Transportation at the Fort

[snocrossmechanic]

Hello all,

We are at The Fort now. Our trip has been wonderful with the exception being the bus service. On average we have waited 10-20 min for the internal bus and up to an HOUR for a bus from The Fort to the parks. To me this seems excessive. I wonder if they are cutting back on the volume of busses in the circuit?

We have a vehicle and after waiting an hour have decided to drive moving forward.

Just my .02

Mark

 

[tiggerdad]

There are several of us who just refuse to use the bus service and drive to the parks. Personally we have never had an issue and never waited longer than 30 minutes for a park bus. Is the timetable screen at the main bus stop actually showing near an hour for the bus to arrival?

 

[North of Mouse]

Hello all,

We are at The Fort now. Our trip has been wonderful with the exception being the bus service. On average we have waited 10-20 min for the internal bus and up to an HOUR for a bus from The Fort to the parks. To me this seems excessive. I wonder if they are cutting back on the volume of busses in the circuit?

We have a vehicle and after waiting an hour have decided to drive moving forward.

Just my .02

Mark

Sorry you've had a bad experience with the busses. We were there the first of Feb. and never waited more than 10 - 15 min. for a bus - mostly 0 min. to 5 min. We loved the timetable screens at the bus stop as it was usually spot on. It actually would change min. shorter or longer as the correct bus was enroute. There didn't seem to be any obvious cut backs in service to us.

We always rely on the buses and over the years have had very few issues, and those were usually at park closings, which we readily understood. Dh hates driving, and we both enjoy the relaxation of leaving the 'driving to Disney' - part of the experience for us.

 

[PaHunter]

In Feb never waited more than 15-20 minutes for a park bus and twice in the morning we were the only one's on the bus going to that specific park. Coming back from the parks is usually wait of 20-30 minutes with the longest being at DHS and the lovely bus stop of 4A. We drove to AK and well MK we caught the boat.

 

[snocrossmechanic]

Not every bus has taken over 30 min. The one in particular started at a 40 min wait (we assumed we just missed the previous one). The times kept growing until its arrival at 58 min from the original time when we arrived.

In years past it has been much faster. It seems as if our experience was different than the norm. Either way we are driving from now on.

Thanks for the replies.

M

 

[tiggerdad]

I really hate that happened. Wait times are usually very manageable but apparently you caught a bad snag. Hope it improves for you.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

1) The Internal buses run on a regulated schedule
. . . the drivers keep to it pretty well
. . . it is even posted over the driver's heads on the bus
2) The External (park) buses are now controlled by CM's.
. . . there is a CM at the bus stop who "requests" a bus for a specific destination
. . . a bus is routed or re-rerouted when a request is electronically received
. . . the request goes into queue, and the computer automatically prioritizes the buses
. . . this is part of Disney's revised bus-scheduling plan
. . . it cuts down on the number of drivers required (and, drivers are in a VERY short supply at WDW) *
. . . sure, it delays guests, but manpower cost savings are more important

* Drivers are ALWAYS being recruited at WDW. Due to the crazy work schedules and frequently changing work hours, the driver turnover rate percentage is actually higher that that of Quick Service jobs - and QS is terrible.

 

[peg110]

If I were "retired" I could see being a Bus Driver for them. When in the military, I was sent to learn how to drive bus. It was much easier (and cheaper) to transport the company in a bus to the ranges or other events then to load everyone up in the Jeeps, blazers, and HMMWV (i.e. Hummers). I really enjoyed it.

 

[TheRustyScupper]

If I were "retired" I could see being a Bus Driver for them.

1) A nice thought.
2) But . . .
. . . in the military, or even on city streets, one does not deal with anxious vacationers
. . . there are frequent accidents, where the WDW bus driver is not at fault.
. . . an offer was made to me to learn to drive at WDW (they train you), and I refused
. . . no one can get me to drive, where someone might end up dead by a bus and by no fault of mine (like a kid at The Fort)