Ask The Driver 21

Supercoolkp Do you ever sing or whistle while driving? If yes, do passengers ever join in?!

Sometimes I may have a song that runs through my head for days but I have not yet started to sing along to it. I did have a lovely woman on one of my late night buses that started singing some gospel songs that others sang to. It made a nice change to the normal music and the passengers seemed to enjoy it.

 

Theaardvark Have you ever got a route wrong when you’re new to it? Like the bus in the photos that went under a low bridge.

Oh yes. Once I had been dong one route all week and on Saturday it changed to a different route, only one turn though. I went the wrong way I realized as soon as I turned. Another time was on my first day on a new route. It went a different way into the city than when it came out but I hadn’t payed attention during route training. I only realized on the way out of city when I saw another bus go a different way.

 

Strix_aluco If you could drive a bus in any world city, which would you choose?

Tricky, I think probably somewhere like San Francisco or New York. I would like to drive between cities in the states as well.

Littlelaura Do you tally up the no’s peeps say “thank you” when getting off the bus? Are some days of week better than others?

Sometimes I do but most of the time I don’t. The best time of the week for them is probably mid week in the middle of the day. Sometimes Saturday night can be pretty pleasant as well.

Karmadillo What’s the weirdest thing any ever left behind on your bus?

Aside from the usual array of umbrellas, bags, hats, coats etc. I have had a bag full of minced beef and cheese. Not just one or two but about a dozen of each. Someone forgot several of their bags and had to wait for me to come back past. I had someone almost forget their cat that was in a basket in the luggage rack. Usually all that gets left on the bus is rubbish, empty cans, bottles things like that.

Podnosh What do you have in your lunchbox when you are on a shift?

This may shock people but I don’t take a lunch out with me. As the breaks are not guaranteed you can’t say that you will get enough time for lunch. If you get stuck in a bad traffic jam you could wind up missing a lot of your breaks to make up the time. Having said that, though, I do take a drink out with me and most of the time I have some sort of snack as well. I just have to have big meals when I get home, o before I go out if I am on nights.

Citizensheep How do you deal with those who pay too much then demand change despite sign on machine & drivers not carrying any?

There is not a lot I can do. They are usually easy to spot as they ask how much it is. I generally point them in the direction f the nearest shop and tell them the correct fare ad when the next bus is due. If I don’t catch them in time and they have already put the money in I have to politely inform them again that we don’t give change and that I have not got a key to the vault. If they still demand their change then, as there is nothing more that I can do, I advise them to write into our head office explaining what happened and request their change that way. To this day I have never actually had to say that. They normally stop when they realize they don’t have the right money.

2 Comments

Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI