopped, but at the original stop. Clearly I chose wrong. When boarding, I mentioned the confusion resulting from inconsistent information. His reply: “this is where the bus stops, and this is where I stop.”