never-trust-your-GPS horror stories

[bzakharin]

One time I was on a Greyhound between Philadelphia and NYC (on my way home to Hartford) and there were plenty of VMS warnings that the NJ Turnpike was closed north of Exit 8 (going back to Exit 6 or so).

What do you think the bus driver did?

Oh right, they stayed on the NJ Turnpike and made us sit in traffic for 90 minutes.

This was about four years ago, no clue how the driver was navigating or if it was GPS related.

One has to wonder whether that had more to do with either following a strict policy (if Greyhound has one) on not deviating from the main route for any reason or the fact that the bus driver was completely unfamiliar with the area outside to the Turnpike.

That said, depending on where the incident that triggered the closure was located; the driver could've used US 130 as an alternate route (to US 1 to I-287 if the Turnpike incident location was further north).

I've had a Greyhound driver shout over his shoulder to ask if anybody knew how to get to the Chicago bus terminal.  I've also seen Greyhound buses enter Wichita from the same direction on more than one route.  So I'm not so sure there's such a thing as "the main route" for Greyhound drivers to take.

Now I'm going to talk about Peter Pan (pre-separation from Greyhound): going from Hartford to NYC it seemed like every driver would take a different route, likewise for NYC to Hartford (some would take the Lincoln Tunnel back to the NJ Turnpike to the GW Bridge, some would take local NYC roads up to I-95/I-278, I remember one took the Lincoln Tunnel to NJ-3 to the GS Parkway to the Tappan Zee, etc).

It was either Megabus or Bolt I took from Boston to NYC (via Hartford), where the driver announced "we're going to do something we've never done before and go via Queens". I don't remember the exact way he accomplished this, presumably Throggs Neck Bridge and Queens Midtown Tunnel, but it worked reasonably well (the destination was Penn Station from where I continued by train into NJ)

[PHLBOS]

One time I was on a Greyhound between Philadelphia and NYC (on my way home to Hartford) and there were plenty of VMS warnings that the NJ Turnpike was closed north of Exit 8 (going back to Exit 6 or so).

What do you think the bus driver did?

Oh right, they stayed on the NJ Turnpike and made us sit in traffic for 90 minutes.

This was about four years ago, no clue how the driver was navigating or if it was GPS related.

One has to wonder whether that had more to do with either following a strict policy (if Greyhound has one) on not deviating from the main route for any reason or the fact that the bus driver was completely unfamiliar with the area outside to the Turnpike.

That said, depending on where the incident that triggered the closure was located; the driver could've used US 130 as an alternate route (to US 1 to I-287 if the Turnpike incident location was further north).

The Chinatown buses sure didn't have a policy that they had to follow a particular route no matter what. I was also on one that ran out of gas and had to stop at a service area on the Jersey Turnpike for more.

To borrow from Frontier Airlines' slogan, those Chinatown busses (didn't the DOT recently & finally shut a few of them down for safety issues/reasons?) are a whole different animal.

I've had a Greyhound driver shout over his shoulder to ask if anybody knew how to get to the Chicago bus terminal.  I've also seen Greyhound buses enter Wichita from the same direction on more than one route.  So I'm not so sure there's such a thing as "the main route" for Greyhound drivers to take.

The so-called main route I was referring to can vary from location to location but in the fore-mentioned Philly-to-NYC example; any direct, all-highway routing between those two cities involves using a portion of the NJ Turnpike... particularly between Exits 7A (I-195) and 10 (I-287/NJ 440) to accomplish such.  That would be considered as the main route.

[abefroman329]

(didn't the DOT recently & finally shut a few of them down for safety issues/reasons?)

One can only hope.

[kphoger]

(didn't the DOT recently & finally shut a few of them down for safety issues/reasons?)

One can only hope.

Fixed your quote string.

[abefroman329]

(didn't the DOT recently & finally shut a few of them down for safety issues/reasons?)

One can only hope.

Fixed your quote string.

Thanks, I fixed it too.

[abefroman329]

I found it maddening to travel between DC and NYC for personal reasons (either pay through the nose to take Amtrak or sit in traffic on a Greyhound bus, only a fool would fly), and with a round trip ticket on Greyhound at around $75 in 2001 dollars versus $35 for a Chinatown bus, it's easy to see the appeal. However, my God did you ever get what you paid for. On the aforementioned trip, the "nonstop"  bus stopped in Baltimore and Philly, took an unannounced detour through the New Jersey suburbs, and when we finally arrived in Manhattan three hours late, the passengers who were waiting to board were so agitated, I had to fight my way OFF the bus as they stormed it (I was sitting in the very back row).

[GaryV]

I used to ride the bus home from college* my freshman year so I could work on the weekends.  From time to time a few of us "regulars" had to tell the driver the route to get to the smaller stops.

* which implies this is a complete deviation from GPS Horror Stories since GPS wasn't even a gleam in any programmer's eye yet.

[SectorZ]

The Uber Driver app is forever trying to send me down alleys in Chicago.

Is there a problem with that? If it's faster, legal (turn restrictions, etc.), and takes traffic off the main roads, it's better than a GPS that stays on the main roads.

My father did car repairs for a cab company in Boston, and used to pick up fares late at night if they let him. Let's just say before my birth in 1978 I almost didn't exist when my father went down an alley as his fare was setting him up to be robbed. His escape was only possible with a car from that era.

[wxfree]

Here's a mass horror story.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/26/us/google-maps-detour-colorado-trnd/index.html

[plain]

Here's a mass horror story.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/26/us/google-maps-detour-colorado-trnd/index.html

I saw this in a TV station's post on Facebook a few minutes ago. That is a lot of people..

[roadman]

Not GPS, but a former co-worker used to tell the story of one of his father's early experiences with mapping software.  It was 1985, and they were preparing for a trip from the Boston area to New York City.  He plugs in the origin and destination, gets a route and prints out the "step by step" directions, which routed him out of Boston via the Mass Pike, then onto I-86 at Sturbridge (Exit 9).  So the family starts out on their journey, get on the Mass Pike, and focuses on looking for I-86.  The only problem was that I-86 had been re-designated back to I-84 about six months prior, and all the signs on the Pike had already been changed.  "Dad" finally realized something was wrong when they crossed the Connecticut River, at which point he gets off at Exit 4 and asks the toll taker for directions.

[Flint1979]

I heard something this morning about Google Maps in the Denver area rerouted several vehicles down a dirt road and all the cars ended up getting stuck in mud.

[kphoger]

I heard something this morning about Google Maps in the Denver area rerouted several vehicles down a dirt road and all the cars ended up getting stuck in mud.

So... you heard something related to what was literally two posts before yours.

[ipeters61]

Not GPS, but a former co-worker used to tell the story of one of his father's early experiences with mapping software.  It was 1985, and they were preparing for a trip from the Boston area to New York City.  He plugs in the origin and destination, gets a route and prints out the "step by step" directions, which routed him out of Boston via the Mass Pike, then onto I-86 at Sturbridge (Exit 9).  So the family starts out on their journey, get on the Mass Pike, and focuses on looking for I-86.  The only problem was that I-86 had been re-designated back to I-84 about six months prior, and all the signs on the Pike had already been changed.  "Dad" finally realized something was wrong when they crossed the Connecticut River, at which point he gets off at Exit 4 and asks the toll taker for directions.

Were there no "Formerly I-86" signs installed on the Mass Pike?  I actually had a time where I sent some family members directions from Philly (where they were) to Hartford (where I grew up) and they got confused when I said "take Exit 9 to I-684"...turns out they took Exit 9 immediately after the Tappan Zee Bridge (on the NY Thruway) instead of the Exit 9 in White Plains (on the Cross Westchester Expressway).

Also, your story vaguely reminds me of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYfFTynCpZo

[SectorZ]

Not GPS, but a former co-worker used to tell the story of one of his father's early experiences with mapping software.  It was 1985, and they were preparing for a trip from the Boston area to New York City.  He plugs in the origin and destination, gets a route and prints out the "step by step" directions, which routed him out of Boston via the Mass Pike, then onto I-86 at Sturbridge (Exit 9).  So the family starts out on their journey, get on the Mass Pike, and focuses on looking for I-86.  The only problem was that I-86 had been re-designated back to I-84 about six months prior, and all the signs on the Pike had already been changed.  "Dad" finally realized something was wrong when they crossed the Connecticut River, at which point he gets off at Exit 4 and asks the toll taker for directions.

Were there no "Formerly I-86" signs installed on the Mass Pike?  I actually had a time where I sent some family members directions from Philly (where they were) to Hartford (where I grew up) and they got confused when I said "take Exit 9 to I-684"...turns out they took Exit 9 immediately after the Tappan Zee Bridge (on the NY Thruway) instead of the Exit 9 in White Plains (on the Cross Westchester Expressway).

Also, your story vaguely reminds me of this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYfFTynCpZo

There were signs for a bit of a while stating something along the lines of "86 is now 84" for a couple of years.

[plain]

The lack of common sense strikes again.

https://www.nbc12.com/2022/11/08/bus-driver-following-gps-takes-students-wrong-state/

[SkyPesos]

Not a horror story, but still why you shouldn't 100% rely on a GPS.

On the way back home from Maine last summer, the Google Maps GPS thought the US 1 to I-295 SB ramp near Brunswick doesn't exist. At first, they wanted me to U-turn to stay on US 1 SB (that's what that intersection before the 295 ramps is like), and enter I-295 SB at Freeport. This is when I started smelling Google's bs. After passing that point, they wanted me to get on I-295 NB and take the next exit on NB to get to the SB side. I didn't see any "Road closed" signs for the 295 SB onramp, so just got onto it. Then the GPS spazzed out, rerouting me on various routings (including thinking I'm coming from 295 SB trying to use the loop ramp in that direction for US 1), before finally getting the memo that I'm on the correct ramp movement. The "time remaining" counter also dropped by a couple of minutes from not using their unneeded detours.

[webny99]

The lack of common sense strikes again.

https://www.nbc12.com/2022/11/08/bus-driver-following-gps-takes-students-wrong-state/

Too bad one of us wasn't on the bus, we could have tapped the driver and informed them of their error. 

[mgk920]

I always tell co-workers that those GPS things are only as good as the disinterested college interns who did the mapping and data entry. And, I sometimes seriously wonder if a time will come when a federal rule is imposed that would prohibit those things in the driver areas of vehicles that need commercial licenses to be operated on pubic roads.

Mike

[FrCorySticha]

The lack of common sense strikes again.

https://www.nbc12.com/2022/11/08/bus-driver-following-gps-takes-students-wrong-state/

Too bad one of us wasn't on the bus, we could have tapped the driver and informed them of their error. 

It wouldn't surprise me if one of the students tried, and the bus driver ignored them.

[GaryV]

The lack of common sense strikes again.

https://www.nbc12.com/2022/11/08/bus-driver-following-gps-takes-students-wrong-state/

Too bad one of us wasn't on the bus, we could have tapped the driver and informed them of their error. 

It wouldn't surprise me if one of the students tried, and the bus driver ignored them.

Or maybe the students just went with the flow, thinking they didn't want to go to their first hour class anyway.


Over 40 years ago I was on a Greyhound and the driver asked the passengers where to find the stop in a small town (had to turn off the highway). One of the other "regulars" answered before I could. It's a good thing that was pre-GPS. Who knows where we might have ended up if he was following the computer.

[kphoger]

Over 40 years ago I was on a Greyhound and the driver asked the passengers where to find the stop in a small town (had to turn off the highway). One of the other "regulars" answered before I could. It's a good thing that was pre-GPS. Who knows where we might have ended up if he was following the computer.

Same here, except it was only about 20 years ago, and the driver was asking directions to the downtown Chicago station.

[jeffandnicole]

The lack of common sense strikes again.

https://www.nbc12.com/2022/11/08/bus-driver-following-gps-takes-students-wrong-state/

Too bad one of us wasn't on the bus, we could have tapped the driver and informed them of their error. 

Unless it's a route they need to clinch. 

[kphoger]

–  Umm, driver, ma'am:  I believe you just mixed the exit.

–  I only have the I-44 Business Route clinched through Springfield in the eastbound direction, so I'm going to get off at Glenstone and then backtrack on Chestnut.  That way I'll have it clinched westbound as well.

–  But we're supposed to be arriving in four minutes.  My wife is waiting for me, and she just texted to say that our toddler just threw up in the car and needs to get home ASAP.

–  Don't worry, it'll only be a few extra minutes.



Side note:    Huh, apparently Greyhound moved locations in Springfield last year.  The station on Kearney was pretty nice, and it was fairly new too, but apparently Greyhound just didn't want to spend the money to keep it open.  I'm kind of sad, personally, because that's the first place I ever saw my wife in person (we met online).

[hbelkins]

I've only had one epic GPS fail, but it only caused some minor aggravation, not a major issue.

Several years ago I had discovered and located my great-grandmother's grave in Lincoln County, WV. It's in a very rural area with no cell service, so I couldn't call up Google Maps for an aerial view of the roads, so I ended up using my Garmin with preloaded maps to try to navigate me out of that remote location and toward WV 3. It routed me along routes that I later verified are indeed on the map as "fractional" county routes, but the quality of one such route began deteriorating to the point that I was afraid my vehicle wouldn't make it out to the state highway. It was a very narrow gravel route that quickly became unimproved and forded a couple of creeks. I finally turned around and made that Garmin throw a "recalculating" fit until it realized I didn't want to go along that road. I got back to the paved road and continued along it until I came to a route that was fully striped with a center and edge lines. Turns out it was a whole number county route and it led me out to WV 3.

I was tracking the route on a couple of apps, and when I overlaid those tracks along available maps, I found that that those routes are, indeed, in WVDOH's system as county routes.