Insider look at life as a city bus driver?
January 17, 2012 6:23 PM Subscribe
I am writing a fictional work in which there is a character who is a city bus driver. Can anyone shed some light on the details of this type of work that I wouldn't know from just being a bus passenger? What's it really like? Thanks.
One of the least pleasant aspects of the job is the pressure to deal with fare-beaters. Some municipal systems set a minimum expectation: e.g., when somebody doesn't pay, you have to at least say 'the fare is 2.25'. This has been a significant issue in labor relations.
That leads to other customer issues. What do you do with a raving drunk? A bully who is threatening other riders? Are you supposed to be a cop? An enforcer of morality? These questions come up frequently.
All transportation systems have their staffing arcania. Like railroads, bus systems often have an 'extra list,' which is a defined job position in itself, imposed (or claimed) via seniority. If you're assigned to the list, you are on call to cover the absences that occur every shift. It's rarely completely random -- you can foresee more or less when you're going to be called. Some drivers hate the list, but others like it. They exercise their seniority to avoid it or work it, as the case may be.
posted by LonnieK at 6:37 PM on January 17, 2012
That leads to other customer issues. What do you do with a raving drunk? A bully who is threatening other riders? Are you supposed to be a cop? An enforcer of morality? These questions come up frequently.
All transportation systems have their staffing arcania. Like railroads, bus systems often have an 'extra list,' which is a defined job position in itself, imposed (or claimed) via seniority. If you're assigned to the list, you are on call to cover the absences that occur every shift. It's rarely completely random -- you can foresee more or less when you're going to be called. Some drivers hate the list, but others like it. They exercise their seniority to avoid it or work it, as the case may be.
posted by LonnieK at 6:37 PM on January 17, 2012
The blog Picking Up Strangers is exactly what you're looking for, written by a Minneapolis bus driver.
posted by castlebravo at 6:40 PM on January 17, 2012
posted by castlebravo at 6:40 PM on January 17, 2012
It's doesn't look as though it's updated any longer, but Picking Up Strangers is written by a female bus driver in Minneapolis, and the archives are all still available. She focuses heavily on the good and the bad (mostly bad) of passenger relations.
posted by anderjen at 6:41 PM on January 17, 2012
posted by anderjen at 6:41 PM on January 17, 2012
I tried Googling bus driver blog and got some promising results, including the "Picking Up Strangers" site mentioned above, plus several others.
posted by amtho at 6:55 PM on January 17, 2012
posted by amtho at 6:55 PM on January 17, 2012
Another unpleasant aspect of being a bus driver is when people throw up on your bus. In driver vernacular this is called a 'hot lunch'. Come to think of it that might be a promising search string. Try -- 'Bus driver vernacular'.
posted by Muirwylde at 6:55 PM on January 17, 2012
posted by Muirwylde at 6:55 PM on January 17, 2012
A entry from September on Picking Up Strangers (which is an awesome read even a few posts in):
HERE I AM !!posted by june made him a gemini at 7:06 PM on January 17, 2012
Sorry if you thought I'd forgotten you!! I'm just having a hard time putting together my book. Every blog I post is one less for the book. I decided I've neglected you all far too long, so I'm gonna post a couple blogs for you. The book will get there eventually!! I'm doing laundry and other stuff in between...but they're on the way! Today....soon! I promise!
Thanks for your patience!
Based on briefly living with a CTA (Chicago) driver,
- drivers are required to arrive at certain stops at certain times. Compliance is enforced by random spot checks at particular stops (a supervisor will sit there and log every arrival) and increasingly by tracking devices on the vehicles themselves. Drivers have a system of hand signals for telling each other about the spot checks as they pass on the road.
- drivers are nominally held responsible for inspecting their vehicles before taking them out of the garage; in practice, these inspections are either pro forma (usually) or extremely meticulous (as a form of disobedience during negotiations).
- at least some drivers are dissatisfied with their union and, last I heard about this a year ago, trying to organize something else, possibly with some cooperation with the Chicago teachers' union.
posted by d. z. wang at 8:10 PM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
- drivers are required to arrive at certain stops at certain times. Compliance is enforced by random spot checks at particular stops (a supervisor will sit there and log every arrival) and increasingly by tracking devices on the vehicles themselves. Drivers have a system of hand signals for telling each other about the spot checks as they pass on the road.
- drivers are nominally held responsible for inspecting their vehicles before taking them out of the garage; in practice, these inspections are either pro forma (usually) or extremely meticulous (as a form of disobedience during negotiations).
- at least some drivers are dissatisfied with their union and, last I heard about this a year ago, trying to organize something else, possibly with some cooperation with the Chicago teachers' union.
posted by d. z. wang at 8:10 PM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
Mother of a city bus driver. Our daughter has been driving buses for 6 years. She started as a sophomore at the Univ. of Iowa (Cambus) and now drives for a city bus company. Some stories I have heard:
- Cambus goes around after the bars close and picks up students. They have a puke bucket on board, just in case.
- Rabid football students of an opposing team surrounded my daughter's bus and would not move until police were called.
- Her bus was shot at (with a gun) on a city bus route on a Saturday night. She called it in and the SWAT team was called out (arrived too late to do anything).
- Drivers get into less trouble for being late than being early (a big no-no). All the buses she has driven (3 different systems now) have been equipped with GPS and the supervisors can tell if a driver is early or late. Some systems have checkpoints that are fixed, so if you see a line of buses stopped for no apparent reason, it may be because there is a checkpoint coming up and they are early.
- Drivers don't have to be given more than 8 hours between the end of one shift and the start of another. Truck drivers have more mandated down time than bus drivers.
- Finding a bathroom can be a problem, especially for female drivers. Male drivers often pee out the back (side) doors.
- Drivers are not allowed to put off drunk passengers or unruly passengers, without supervisor permission. Supervisors can be hard to find late at night or on weekends.
- Drivers are not supposed to eat while driving, but some (not my daughter!) have been known to drive with their elbows while eating a hamburger.
- Drivers have to deal with a lot - traffic, passengers, fare, supervisors - all at once.
- Other drivers generally do not like being stuck behind a bus and will do lots of stupid things to pass a bus. Bus drivers know this and will generally move over, IF THEY CAN.
- Drivers call bus drivers who yell at passengers over a missing penny in fare "fare Nazis."
- Drivers are not bartenders and do not want to hear your life story (probably bartenders don't either).
Memail me if you have questions.
posted by daneflute at 8:34 PM on January 17, 2012 [4 favorites]
- Cambus goes around after the bars close and picks up students. They have a puke bucket on board, just in case.
- Rabid football students of an opposing team surrounded my daughter's bus and would not move until police were called.
- Her bus was shot at (with a gun) on a city bus route on a Saturday night. She called it in and the SWAT team was called out (arrived too late to do anything).
- Drivers get into less trouble for being late than being early (a big no-no). All the buses she has driven (3 different systems now) have been equipped with GPS and the supervisors can tell if a driver is early or late. Some systems have checkpoints that are fixed, so if you see a line of buses stopped for no apparent reason, it may be because there is a checkpoint coming up and they are early.
- Drivers don't have to be given more than 8 hours between the end of one shift and the start of another. Truck drivers have more mandated down time than bus drivers.
- Finding a bathroom can be a problem, especially for female drivers. Male drivers often pee out the back (side) doors.
- Drivers are not allowed to put off drunk passengers or unruly passengers, without supervisor permission. Supervisors can be hard to find late at night or on weekends.
- Drivers are not supposed to eat while driving, but some (not my daughter!) have been known to drive with their elbows while eating a hamburger.
- Drivers have to deal with a lot - traffic, passengers, fare, supervisors - all at once.
- Other drivers generally do not like being stuck behind a bus and will do lots of stupid things to pass a bus. Bus drivers know this and will generally move over, IF THEY CAN.
- Drivers call bus drivers who yell at passengers over a missing penny in fare "fare Nazis."
- Drivers are not bartenders and do not want to hear your life story (probably bartenders don't either).
Memail me if you have questions.
posted by daneflute at 8:34 PM on January 17, 2012 [4 favorites]
I recall a story on Transom.org about a bus-driving father who sent his college-attending daughter 1000 postcards. I think he wrote one a day, using the time he was sitting at red lights. It's a short piece, so you might give it a listen.
posted by blueberry at 9:17 PM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by blueberry at 9:17 PM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]
from reddit iama (fwiw):
a happy bus driver
request: bus driver
school bus driver
king county metro, seattle bus driver
There are a lot more, but that should get you started.
posted by whatzit at 2:53 AM on January 18, 2012
a happy bus driver
request: bus driver
school bus driver
king county metro, seattle bus driver
There are a lot more, but that should get you started.
posted by whatzit at 2:53 AM on January 18, 2012
An angle that may not be all that common, but another perspective: A couple of years ago it came out that the highest-paid employee of the City of Madison, WI was a bus driver with a lot of seniority, who snagged up most of the overtime -- to the tune of $160K, or 3 times his salary. After that embarassment, the contract was changed.
posted by dhartung at 3:50 PM on January 18, 2012
posted by dhartung at 3:50 PM on January 18, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by looli at 6:31 PM on January 17, 2012