Agreed, R Rousseau. I've seen the bus 3 or so minutes early too many times before, which is unacceptable because people end up just missing the bus.

But 7-15 minutes early means the bus passed by before most people can even see the stop. The driver completely neglected his/her duties. CAT management ought to take this complaint very seriously.

Also, I apologize for my semi-aggressive tone and poor grammar... I was frustrated. Nonetheless, this is a serious complaint against the particular driver.

On weekdays, the new driver of Route 12 that is supposed to leave at 4:45pm, has not been waiting at the time point at Gorman St and Kaplan Drive either. I board at McKimmon Center and have missed the bus at 5 minutes before the hour now twice. The bus is not supposed to be leaving Gorman and Kaplan until 5 minutes before the hour. To W Raleigh Resident, you have every right to be frustrated. it's totally unacceptable. The City will reply that these drivers are new to their new routes. NO EXCUSE. These are supposed to be professional drivers who know how to adhere to their schedule. I can bet the driver just wanted to take a bathroom break and get something to eat/drink at Chick-Fil-A in Cameron Village. It baffles me to be riding 12 to see the driver get off the bus and be gone for 10 minutes while he/she goes into Chick-Fil-A to get a drink and a sandwich.

Jonathan's right, even being new to the route is no excuse. Every timepoint on route 12 is located where the driver has to make a turn. So even if the driver is unfamiliar with the streets, it's impossible for him/her to miss a timepoint because it's where they have to make a turn. In other words, a new driver couldn't have mistakenly driven by a timepoint without realizing they passed a timepoint.

For my complaint, the driver left 4 time points excessively early: Method and Beryl, Gorman and Kaplan, Hillsborough and Enterprise, and Cameron Village. Of course, Jonathan's complaint is similar and should be addressed too.

Perhaps the driver was being careless, and neglected his/her duties to abide by a schedule; this should be punished harshly.

Or, as Jonathan suggests, the driver may have acted maliciously, and created time to take an unscheduled break at Chick-Fil-A; this also should be punished harshly.

The cameras on the bus can determine whether the driver was acting carelessly or maliciously. In either case riders were stuck 75 minutes until the next bus, and the driver is to blame.

I ride CAT 12 to downtown from NCSU, and I acknowledge Jonathan's comment. I moved here from Boston, MA, and I was like 'what on earth' when I saw the driver just go get off her bus and go to Chick-Fil-A. This is not uncommon. I have to agree, I can see that a bus driver would run her route early so she could have time to take her a break at Chick-Fil-A to go to the bathroom and get a drink and snack. Doesn't CAT plan breaks into their driver's schedules?

This issue has been sent to the Public Works Department, Transit Division. I will update the issue once I hear back from them. Thanks for reporting.

The driver likes to leave the route start at Beryl and Method early so she can get to the Circle K early, get off the bus and get some snacks and a drink and make a cell phone call. Tell me CAT you don't have this on one of your cameras.

Was this issue addressed?

Also, I haven't had any further problems with this route being excessively early, however I've experienced multiple times where the bus is 2-3 minutes early. Riders should get to the stop early, but even 2-3 minutes is enough to miss a bus and be stuck for an hour.

We will follow-up on this one.

The issue on this route has been addressed and we have our supervisors and dispatchers watching it closely.