Comments on: Bus Driver Appreciation Week

By: kare11.com | Twin Cities, MN | Eagan bus driver crashes, arrested for DWI | Perpetual Paradise

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:46:19 +0000

[...] Bus Driver Appreciation Week (seattletransitblog.com) [...]

By: Eric

Eric — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:41:51 +0000

Thank you to all the friendly bus (and rail!) drivers who get me where I need to go! Whenever I say “thanks” as I tap my ORCA and hop off, please know I mean it sincerely.

By: Mark Dublin

Mark Dublin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:10:12 +0000

You’d do just fine on the Route 7, Martin. Those big sixty-foot Breda trolleybuses really are a lot of fun to drive. They were miserably underpowered in diesel when we used them for the dual-power Tunnel work, but they’ve got a good electric package.

Trolleydriving is a classic skill, sort of like those guys at crafts fairs spinning copper candlesticks on a foot-pedal lathe. Takes about a year full-time ’til you really get it down. Everybody gets stuck on a “dead spot” at least once. Same with turning onto a street with no wire. And trying to pass another trolleybus with the poles of both buses on the same wire.

Too bad they don’t include trolleybuses in “Bus Rodeos”- getting those poles back on the line is like some of those cowboy tricks- especially when the rope has wound itself around a signpost on the way down.

Actually, that doesn’t happen so much with the new “retriever” mechanism. You’re also not so likely to get put on State Industrial from a spring triggering at the wrong time.

You wouldn’t have any trouble with passengers, since you seem to be a pretty easygoing guy. I know you get worse abuse directed at you online every day- and do ok making sure your readers don’t have to put up with it- without getting rattled yourself.

Since you’re trained in communications, and have good observation skills, you’ll learn quickly how to make police appear without anybody seeing you reach for the handset- before the perpetrators even get going on what they’ve been thinking about.

Reason you should avoid this work: you’ve got a young family. Part-time maybe- though it might mean getting up at 3AM for a couple of hours’ work per day. But full-time is a hardship on normal people. HR used to have a test to weed these out- but if vigilance slips, results could be tragic.

As for the old Driver Appreciation ceremonies- regret youthful cynicism about them twenty years ago- lightening up never hurt anybody. But a lot of us would have, and still would, much appreciate receiving the appreciation shown by being seriously included in the long-term and day-to-day operations planning of our transit system.

Driver safety warning, however: may more drivers are injured by habitual ingestion of the cookies in the picture and the entire cuisine they represent than by berserk passengers. ATU Local 587 should insist on being appreciated with salads in future.

Mark Dublin

By: gwen c.

gwen c. — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:27:35 +0000

In NYC, they’re pleasantly surprised. In Boston, they’re scared you’re about to hand them something preachy.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 04:59:13 +0000

Ah, I haven’t seen them myself, but this is where I heard of it from: http://forum.chicagobus.org/topic/861-protective-sheilding-for-the-operators/?s=dab0421ba3af6edf98c8bdd88756fc6e

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:14:34 +0000

Thanks to all the drivers reading this!

By: Joshua Kelley

Joshua Kelley — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:05:49 +0000

Starbucks gift card is what I did last March. Bought about 5 of them with $10 on each. They were all pleasantly surprised.

By: Jason Mitchell

Jason Mitchell — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:45:23 +0000

It’s been a couple of years since I rode a CTA bus on a regular basis, but there weren’t any back then, or on the couple-few of buses I’ve ridden when visiting in the last 18 months or so. Guess they could be phasing them in slowly or something, altho a quick google just now came up empty.

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:43:13 +0000

So bring something sealed!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:40:46 +0000

Many thanks to all the drivers out there – I’m deeply grateful for the helpful service you all provide.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:38:58 +0000

Didn’t the CTA put up intrusive driver protectors to discourage any rider/driver interaction?

By: Jessica Clark

Jessica Clark — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:33:11 +0000

An honest thank-you to all operators; especially when the lift starts acting up or the wheelchair restraints don’t want to budge, yet you still keep your cool.

By: Michael Arnold

Michael Arnold — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:24:14 +0000

Agreed, I don’t see this courtesy anywhere else in the country. In fact, drivers and riders are downright rude to each other in most cities I’ve been too. Seattle at least has some form of common courtesy.

By: Jason Mitchell

Jason Mitchell — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:01:06 +0000

Having moved here from big cities back east, I find this practice to be one of the more oddly charming aspects of daily life in Seattle. Try thanking a bus driver in Chicago and you will get a strange look—if you get any response at all. The mutual cordiality, even downright kindness, between (most) bus operators and (most) passengers here is something I didn’t think existed anymore.

By: Sherwin Lee

Sherwin Lee — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:26:15 +0000

I make sure to thank the driver every time I exit the bus (at least when I go out through the front). I find it distasteful for riders to scurry off the bus without saying a word or acknowledgement to the driver.

By: Erik G.

Erik G. — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:14:17 +0000

Deutsche Marks or Dollars, American Express will do nicely thank you!

(No, I am not calling the KCMetro Coach Operators whores!)

By: joshuadf

joshuadf — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:44:04 +0000

You can give train operators a friendly smile and wave as they pull into the station!

By: Galen Weld

Galen Weld — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 23:36:53 +0000

Thanks to all the great drivers out there, you’re doing a wonderful job!

By: Melanie

Melanie — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:23:14 +0000

Yay drivers!

Thank you for navigating traffic all day to take us riders where we need to go. Thanks for dealing with all the customers, including the weird ones, the tourists needing directions, and the commuters in a hurry. Thanks for being fast, efficient, and friendly.

Without bus drivers, I couldn’t get around. Thanks!

By: Casey

Casey — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:16:55 +0000

You’re welcome. I’ve been driving the 15/18 for a few years now, a couple days a week and I do everything discribed above. Unless ofcourse I’m running early (Then you have to drag your feet.)
I’ve been working nights lately, out until around midnight, but I switched back to days 2 weeks ago. I forgot how much I hated Market St on the 18 during the day on weekends. Takes atleast one or two light cycles to turn onto Market from Leary, and a couple more just to get to 24th.

Thanks for everyone’s appreciation. Wish everyone felt that way about us.