Today a woman boarded with a collection of small kids and a buggy. Many of the little chavs were very young and ran off to the back of the bus. The woman asked for just a ticket for herself. I enquired as to the age of her gang and it transpired 3 of the 6 were of a chargeable fare. That pissed her off immediately - being unable to commit fraud.
Anyway, she paid and moved towards the buggy zone. Except she stopped by the luggage rack over the front left-side wheel and proceeded to lift her entire, unfolded buggy up and place it in the rack on its wheels. This was the first time in the many decades I've been driving buses that I've ever seen this happen.
"What are you doing!" I asked.
"Putting it up here out the way."
"You need to fold it if you want to put it there - what if it fell on a child as they were getting off?"
"Well the other driver said it would be OK".
Ah, that old chestnut; the OTHER DRIVER. This infamous character is the one who lets passengers do as they please. They let them get away with whatever they want yet curiously they cannot be described or named.
She even offered to lay it flat - but fully opened - on the luggage rack, wheels sticking into the aisle at the right height of an infant's head.
"I'm sorry, you either leave it open and leave it there (pointing at the empty buggy zone) or fold it up. It's just not safe to leave it there."
More tutting and huffing and she eventually left it in the buggy zone but buggered off down the back with her clan. To be fair to everyone else, if your sprog isn't sitting in the buggy, then it needs to be folded up.
As I got a couple of stops down the road, the entire buggy tipped back as the under-class mother hadn't distributed all the bags she had attached to it properly. I couldn't resist leaning round and saying to her, as she righted it, "Imagine if that was three feet in the air over the front wheel like you'd wanted at first."
She didn't respond.
Common Sense Solution: As unpopular as some rulings are to passengers, you have to enforce them. Drivers are not only paid a pittance to drive buses; they have to enforce and uphold company regulations and the law. Buggy owners are so selfish. Consistency needs to be maintained and 'the other driver' completely ignored as chances are he doesn't exist anyway. Also, the OAPs are on your side here too as they didn't have the luxury of super low floor buses when they were travelling with their kids.
Showing posts with label The Other Driver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Other Driver. Show all posts
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Just Desserts
We bus drivers can, occasionally, get our own back on certain passengers who have caused us grief over the past few weeks/months/years. They're tiny victories but victories nonetheless.
Today I got one over on a particularly miserable, rude and ignorant OAP. It was pissing down with rain in a Force 8 gale and she asked me to go slightly past the bus stop and drop her outside her house. I declined the 'offer'.
"Well that's funny, all the other drivers reckon to when it's raining!"
Not me, flower. Perhaps if you said 'thank you' occasionally when leaving my bus or greeted me with a smile from time to time, I'd be more obliging. As it is, you don't so I'm not.
Naturally I kept these thoughts to myself, but took great delight in seeing her become a drowned rat within seconds.
I know some of my colleagues wouldn't do it for anyone, so to suggest everyone else did it is rather disingenuous to say the least.
Common Sense Solution: Officially, bus companies would rather their drivers not 'ad lib' as it were, and stick rigidly to the stops. If one OAP sees this, you can be sure another on board will want the same treatment. Also, the first OAP could come to expect this 'personal' touch, which delays the service somewhat. The woman in today's tale of woe would have possibly expected me to drop her outside her door when it was a bit chilly outside next. As I've oft-lamented, CONSISTENCY is the order of the day.
Today I got one over on a particularly miserable, rude and ignorant OAP. It was pissing down with rain in a Force 8 gale and she asked me to go slightly past the bus stop and drop her outside her house. I declined the 'offer'.
"Well that's funny, all the other drivers reckon to when it's raining!"
Not me, flower. Perhaps if you said 'thank you' occasionally when leaving my bus or greeted me with a smile from time to time, I'd be more obliging. As it is, you don't so I'm not.
Naturally I kept these thoughts to myself, but took great delight in seeing her become a drowned rat within seconds.
I know some of my colleagues wouldn't do it for anyone, so to suggest everyone else did it is rather disingenuous to say the least.
Common Sense Solution: Officially, bus companies would rather their drivers not 'ad lib' as it were, and stick rigidly to the stops. If one OAP sees this, you can be sure another on board will want the same treatment. Also, the first OAP could come to expect this 'personal' touch, which delays the service somewhat. The woman in today's tale of woe would have possibly expected me to drop her outside her door when it was a bit chilly outside next. As I've oft-lamented, CONSISTENCY is the order of the day.
Friday, 16 September 2011
The Other Driver
This term is uttered almost weekly to bus drivers. It is usually announced by a passenger when they have been told they cannot get their own way. "Well the other driver lets me get off here" or "Well the other driver never has a problem with a £20 at 6am" or "Well the other driver always lets me get on in between stops."
Not dissimilar to rocking horse shit, The Other Driver does not exist.
I had an incident this morning in which The Other Driver managed to issue a ticket that it is impossible to do. A guy boarded in town and wanted to go 15 minutes to a suburb. The fare: £2.90.
"The other driver only charged me £1.90 on Monday," he said.
Oh did he now. We do not do a £1.90 fare and the ticket type this chap wanted cannot be overridden, either. Now, like all of us from time to time, he was simply mistaken, except this guy wasn't willing to accept this: "I think £2.90 is very expensive!" I replied, "Well that's the fare."
"Well how far will £1.90 get me?" About 2 stops within the town centre, was the reply.
The passenger coughed up the extortionate £2.90 and sat down. Calm then ruled supreme.
Common Sense Solution: You need to be firm. Tell the passenger if no such fare exists. Don't give in. Consistency is key. The Other Driver will be sure to get a mention, but remember that he or she is an illusive figure - a figment of their imagination, a justification of their verbal diarrhoea.
Not dissimilar to rocking horse shit, The Other Driver does not exist.
I had an incident this morning in which The Other Driver managed to issue a ticket that it is impossible to do. A guy boarded in town and wanted to go 15 minutes to a suburb. The fare: £2.90.
"The other driver only charged me £1.90 on Monday," he said.
Oh did he now. We do not do a £1.90 fare and the ticket type this chap wanted cannot be overridden, either. Now, like all of us from time to time, he was simply mistaken, except this guy wasn't willing to accept this: "I think £2.90 is very expensive!" I replied, "Well that's the fare."
"Well how far will £1.90 get me?" About 2 stops within the town centre, was the reply.
The passenger coughed up the extortionate £2.90 and sat down. Calm then ruled supreme.
Common Sense Solution: You need to be firm. Tell the passenger if no such fare exists. Don't give in. Consistency is key. The Other Driver will be sure to get a mention, but remember that he or she is an illusive figure - a figment of their imagination, a justification of their verbal diarrhoea.
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