I drive buses now

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beeb375
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I drive buses now

Post by beeb375 »

So, I'm a bus driver for Go North East now. Any questions you've ever wanted to ask about the job (or any sarcastic comments) are welcome!
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Pilot »

Why do I have to wait half an hour for you, then 3 of you come at once? :P
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beeb375
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by beeb375 »

Pilot wrote:Why do I have to wait half an hour for you, then 3 of you come at once? :P
Well, clockface timetables are all well and good on paper, but they often don't reflect reality particularly well... :P
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by PikkaBird »

Pilot wrote:Why do I have to wait half an hour for you, then 3 of you come at once? :P
Peak hour buses IRL tend to clump up, just like they do in OTTD: A late bus gets slower, because it's picking up additional passengers who were aiming to catch the next one. The next one runs faster, because there are now fewer passengers to pick up, and eventually catches up to the one in front.
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by beeb375 »

PikkaBird wrote:
Pilot wrote:Why do I have to wait half an hour for you, then 3 of you come at once? :P
Peak hour buses IRL tend to clump up, just like they do in OTTD: A late bus gets slower, because it's picking up additional passengers who were aiming to catch the next one. The next one runs faster, because there are now fewer passengers to pick up, and eventually catches up to the one in front.
Precisely. If it gets bad enough then the late one will transfer passengers to the one behind and then run empty back to a certain point to get back on track
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Kevo00 »

How do you remember all the roads you are meant to go down - and have you ever made a wrong turn?
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by beeb375 »

Kevo00 wrote:How do you remember all the roads you are meant to go down - and have you ever made a wrong turn?
Ah yes, well you get some time with a mentor to learn the route, and I guess it all depends on people's individual learning styles but I eventually drew the route out on a custom Google Map which helped me to visualise the next turns as I was going along.

I attempted a couple of wrong turns while with the mentor, and took the 88 route on an 88A service in my first week, but I was informed of my error exceedingly quickly by a passenger and managed to spin it round at a roundabout :P No other mishaps since!
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by JamieLei »

Do you shake your fist at rival bus companies?
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by beeb375 »

JamieLei wrote:Do you shake your fist at rival bus companies?
No, the polite wave is near-universal!
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Pyoro »

I could see myself driving a bus, but I suspect pesky passengers would take the fun out of it for me. How is it really? Do you have secret fantasies of driving your unsuspecting passengers to the nearest meat processing factory run by the Russian mafia?
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Gwyd »

Most of the bus drivers down South London are... Not exactly helpful. I visited North London today, and the drivers were much nicer. That said, they were probably the only nicer thing about that area.
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Re: I drive buses now

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Pyoro wrote:I could see myself driving a bus, but I suspect pesky passengers would take the fun out of it for me. How is it really? Do you have secret fantasies of driving your unsuspecting passengers to the nearest meat processing factory run by the Russian mafia?
So far there's not been any bother really, but I think it depends on the route. Obviously sometimes you'll get people who are argumentative or drunk, but to be honest I think the most trouble would come on the commuter routes with people who need to get to work during delays or bad traffic and expect a higher standard of service. At the moment I'm mostly taking old folks to the supermarket rather than doing the commuter stuff in the city centre.
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Drury »

Pyoro wrote:I could see myself driving a bus, but I suspect pesky passengers would take the fun out of it for me. How is it really? Do you have secret fantasies of driving your unsuspecting passengers to the nearest meat processing factory run by the Russian mafia?
I must say GTA 2 references were the last thing I expected out of this thread.
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Pyoro »

Drury wrote:I must say GTA 2 references were the last thing I expected out of this thread.
GTA2 is practically a bus-driving documentary. I'm sure this sort of thing happens every day somewhere in the world.
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Doorslammer »

I remember when it was Busways, Go-Ahead Northern, Northumbrian plus 40 dozen god knows what other companies around. Doesn't seem to have the same amount of variation anymore.
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by acs121 »

Well same thing, i drive buses from Paris to Saint-Fargeau (south of Auxerre).
The route takes 2h30 !
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Emperor Jake »

Kevo00 wrote:How do you remember all the roads you are meant to go down - and have you ever made a wrong turn?
I used to live on the end of a street where the bus was supposed to turn off before it passed my house. Occasionally a bus would pass my house in the late evening when it missed the turn because it was dark. I've also been on a late bus that missed a different turn, he had to turn around awkwardly to get me home.
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by Kevo00 »

Doorslammer wrote:I remember when it was Busways, Go-Ahead Northern, Northumbrian plus 40 dozen god knows what other companies around. Doesn't seem to have the same amount of variation anymore.
Ah, the old bus wars of the late 1980s early 1990s!
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by beeb375 »

From sign on to sign off is anything from 6 to 11 hours, but generally I don't get too tired. Less boring than the old office job anyway
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Re: I drive buses now

Post by JamieLei »

- What's it like driving a night bus?
- Do you ever get tired of passengers outside of London saying thank you?
- What's your worst customer of the last week?
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