Day 4 at the convention - some issues for EAA to consider

[CHICAGORANDY]

#1 - I'm a tram conductor with 20 yrs experience up here at Oshkosh. Ever since the new Yellow/Blue and Yellow/Red were created, the tram volunteers have been complaining to EAA that exactly ZERO porta-potties get put in place at these much-used locations. Having NO quick access when Mother Nature calls is quite inconvenient to the workers AND all the would-be passengers. This has been causing frequent delays for the past 4 days, with no improvement in sight. Our complaints have been ignored by the powers that control such vital things. A further issue is that the porta-potty locations from all previous years have been changed removing most all convenient quick stopping points along the Blue route. Quite the hassle and illogical.

If EAA has no interest in the counsel of those who know the tram operations well, why bother wasting our time with end of show surveys?

#2 - A new parking lot has been created out by the South 40 bus/tram terminal. NO new necessary provisions were made to transport this massive new influx of attendees to the Main Gate or flightline. All the parking lots by the museum do have regular round trip bus shuttles to the main gate. Expecting the existing tram operation to simply absorb this large increase in passenger volume is unrealistic. Very poor planning IMHO.

#3 - Anyone with even slight familiarity with such things knows that trams and school buses should never be setup to share the same space and interchange passengers as they now must do at the crowded South 40 terminal. These machines simply CANNOT load/unload people at the same rate. As a result, trams are stalled in place as bus passengers slowly exit/enter the single bus door available. As a direct result of this physical reality, all trams behind the bus are immobilized, and the tram flow is stopped leading to several trams now backing up in a line ruining any hope of properly maintained the needed spacing of trams along the route. This needs to change.

C'mon EAA, you HAVE true 'experts' in tram operations at your disposal. How about using them for a welcome change to improve things? We don't need another pretty ineffective college student survey to sort things out. The improvements needed are VERY low cost, easy to implement and make sense. If history is any indication, that of course means they will never happen, which is a real shame.

End of this geezer's rant.

[CHICAGORANDY]

Yes, today the weather was HOT, but at least it was humid. How I avoided Vietnam flashbacks I don't know -lol

Ran Purple on the 8-2 shift and was on the Blue route for the 2-8 shift. The South 40 bus/Blue Tram terminal was ..... What's worse than a gut-wrenching nightmare horror show? That's what it was and then some. Thanks to the complete lack of logistical foresight used when the new Purple Lot was created the massive crowds using said lot with nowhere to go found themselves in LOOOOOOOONG lines of 100+ people standing in the hot sun awaiting our 35 passenger trams.

No sooner was one tram filled when another 40-50 more people were added to the end of the long line from newly arrived South 40 and Seaplane Base buses plus new Purple Lot arrivals. Suffice it to say NONE of the passengers were "delighted", crowd control was a "challenge", emotions sometimes ran high yet we all did our best given the untenable position in which we found ourselves.

Clearly the "best we can do" under these circumstances will continue to fall short of what needs to be done.

Sincere kudos to Gene, Sandy, Mason, Roy and others for their untiring efforts to manage our limited tram resources each day while trying to fill the substantial needs of our attendees. The stress has to be intense.

Tomorrow is another day and hope springs eternal.

[turtle]

They keep increasing capacity for people to be there, but don’t seem to take into consideration how to move them. It’s always been a mess to get to the S40 from vintage. But let’s put even more people down there. They need more trams, but they can’t even maintain the ones they have. Considering people = income, I’ve never understood the EAA’s utter disdain for attendees. If they’re not attacking ADA, it’s outhouses or buses/trams. It’s like they keep trying to see just how much crap people will put up with.

Maybe tram operators need to organize a shutdown for 10 minutes twice a shift for a bathroom break / protest. It’ll inconvenience people, but something needs to be done, and the EAA ain’t listening.

[CHICAGORANDY]

"Maybe tram operators need to organize a shutdown for 10 minutes twice a shift for a bathroom break / protest."

NOT something I endorse. Fear not, when the phone rings and it's Mother Nature calling, we simply stop the tram at a bay of portas, answer the call, and continue on the route as normal. The passengers are understanding and have NEVER complained about it. Most are simply grateful to be sitting and riding... even including the ones who don't like my jokes - LOL

[DaleB]

Most are simply grateful to be sitting and riding... even including the ones who don't like my jokes - LOL

Randy, with your jokes - maybe THEY appreciate the break as much as you do.

I kid, I kid!! Wish I were there this year.

[CHICAGORANDY]

Smaller attendance today, so the trams were not as swamped, but the South 40 - Blue Tram terminal debacle remains a logistical nightmare. Some grumpy geezer stranger kept climbing out of his truck to harass the tram conductors and drivers that we were blocking HIS buses' progress and no matter what we had to move out of the way at this terminal. I shall presume he must be with the bus service in some capacity, but his rude methodology leaves a LOT to be desired.

SOLUTION - At this new location on the grounds make a separate tram turn-around and a separate bus turn-around so we and all our mutual passengers are out of each other's way. Perhaps the 'geniuses' at EAA who created this fuster-cluck should have taken two minutes and looked first at the EXISTING bus/trams interchange by Hangar B, because it in fact is the perfect layout design for these two totally incompatible vehicle types to easily and peacefully co-exist with NO conflicts.

I suspect/fear that once again, since my idea is FAR too practical and makes TOO much common sense, it stands NO chance of ever being implemented by our fearless leaders. It saddens me to see golden opportunities for great things at AirVenture get wasted by incompetent planning.

[CHICAGORANDY]

"Some grumpy geezer stranger kept climbing out of his truck to harass the tram conductors and drivers that we were blocking HIS buses' progress and no matter what we had to move out of the way at this terminal. I shall presume he must be with the bus service in some capacity, but his rude methodology leaves a LOT to be desired."

What was most disconcerting to ME was that I have NO idea who that random old guy is, he did NOT identify himself. I had passengers on my tram, and a rather emotionally disturbed person is getting in my face. I'm from inner-city Chicago and we DO deal with such people on the streets all the time which puts me on defense high alert. I was surprised to be dealing with one out here in the rather tame wilds of Wisconsin and was unsure what the safest way to deal with the confrontation was for me and our AirVenture guests.

There IS a VERY simple solution to such events, and I have detailed it above.

[skyranger]

You are exactly right Randy ! Like dealing with the government . Work your butt off for a bunch of bureaucrats that think they have all the answers and they screw it up because they never listen to the people that their decisions affect . EAA PORTALETS PLEASE !