The Late Ring

I approach a stop that I sometimes pass up without a ring or without anyone standing on the curb. Still no chime or no dash light. I coast without accelerating. I make the decision to stay in the traffic lane and pass the point of pulling to the right to bring the door to the curb. I pass the bus stop. “Wait, wait! I pulled the cord!” Most times, I can flag stop the coach and let them off. But at other times, I must continue forward to the next safe space. This does not always go over well. Anger arises because I pass by a stop. And I have come to use my intuition to know when this is likely to happen. Sure enough, I can stop without a ring at a baby stop and see someone exit the back door without a ring. Indeed, operators with years of experience do develop extra sensory perception.

And after trial and error of being told about our mother or our birthright, we adapt our sixth sense as to when and where we will need to stop without a request. Greenwich on Van Ness, Kansas or Hermann on the 22 line, and 29th Street on the 49. The list goes on.

There are glitches within the DVAS and GPS which cause just enough of a delay in ringing a stop that I have learned where these are, have slowed accordingly and have called out a stop just to make sure. Even then, I still must find the closest safe place to come to rest and let someone out. I have learned it is easier to just let them off as soon as possible rather than go to the next stop. As a line trainer, I let my student know where these places and stops are, so they don’t have to go through a painful learning curve. As with many things, the devil is in the details.

When the doors close, and the bus begins moving, this is an okay time for a passenger to pull the chord for the next stop. Or at least a block and a half away from the next zone. If we are making a turn, you have to understand that our eyes are focusing on pedestrian threats and traffic, not on the overhead stop request display. If no chime sounds, please be aware of this. Most conflict arises from the assumption that the chime sounded when it did not. As operators, we note where this happens frequently, and stop and open the door automatically. If we don’t, then sure enough, the battle cry comes forth from the back door. This is how you, the passengers, can train us, the bus drivers.

We, too, can train you to ring at the correct moment; otherwise, you get dinged by having to walk back to the previous stop. Ringing late for Broadway and Steiner means you are going to Vallejo. To those reading these words on a flat sheet (such as a map), you may not realize the hill involved between these two stops. If, for example, you want Nob Hill on the 1 Line inbound, and you don’t get off at Taylor, you are in for a rude awakening for the Fairmont on Mason. The uphill grade is the maximum allowed before a street becomes a staircase!

Truck drivers unfamiliar with the streets of San Francisco find out about our grade changes the hard way, as do tour bus drivers. A large tow truck must be employed to get the vehicle clear from a cross street scrapping whereby the long, seven-ton vehicle or trailer must be removed from the wedge created by a flat street crossing on a steep grade. I hope the Union 76 Truck Stop outside of Sacramento has a grade map near the break room for drivers heading into town from the Midwest.

New riders can always be found out by the way they depart. They are the culprits of the late ring or of no ring at all. “I rang the bell!” Sitting on the back bench, they wait until the bus has come to a complete stop before they get up from their seat. They try to make their way through the aisle to the back door. By then, the regulars have stepped down to activate the doors and are long gone. As the doors begin to shut, they step down after the doors close, and I am ready to leave the zone. I know where these late- bloomers lie, so I have learned to look at the back door one last time to see if some person or group is holding us up.

Sure enough, the “late-ring-crowd” finally makes it down the steps. When I am training a new operator, my extra set of eyes can help the student be alert to when and where this happens. It always comes at the worst times—when we are late and without a leader. Often, we get behind the wheel to move up our coach into a better headway. God, please help this book find itself into the hands of a late ringer. Keep the Zen!