I hear this phrase a-lot in training or safety meetings. Passengers also use it from time to time when asking for a transfer if clipper tag-in warnings go off when entering the bus. The start of 2017 has the second Friday showing a full round moon and is dated Friday the thirteenth. I write this …
Author Archives: driverdoug2002
Night Park
When we bring our coach to rest in the yard, we are to log off on our radio and secure our coach. It’s interesting how sloppy we can get in doing this after a long day. I pulled-in last night with rain in the forecast and did not see the tale tell parking lights on …
Leading Green
The Hampton Roads area by the Chesapeake Bay has a nice sign under its signals. The sign below an overhead signal is marked Leading Green, or Delayed Green. This signals to motorists who gets to turn first or last at a major intersection of four lanes or more, and with a four or six way …
The Weird Curve
Duboce is not exactly in line with Division, which is not exactly perpendicular to Divisadero, which zigs to become Castro right where Duboce crosses. Is Mission one block away from Market? Of course it is, when we don’t count Minna or Stevenson. Wait, you mean Valencia, don’t you? Valencia is 15 blocks long and ends …
The Complaint Department
Is closed. Or so I was told every time I entered the tower at Potrero by the lead shop man whenever I had to pull-in. Perhaps this message stemmed from the incident with the dirty filter I had on my bus when I pulled in one night. The clasp holding the grille that protects the …
Tagging the Coach
I came back from the bathroom at City College, and saw a young man running away from the front of my bus. He still had an aerosol paint can in his hand as he ran. I knew I had less than 15 seconds to capture the image. I ran to the front door, pried it …
Bikes Pass on the Left
One great billboard on the back of some buses is the illustration showing a bus turned-in at a bus stop with a cyclist behind the bus moving to the left to pass the bus. What a great illustration for a cyclist to see traveling behind a stopped city bus! This message has helped countless times …
Bus Bunching
When a delay occurs on the line, and buses get bunched together, it is important to understand that how the bigger queues of people waiting at a stop can influence whether this delay get worse or better. Wise are the riders on the Geary, Mission, and California lines who know on a regular basis, that …
Retarder Control
One aspect of driving a large vehicle is the larger number of lights and controls on the dash. In a tour bus there is sometimes a retarder control joystick that assists braking. On a city transit bus, the retarder control is built into the service brake. We transit operators can see a retarder light …
Use a Black Pen
Describe something you learned in high school. I learned not to use a different colored pencil when filling out an alcohol drug survey in math class. Ms. All-rabid started failing me on quizzes when she realized what I had done wrong by drinking beer and smoking pot and cigarettes several times a week-according to my …
The Dao of Doug: A Bus Driver's Perspective 