Ok so with my ramblings and things keeping the blog posts moving I have decided to make a whole page dedicated to “Ask The Driver”
Please feel free to add a comment here and I will try to answer it as best I can.
If you feel so inclined you can e-mail TWMDriver@gmail.com with your question.
And finally you can send me your question via twitter. Please can you put #askthedriver in there somewhere so I can pull them out quickly, thanks.
Each week (hopefully on a Saturday) I will do my best to answer your questions. If i cannot then I will say so. Please if you send me a question and I dont answer it let me know and I will look for it.
Week One, Week Two, Week Three, Week Four, Week Five, Week Six, Week Seven, Week Eight, Week Nine, Week Ten, Week Eleven, Week Twelve, Week Thirteen, Week Fourteen, Week Fifteen, Week Sixteen, Week Seventeen, Week Eighteen, Week Nineteen, Week Twenty, Week Twenty One, Week Twenty Two, Week Twenty Three
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Hi there, you sound like a really nice driver so I hope you won’t mind my question. I take the 50 a lot and the drivers used to be really friendly. However, during the last year I’ve been made to feel as though I’m spoiling their day by getting on the bus! If I try to say hello, I generally get glared at or ignored. I know it’s not the nicest job at times, but I’ve had my share of lousy jobs and never took a bad day out on a customer!
Great blog!
[…] Ask The Driver […]
Great blog! The Ask The Driver section is inspired (can you check the link to past weeks when you get a minute as not all of the archived questions seem to be there? But then it might just be the view from my mac…)
I especially like that you like passengers to say thank you. I used to say it as a matter of course but now only say it when I really mean it as, unfortunately not all bus drivers seem to be able to drive.
My question is, how do you rate TWM’s Safer Travel initiative? Like other readers I’m bothered about how safe it is to travel on buses both as a user of public transport (which marks me out as a freak of nature to petrolhead colleagues) and for work. If the bus routes that serve the areas I’m trying to help regenerate aren’t regarded as being safe then that has all kinds of obvious knock-on effects.
Cheers
regengirl: thanks for your comment i will try and answer the question this week. Please check the links now they should be working
Thanks for checking the links – great reads.
If it’s not too cheeky I have another couple of questions:
– why is it a bigger crime for a bus to run early than to run late (my husband saw a sign to this effect in one of B’ham’s bus garages when he went to collect his lost wallet)?
– how does the real time passenger information thing (not) work?
Cheers
Loving your blog. My questions may have been half answered before, but:
‘How do you deal with boredom, as surely 8 hours of driving a day must take it’s toll on you.’ And;
‘What made you want to be a bus driver?’
Not sure if you can answer this one if you don’t drive the route, or even if you do, but why is the Number 50 route so frequent compared to other routes? Is it because there are no city-bound train stations around? Or is it just a historical quirk?
Obviously I like it this way but when I have to get another bus on a similar route, like a 61/2/3 or 33/4, I do wonder as I stand there for what seems like hours.
Where do busmen go for their holidays then?
Every morning I get the 103 and frequently after a wait the 7.15 and the 7.25 both generally turn up together at 7.30 ish. As the buses have only just left their first terminus, one is running very late so the other always stops at the Bull Ring for 10 mins to let the other bus get ahead. My question is why do the drivers not tell their passengers whether or not they are on the bus which is going to be stopping at the Bull Ring for 10 mins especially as the buses were late to begin with! I always ask the bus driver and generally get a shrug back. There is nothing worse than seeing the other 103 leave the Bull Ring and realising I am going to be late for work again!
Nat I have sent you an e-mail with details on it. Any more problems please feel free to contact me again and I will point you in the right direction to sort the problem out
Hi, the blog is a great read, keep the work up. I have a question hopefully you can clear up for me.
Up until a few months ago, on the buses with the digital destination board, the number used to be on the left hand side, with the destinations to the left of it. It suddenly changed overnight to the number being on the right hand side of the display.
Any ideas why? I assumed it was probably to make it easier for people at the bus stop to see the number (seeing as its now on the side of the bus closest to the footpath). Would be great if you could clear it up for us – it’s been bugging me for a while. Haha.