Ask the Bus Driver

[kayaker]

@not_what_you_d_expect

I don’t have any questions, I just want to let all of you know how much I like you all.
That’s it.

Well, that was certainly unexpected.

[hogarth]

@QuickSilver

What sort of mileage do you get on that thing?

A discussion on one of Cecil’s columns came with a value of 3.3 mpg for a bus, but Wikipedia suggested something like 6 mpg.

[Incubus]

@DChord568

When I was a kid I developed a weird fascination with our municipal bus system. This would have been the mid- to late-50s. We had a combination of diesel and trackless trolley buses, so the city was spider-webbed with overhead power lines. (These were done for, however, by the early 60s.) Being a bus driver when I grew up was my first career choice for at least a couple of my elementary school years.

I was so into them that I actually talked my mom into taking me down to the bus yard once. We just sort of strolled in and found an idle bus that apparently still had power. This seems incredible now (that we did it at all and that she indulged me to this degree), but I climbed in the seat and opened and closed the front and back doors, changed the manually scrolling route sign and rang the bell with the cords hanging down. I was in absolute heaven!

And I was so into it all that to this very day I can name every route and its associated number from 1 up to 25 (e.g., 1 ELM, 2 OAK, 3 LINCOLN etc.).

My questions will seem rather, um, pedestrian, but they’re based on that early fascination:

1. Is the system for opening and closing the doors still essentially the same (a lever to the driver’s left…one position each for front and back doors only, and a third position for opening both simultaneously? Or has this been turned into some sort of electronic push-button method?

2. I’m assuming all the route signs are now electronic as opposed to the old scroll. Do you program them yourself and sometimes have to change them on the fly? Or is this done in some other way?

3. Has the old method of dispensing change by way of the metal thingee with cylinders that you operated with your thumb long gone the way of the dinosaur? Did you ever encounter one of these in your work? Somehow my mom found me one and gave it to me for Christmas when I was about 6 or 7. Once again, I was in a blissful state.

Mom turned 85 earlier this month. She was, and is, a mighty good mom!

Doors are controlled by a lever I turn. Change dispensers have been long gone. The headsign is displayed digitally and the actual content is based on a code I input in a terminal above the windshield. I can also input codes to have various audio clips played in the bus (feet off the seat, no eating, Happy Holidays, etc)

[JohnGalt]

Great thread - thanks!

Do you have a schedule you have to follow? What happens when you get behind schedule - drive faster? Do you idle at the side of the street if you’re ahead of schedule, or just keep going?

My brother was a truck driver and he said he has stories of what he sees in other cars from sitting up high (lots of unexpected nudity I guess). What strange things have you see in others’ vehicles?

Any other drivers or vehicles you think are assholes on the road? BMWs? Garbage trucks? Scooters? Time to dish!

[etv78]

Do most drivers speak English as their 1st language? The paratransit system in Boston will basically anyone with no moving violations and a pulse.

[gotpasswords]

IIRC, you were “driving” LRVs a few years back. Did you just shift from rails to wheels with the same agency, or are you driving for someone else? Is driving a bus considered a promotion compared to light rail?

Do you ever watch the movie Speed and start giggling at the notion of a bus getting faster than 50 on Bay Area roads?

[dougie_monty]

@gotpasswords

IIRC, you were “driving” LRVs a few years back. Did you just shift from rails to wheels with the same agency, or are you driving for someone else? Is driving a bus considered a promotion compared to light rail?

Do you ever watch the movie Speed and start giggling at the notion of a bus getting faster than 50 on Bay Area roads?

Speed must be what the producer was on when he concocted that movie’s plot. It would be untenable to anyone familiar with real traffic.

[VinylTurnip]

As a white person, do you feel guilty when black passengers sit in the back of the bus?

[teela_brown]

N/M.

[Leaffan]

@dougie_monty

Speed must be what the producer was on when he concocted that movie’s plot. It would be untenable to anyone familiar with real traffic.

The plot was concocted by screenwriter Graham Yost, a Canadian. That might have something to do with it.

[Sunspace]

@Leaffan

The plot was concocted by screenwriter Graham Yost, a Canadian. That might have something to do with it.

Only if he didn’t live in Toronto, Vancouver, or Montréal…

[tapu]

@Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge

I am too. Especially the gross out stories and violent passengers. For some reason i was thinking it would be “better” in San Fran but crazy is everywhere.

Are you kidding? San Francisco transit is the craziest! I absolutely love taking the bus or muni there.

Incubus, with this thread certainly you are not douchebag. It’s fascinating to read!

love, tapu

[dougie_monty]

@Leaffan

The plot was concocted by screenwriter Graham Yost, a Canadian. That might have something to do with it.

“Give me to know: How this foul rout began, who set it on, and he that is approv’d in this offence…”
I don’t remember which play of Shakespeare that line is from, but it expresses my feelings about that movie and whom to blame for it.

[simster]

@dougie_monty

“Give me to know: How this foul rout began, who set it on, and he that is approv’d in this offence…”
I don’t remember which play of Shakespeare that line is from, but it expresses my feelings about that movie and whom to blame for it.

You should start a thread about all the movies you haven’t seen that you hate for idiotic reasons -

[X.L.Lent]

Have you ever driven a trolley bus? If so, how does it compare with driving a diesel or gas bus?

[dougie_monty]

@simster

You should start a thread about all the movies you haven’t seen that you hate for idiotic reasons -

Judging by what I’ve heard about that movie, I would have to be idiotic to go see it. I am not predisposed to go to the movies anyway.

[kayaker]

@dougie_monty

I am not predisposed to go to the movies anyway.

Movie attendance is a predisposition? What, are you lacking the Ebert gene?

[dougie_monty]

@kayaker

Movie attendance is a predisposition? What, are you lacking the Ebert gene?

Who knows? When my parents stopped sending us three kids to the movies in 1960 (I was 10 then), I just quit going–I had no money of my own. Even when they did send us, the movie often failed to hold my interest and I would sit in the lobby or leave the movie house altogether.

[Idle_Thoughts]

I know it’s a small hijack, so consider this just a small, gentle kneading of a note…Let’s move all movie discussion to another thread and get back to the OP, please.

[dougie_monty]

Fine with me…I’ll bide my time and see if anyone is interested enough to start an appropriate thread.