Before anyone accuses me of plagiarizing this question, let me state for the record that I saw this question, and a routine based on it, on a recent episode of Blue Collar TV. So there.
So anyway, when the bus driver finishes his shift at the end of the day and gets off the bus, who closes the door?
I see three possibilities:
It’s closed by remote control from somewhere in the garage.
It’s left open all night.
Hi, Opal!
There’s some other exit that the driver uses.
Anyone know?
I know with school buses they used to shut the door from a window on the driver’s side, then shut that window without locking it. Not the most secure system in the world, but what do you want? It’s a school bus.
Most of the buses I’ve seen have a small, locked panel on the front or side, close to the door. The driver opens this panel with a key and works some sort of control to open and close the door. I’ve never been close enough to see what sort of control it is, but it’s probably a knob or lever of some sort.
I can confirm QED 's theory. I have been on a bus before when the driver gets off (in the middle of his/her route) to grab a coffee. I’ve had more than one driver do this while I was aboard, I presume to stop people from climbing on for free.
On the model buses we have around here ther is in fact a smalll lever in a compartment on the exterior of the bus. It’s a T-shaped handle the driver has to turn to one side to close the door.
Every time I’ve seen this happen, they press the close button just above the inside of the door, as they step through it, not even breaking their step. Obviously, to get back in, they use the outside control already mentioned.
(I guess security of individual vehicles isn’t a huge issue, as any bus garage will have a big security system itself.)
…must…resist…nit…picking…
“Hi Opal!” should only be used in lists that would normally consist of two options, not three in your case. The reason being she was fed up of seeing two point lists.
I’m sorry…I really didn’t mean to criticize, it’s all about the ignorance fighting. :o
And of course Q.E.D is quite right, as always. I have witnessed such a switch at, what was, a local bus depot.
Just to chime in, I’ve seen bus drivers around here open and close the front doors manually, using their hands to push the two halves of the door into either an open or closed position. (Not really sure how to describe it any better.)
I imagine that the door control has to be left at a certain setting for this to work, so that someone can’t open the door manually while the driver is sitting at a red light.
I was in a bus in Slovakia/Czech Republic where the bus driver had a remote control, not unlike the ones for cars. The bus itself seemed new, but not brand new - maybe 2-3 years old.