Is it safe to retire? Can I enjoy being passing my primary Journey of Purpose of the last 22 years as a bus driver? Only I hold the key to my trolleybus of Happy Destiny. Indeed, we each hold our own keys. Back in the day around the new century, I was a newly minted bus driver, full of a new promising career.

Something just doesn’t seem the same since the crackup tech boom, commonly referred to by San Franciscans as “The Dot-com-Bomb.” in late 1999 into 2000. This was jokingly overlaid with a meaningless headline of the Millennial Crisis where the notion was that computers would fail once the “odometer” rolled over to a new century in 2001, but in an incongruent thought memory complex– would happen in 2000.

Here we see with this graph above, shown on Steve Van Metre’s popular “Bond King” YouTube channel, with Dr. Lacy Hunt at Himco, the possible mathematical view of why we don’t seem to be as confident about jobs or productivity in the US.

Jerome Powell’s desire for a moderate inflation rate target of two (point two) percent is very easy to come by when viewing this chart. GDP for the US historically tracked a growth rate of 2.2 percent for many decades, and with inflation below this amount, things seemed fine. My personal reason is due to the five-to-one ratio of finance lobbyists to congressmen, and the fact that few graduates study engineering or shop related manufacturing and building trades for the golden calf of Wall Street salaries.

In this chart above, you can see the black line dip created by the GFC, the Global Financial Crisis. Things really haven’t been the same since, and the opportunity to make banks accountable was missed during the Obama presidency–the “Too Big to Fail CEO’s” as seen below.

They say one picture is worth one thousand words. How about this next one?

Do I really need to say anything else? The failure of these three Kings, to do their job, is now falling upon us soon. I do appreciated Ben’s recent honesty about what he was thinking during his tenure, but rather than tear down all their experience and knowledge at a public stoning arena, can we get back to an honest reset, perhaps with all the money that created the loss of our dollar as a world US reserve currency started in the mid-two thousands? We need to get honest real fast, or I am concerned our standard of living will collapse.

Kudos to Janet Yellen by trying to do her best. And I do think Jerome Powell may still go down in history as the best Fed Chief ever, for his miracle in keeping the glue together with what he inherited. He is a true genius with his ability to guide the nation in his calm manner of newspeak. So far so good.

We need do nothing. Our spiritual leaders quietly tell us we need to be gentle and helpful to all we meet in our daily path.

It looks like the world will bring us back to a gold pegged currency in the Yuan or Renimbi, and with the BRICS nations agreements of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the US will no longer be in charge of all trade. Indeed, Saudia Arabia and Iran lead the way to end the petrodollar.

Hopefully all the leveraged default, all CDO’s LBO’s EFT’s and futures trading on metals will be stopped. The original Glass-Steagall laws need be reinstated.

Unfortunately, Colonel Douglas MacGregor’s view is sobering: The only way he sees American’s standing up the the system is by collapse and a storming of the Bastille, so to speak. Watch this shocking video.

Were the Trumpster’s that far apart on January 6?

Now is a good time to look at our ancestral line, or take a look at life with a wide-angle lens, juiced up with the buzz of strong new energy. My personal drug has been that of anticipation, and staying in my head in trying to get answers found in my heart. Striking beauty and masculine energy can be found at the end of the wick of a Roman candle or in the launch tube of a firework ready to be lit. Beauty on a budget with entourage energy can be found on the dance floor or on a surfboard, depending on how deep the water is! But be careful if you’re riding a trolley number 22 Fillmore at Harrison and 16th street because you may be shocked at the result of stepping down into a puddle, or river, such as the remnant of Mission Creek, which used to flow along Harrison below the dip from Bryant Street!

I find it interesting that San Franciscans are surfing the streets in tow as the river of water is jetting all the way from Hawaii to San Francisco. Like everything we focus on, the water can be a huge blessing for all of Nevada and California on the grand scheme of the year of snowpack in the Sierras, but at the same time, can be a pain in the ass in rushing to fill sandbags which are no longer available at the store because they’re all sold out!

A weird angle to Mercury and Mars, along with Jupiter’s expansive energy into Aries from Pisces means I have to be careful to appear obnoxious when contrasting the overbearing with the forced relationships as opposed to the entry of the new and exciting relations coming to us in the new year.

In looking towards a new material goal or personal care change, am I looking at this all alone? Success is so much more possible when working with others–getting help and feedback from others who may have more experience than myself.

Abundance and security come from knowing our margins. And to keep to myself from exaggerating or bragging, and to just keep good stuff to myself and to be okay with that.

I’m excited that my life is still full-on with new lessons and increased skills–realizing that becoming an old dog doesn’t mean I can’t learn new tricks. I see how patience can pay handsome dividends if I don’t demand an instant gratification of the greatest version of the grandest vision I choose to be. I’m actually quoting God here, or if you like, Neale Donald Walsh, as he would transcribe the messages he received from God starting on one cold February morning. Waiting for the right time to ask for help is a big new lesson for me.

I decided to pick up and move from San Francisco to Honolulu and take in some local motion and local sunshine out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and it has definitely been an adventure. I’m amused at how convenient a hang loose shakka comes in handy in traffic as a pedestrian or cyclist, and when locals ask me blankly about what a duvet cover is. It’s so warm here, there isn’t a need for heavy blankets and comforters, and oddly, a large selected of used jeans–in the local Savers mart. Mainlanders donate their heavy clothing they bring with them when they move. So if I ever go back. . .

Indeed, the first thing I learned about moving to Hawaii is to come with nothing. This makes the move so much easier on the head and hand–not to mention–the pocketbook. It’s amazing how few threads are needed in a tropical environment. I was glad to find board shorts in my size a block away from where I lived at the Goodwill store at Post and Fillmore, as someone must have moved from Hawaii and donated all their surf wear they wouldn’t need at mid-temperate Northern California. There were little clues like this littered all over my day-to-day doings that subtly pointed to a way of life to move to the most remote island chain in the world. My first decision to move was on October 15, 2019, and I never looked back.

The key lessons I’ve learned are about Oahu, the most populous island in the chain, with the large city of Honolulu on the south shore of this mid-sized island–is that the air quality below the freeway close to heavily trafficked arterials has an air quality similar to that of San Francisco. There are periods of up to three days after a rain when you can leave your windows open and smell the sweet clean breeze–but more often than not–the white glove test fails in-and-around Waikiki. Leaving windows open for a week means a heavy duty dusting with liquid cleaner and paper towels is in order to keep the window tracks and sashes clean. Add to that the occasional volcanic ash and dust, or vog, and you see that hay fever is quickly replaced by a sneeze and congestion due to the god of Pele, or rather Pele’s hair.

Another similarity is in being aware when crossing the street as a pedestrian. In this, Waikiki is no different than the streets of San Francisco. Motorists run through stop signs and red lights as they are glued to their phones. Cars whiz by on narrow streets with narrow sidewalks, and the Ala Wai Blvd., upon which I have settled, usually has two or three injury accidents per week, as judged by the police cars which regularly dot the first lane on the residence side of the canal.

One big plus about living on the canal is the internet speed! If you choose to live in a building with less than ten stories, where you live in relation to the relay towers, becomes extremely important if you want to post YouTube videos and large word processing files. Fortunately, I moved away from the Trump tower and Embassy Suites to the canal across from the golf course, so I have an unimpeded line-of-site from the towers on a building across from the canal which gives me great speeds of over 300mbps! On Beachwalk, I was lucky to get anything over 21 mbps! Tip: live close the canal and you get fast internet and lower rents. These buildings have stood since the 1960’s and command a lower rent. The closer you get to the ocean, the more expensive it gets–mainly because the property there is so much more valuable–buildings get demolished and rebuilt after less than thirty years.

Which brings us to the next disclaimer as it were. One hundred and fifty two high rises in Waikiki over ten stories tall are going to need sprinkler systems and upgrades to fire suppression. Unlike the historical awareness of fire suppression in a city of earthquakes along a fault line, builders here have no such need. A new law which goes into effect in 2023, mandates all high-rises above ten stories, must have a modernized fire system. This means caveat emptor when looking to purchase a condo. HOA dues can be increased dramatically at any time. The notion that locking in a mortgage rate means very little when maintenance for pipes and elevators need be refinanced.

To be sure, my perspective is one of a single person, or younger man, not encumbered with a car or a family, and this makes for a simple life plan in being nimble as a renter. Many who need cars do well to stay away from Waikiki and move uphill by the mountains, on the other side of the freeway, where the air is clear year round, and theft is much lower. Waikiki has similar problems with the homeless as with San Francisco, but unlike SF, the police have maintained a stronger presence to keep panhandling to a minimum, and prevent encampments within the city. Kamuki and the Manoa campus are great neighborhoods close-in if you have a scooter or car.

The bus system here is fantastic. I never thought I would “die” and go to bus driver “heaven,” but I found it! The frequency of buses is just as good, if not better than San Fran, and the riders pay their fare and our respectful. I never thought I would find a number one bus system in the US in the middle of an ocean!

I still update and maintain my Dao of Doug series with new Balboa Press editions coming soon:

Who do I envy? I’m green with envy for people living in San Francisco in a rent-controlled apartment. I gave up my rent-controlled apartment by Japantown and the Kabuki, of twenty-two years, to move away from the city. This was in February of 2021, about one year into the pandemic. The ability to go to my pool across the street, which was closed indefinitely in October of 2020– looked like what might have been a “reopening for good” in the summer of 2020–was taken away. I was able to work out at the gym if I had a personal trainer, and I took this picture above, having the whole place to myself with the lead trainer at FitnessSF. Like many of the details of life during Covid–an eerie silence remained.

I’ve been obsessing on Zillow for rental apartments in SF, to see how much of a shock it would be to move back from Honolulu, post lockdown, and see how bad it is at current rents. Would my “mistake” be no big deal? Not bad, actually. In fact, non rent-controlled apartments in brand new buildings, with rooftop grills, exercise areas and incredible lounge areas, are actually cheaper than the older buildings. Always a pessimistic optimist, I know the trap that lies in wait if I take the bait at these “free weeks” or “free months” move-in offers. At least rent-controlled buildings keep the fear of future increases to a minimum, but I laugh at the misdirection rental listings use to fake out the unknowing newcomer in the older units.

Map locations for rent-controlled units are moved blocks away from their actual location. A unit on Noe Street looks like it is conveniently located between Market and 17th, but it’s actually three steep blocks up from 18th, away from all the stores and restaurants. A “deal” on Hayes is pinned just off of Divisadero, right by the Bi-Rite and hardware store, yet when switching to street view, the place is out past Masonic, a longer walk to Haight or Whole Foods.

Other listings show the actual location on the map, but have the street view in a much more favorable location. I laugh when the exterior picture cuts off the property next door which has a chronic homeless encampment, like at Haight and Ashbury. The building on Ashbury is beautiful, but the property to the right is the Ben and Gerry’s with dope dealers and dogs. Another shockingly great deal in a fantastic unit just down from the Castro looks unreal, until you see it’s the building with the Seven-Eleven on the corner, which, like here in Waikiki, has the sidewalks filled with loiterers. Same goes for fantastic Valencia Street and 17th Street units next to bars, cars and jars. Oh, and crack smokers between the cars, after dark. Indeed, the big point to consider is what would going to my lobby door be like after dark?

To be sure, Waikiki is no spring chicken, and I have humorous stories to tell about leaving a city with strong tenant rights, to a zip code that has the highest per-capita ratio of realtors per square mile in the USA! Short term rental realtors make up a large portion of the rental market here in Honolulu. And just like in Missouri where I grew up, I hear the sound of cows. Cash cows. They are coming home, and the fat lady is still preaching to the choir! Thank God, at least, we have hula dancers and surfers, which have very nice bods to nods. And the homeless people here in Hawaii are the most good-looking good humored people I’ve ever had the privilege to meet and greet!

But the tricks Realtors use here in Waikiki are just as rotten as the fear long term renters in San Francisco have, of never asking for anything to get fixed, or to rock the boat and fill the moat. I have learned a lot about legal issues here in Waikiki, and one resonance with recent flooding in a San Francisco high-rise, shows the complexity about who is responsible for flooding which leaks down floor-by-floor. The only person that can sue, is the person one floor below the person above. In the case of San Francisco’s Rincon flood, it’s pretty obvious sabotage was involved, perhaps due to escalator clauses not unlike unfixed mortgage rates. Here in Waikiki, an attempted flood two floors above my unit was triggered, I guess to see if I would surrender my Covid deal and move–but the hotel management and my realtor didn’t know they had a roofer as a tenant. I went to WalMart and fixed the ceiling for eight dollars. You couldn’t tell there ever was damage.

I used the folio app to photograph the damage, but because I developed a relationship with the utility man, I found out what I intuitively knew already. They weren’t going to fix anything. I giggled with glee when I learned about these tactics from a friend who left San Francisco for Honolulu and vowed never to do that again. I learned from him what to expect in Honolulu, and to not have any entitlement issues related with living in a strong rent control city like San Fran.

The homebuyers’ price index shows San Francisco as the number one city in the US as having the sharpest drop in residential home prices in the third quarter of 2022. Seattle and San Diego come in second and third, but San Francisco is the only city in the United States with a house price drop of over thirty per cent! Hearing the drone of the mention of recession and inflation in the news becomes tiring–as tiring as my recent bout of getting Covid.

Priding myself on being updated with vaccines, I got a third booster in March of 2022, and another one in October 2022, and this didn’t seem to have any effect on my body when I got the shots, excuse me, vaccines, when I’m now being told effectiveness has dropped to 41 per cent, far from the original claims of 100 per cent effective. Why are they called vaccines when we call influenza jabs shots?

Recent YouTube blogs now show the quiet removal of evidence that showed Covid was not natural, and that the original US doctor applying for a grant to study viral splicing in Wuhan before 2020, was over-ridden politically such that he was made to come in line with the denial of the horror of the thought we would actually create pandemic style viruses in a lab, “for study.” Oh yeah, and let’s move our manufacturing to another country, too, so that we in the US can claim to be eco-friendly.

Well a lot of that is changing. After weaponizing the dollar against a major power, it looks like 80 to 90 percent of the world is moving to another payment system not based on the Almighty dollar. The Saudis have ended Kissinger’s Petrodollar. It will be interesting to see what happens when the overnight reverse repo markets double again to 8 trillion USD overnight–that’s when I believe we will hear the cowbells and the fat lady singing. No one knows when the “big shebang” will happen, but I believe the overnight reverse repo swaps are wearing the orange armband. Overnight swaps have moved up from 2 trillion to 4 trillion in a matter of months. 8 trillion of liquidity has been added since 2008, and 2 trillion of that is from our current and previous president. See guys, it isn’t blue versus red, or Elephant versus Donkey, it’s complete moral hazard without responsibility. The US still has the ability to keep the dollar strong–if it moves to fiscal, not just monetary, tightening. Jeffrey Christian of the CPM Group has a great call on how to trim spending–“Five Easy Pieces”–starting with pharmacy pooling for Medicare, modest increase in the payroll tax, and three other moves that can be done to keep the dollar strong for years to come.

Upshot? Having the political will to do the right thing. Politicians are still pandering to money and corporate influence. We have to keep voting out the crooks. Recent social blind spots in laughing at a money laundering scheme involving billions is either a comedy or a tragedy depending upon what happened to your bank account.

So, I guess I’m staying in Hawaii. If I do move next year, I know that saying I’m from Hawaii is a lot better than saying I came from San Francisco!

Here I stand by the Twitter HQ where the 21 Hayes merges onto Market between Tenth and Ninth. Having a bike rider count of 1700 by 4 p.m. was an average good day here in December of 2014. I’ll be interested to take a peek at this counter next week and see what effect the Covid work-from-home diaspora has had on bike trips to downtown. Has the commute decreased dramatically?

Since I know better than to try to change policy or politics about how we get around, I’m coming to believe that–misguided or not–our greening of lower carbon emissions is becoming more of a reality due to the inflation “stick,” and not the do-the-right thing carrot. Although I am full of opinions and preferences about making life easy by staying simple without owning a car, it looks like our country is being pushed towards higher mass transit ridership and biking to work, whether we like it or not.

I can read with amused eyes the latest flip by Elon to repurchase Twitter again–see his willingness to at least talk about something called peace–but my point-of-view is to simply look at the bike count going downtown and see if there are any changes in commute behavior.

It felt so lonely when the crowds were gone driving part-time on the bus during the lockdown. I couldn’t stand it, even though the stress of traffic and the schedule was gone. I guess my sense of purpose was diminished, left with nothing but the blank stares of the few on board, hiding behind the masks.

I just never thought the price of gas would be a motivator to drive less. Whoever blew up the Nord Stream pipeline isn’t too concerned about our environment, but it looks like its just another force to take us away from our huge metal conveyances, and slim down to biking to work, or getting a fast pass. Like the limited use of solar or wind energy–bikes aren’t a good idea on cold rainy days–nor is it fun to wait for a bus in the wind or fog. But giving up the car does save us money and energy.

Take a second to Google Nathan Vass, and his book, The View from Nathan’s Bus, about his journey’s Path to Enlightenment as a bus driver on Rainier Valley’s number 7 bus in King County. He’s done a lot of film work in addition to being a transit operator. I did not know that Adam Douglas Driver, who got to play Nathan in a film attributed to Nathan’s blog, was in a movie screenplay based on this Seattle bus driver. Take a peek at this YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFDiiicDcbs&t=374s

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol–that our lives had become unmanageable. This is the first step of Alcoholics Anonymous, and apparently, it’s the only step that has to be done perfectly. Yet, the first thing I hear during the first reading, ‘How It Works,’ is that on our journey in recovery from alcoholism, we’re supposed to seek progress, not perfection. So what you saying?

You’re telling me I am supposed to seek progress, yet I have to do this first step perfectly? I love finding contradictions, especially in any large cult-like group– to find contradictions in their basic syllogism* of logic and principle, and see where it fucks up, so I don’t have to waste my time following a bunch of losers.

*^{[ sil–uh-jiz-uhm ]}noun

Logic. an argument the conclusion of which is supported by two premises, of which one (major premise ) contains the term (major term ) that is the predicate of the conclusion, and the other (minor premise ) contains the term (minor term ) that is the subject of the conclusion; common to both premises is a term (middle term ) that is excluded from the conclusion. A typical form is “All A is C; all B is A; therefore all B is C.”

-deductive reasoning.

-an extremely subtle, sophisticated, or deceptive argument: ex) An instance of a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn (whether validly or not) from two given or assumed propositions (premisie), each of which shares a term with the conclusion, and a common term not in the conclusion, such as:

– A. Once all cucumbers become marinated in vinegar, they become a pickle.

-B. Once a person becomes soaked in alcohol, they become an alcoholic.

– C.  An alcoholic and a cucumber, once they’re in the solution, can never go back to what they once were.

It’s a pickle, alright. The logic of the syllogism in my mind was about three things I knew I was: Once a New Yorker, always a New Yorker, once a Marine, always a Marine, and once an Alcoholic, always an Alcoholic. But here’s the caveat, the loophole, if you will, not all people who become ‘saturated’ in alcohol, become unconditional alcoholics. Members of AA say only I can call myself an alcoholic. Alcohol is a solvent, but yet, alcoholics said drinking it never solved anything! Indeed, there are paradoxes everywhere.

In getting to the first step, then, let’s break it down into a logical paradigm, and see what the hell it is I’m supposed to say or do so you’ll accept me as I am. I heard some say that if I’m at a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous, I’m probably an alcoholic. Others made it clear: If I wasn’t an alcoholic, I wouldn’t be in a meeting. No one likes to admit complete defeat, and the pitiful and incomprehensible demoralization that precedes a decision to go to a meeting, leads me to one conclusion: I am an alcoholic.

I have to be willing to admit this and say it out loud every time I introduce myself before I share or read in a meeting. Slowly, through the three spiritual principles of Honesty, Open-mindedness, and Willingness, I saw how simple this introduction, ‘I’m an alcoholic,’ was. I didn’t have to go into long drunkalogues or war stories about why I drank. I didn’t have to spend a fortune on drugs or medications: all I had to do was meditate.

I have to admit I am powerless, one, and two, I have to agree my life is unmanageable. Therefore, the conclusion would be that I am an alcoholic and the arguments expressed of being a member in the debate society could be dropped. My card expired. I had to get out of my way. My life had been run on self-will.

I would need to depend on a power greater than myself to stay away from self-centered self-seeking ego, and let God’s will be done. Having the fog of coke and meth and alcohol leave my brain and my body, and then go into the intellectual discussions of God, seemed like too much too fast.

Wait, you said, it is one step at a time, otherwise I may trip or fall. My resentment against you telling me to stop future tripping, was a yellow flag. I wasn’t staying in the present. I also learned not to regret the past, nor wish to shut the door on it, so I can’t be stuck in fantasy about what I wished could have been.

I can’t control my drug use when I drink, and I can’t drink like a gentlemen when I do drugs. I have no choice over this matter, so I am powerless. I lost my job, my self-esteem, my self-worth, and my friends by drinking, therefore I am in a pickle and I can’t get out of the jar.

Period.

That’s it. No more.

Dear Rider,

In San Francisco, the new Bus Rapid Transit Lanes on US Hwy. 101 are complete, and there will be no transit delays during any of the SOMA Street Fairs at the end of September, or during the Blue Angels Day in October. Why? Because Muni city buses have their own dedicated lane of travel on Van Ness.

Not so below, in Honolulu: The H-1 or Nimitz resemble parking lots in the afternoons on a regular basis.

While San Francisco was in hibernation due to COVID, a funny thing happened on the way to Chinatown. A new underground rail line was finished, connecting the new Mission Bay Development to the old town beyond Union Square. Also, SF’s main North South arterial, U.S. Highway 101 was finally resurfaced after thirty years of neglect and in its place is a new busway to prevent buses from being stuck in traffic.

Just like the unbelievable comment from a passenger, “Turn off the air, it’s too cold in here!” on my second day driving with our new air conditioned buses, (after 20 years of no air) a Muni Diaries’ person commented that the SF Busway is a useless ways and structure because it ‘only saves a few minutes’ of travel time. Not so, my innocent friend. Or at least, until time will tell and reveal the Dao.

The cheaper cost of repaving a boulevard instead of going to the roof with a rail line is a painful discovery found here on the island of Oahu, and not in the Bagdad by the Bay. The Honolulu Area Rapid Transit is anything but, and the overhead right-of-way ends abruptly near Middle Street in the middle of no where. Believe me, the time savings to bus riders on Van Ness will become more apparent when the wheels begin going round and round again–If and when visitors will return to San Francisco. Perhaps I am needed to return to ‘Ess ‘eff with a Douglas MacArthur quote he made in Australia during World War II in 1942. Maybe I should adopt the previous California Governator’s phrase in an Austrian-German accent, “I’ll be bock.”

In any event, traffic on this Pacific Island ain’t going anywhere fast.

It was beautiful to see how fast the Ala Moana Boulevard was repaved. Construction crews worked all night and long stretches of highway were completed seamlessly. Unlike San Francisco’s four inch do-it-over-and-over thin skin of asphalt applied during the day, Honolulu’s paving job will last more than a few months: Too bad there weren’t any bus lanes marked off on the right lanes.

To be sure, the uproar over the ensuing traffic delays would deafening if lanes were cut for transit here on Oahu. Everyone here is ensconced in turnkey service to travel locally in their P.O.V.’s – Personally Operated Vehicles, so the filling up at Costco hasn’t abated, and delays to get across downtown are as if we have learned nothing about what Makka was trying to tell us about our care of Earth.

One can hope we understand Gaia’s anger about her temperature, but I guess we’ll have to have more flooding, famine or pandemic to get our attention about our habits lacking in gratitude and the care of her health and our health. The gentle breezes and rainbow rains make for an easy sway of the palms to forget about summertime heat waves back on the interior of the mainland.

Don’t get me wrong. I think the recent smoke and mirrors green energy inflation bill is a nothing burger, and it would be nice to see baby nukes going up for our grid, a serious start at channeling water from North Lake Michigan to the Salt River in Arizona, but in the meantime, lets add another prescription diet pill to cover our symptoms as we trudge the road of morass mass transit, hoping to make a dent in how we decide to get around town. I’d like to hold my breath like a sea tortoise, but I’m still an energizer bunny burnt-in from the 12 hour ranges on my assigned run.

Hopefully, I, like you, will finally slow down and take a deep breath.

‘Da Bus is hiring here, and if I’ve tried to become anything like an Elder Statesman here on the shores of Kuhio Beach, it would be to do it over again as a bus driver here on Oahu–or for someone in their twenties or thirties to consider being a bus driver here in Paradise. Don’t knock it, it’s a great job–if you know in your heart you’re a driver. You won’t have to go to the mainland to get a better job–‘Da Bus is here and is hiring as seen on the head signs.

The buses here are fast and come a lot, go all the way, and run often. People actually pay their fare, and no one boards at the rear door. The only congestion I face as a pedestrian in Waikiki is in trying to get past surfers carrying surfboards, and tortoises paddling under the waves. It’s like I’ve turned back the clock and gained about 15 years by moving here to Honolulu from Northern California.

There aren’t too many of us odd birds from NorCal. Seems like most people head east when leaving California, but from what I’ve heard, they only create a Bleeding Deacons reaction from the natives, seeded in the winter of Bitcoin discontent.

Mahalo.

Driver Doug

How does a Muni bus driver pick his run? A lot depends on the equation, personality over paperwork!

A common phrase at the General sign-up or Barn sign-up is what line to work and when to work it. This is unofficially called, ‘Doing your homework.’ Not all runs are created equal, especially on the 1 California, less so, the 14 Mission. Indeed, when a close acquaintance would hear I was doing the California Line, they would murmur an ‘eww’ or ‘ahh’ and imply there was an honor to do the 1 Line as if the route number had anything to do with preference or notoriety. The only notoriety I found on the Number One Son, was a trip to the Superintendent’s office for either a consult or penalty! Penalties based upon my ‘rude’ behavior, or some other insult seen or unseen. Fortunately, the interior cameras came to my rescue on my last few encounters, save for a rookie coworker who had the audacity to write me up and call Central.

Not only are the intending passengers on Clay and Sacramento set high on the dial for entitlement, but they either don’t know how to ride a trolleybus, too lazy to follow trolleybus headway protocols, or just complain–as if their actions are going to have any effect on how we operators do our run.

The key in understanding the 1 Line is to simply get on any outbound coach and transfer at Presidio, Sixth Ave., and to not wait for the 33rd Avenue coach in the afternoons outbound at Polk and Van Ness. Instead, we must come to a stop, have them ask their questions about where we go, and then wait for the next coach, which usually passes them up. This is how we bus drivers can ‘teach’ unsavvy riders to board any coach, but it never works. They call in on us and we get written up, usually. Because of this, short line coaches were eliminated, as was the inbound terminal of Howard and Main. Riders could not fathom why these extra terminals were in place, and eventually management just cut them out of the schedule. Sadly, I can see why scheduling abandoned these extra turn backs, and the primary reason, in my opinion, was because of the lack of humility of both the operator and the rider.

I believe I was able to get through to about three riders on my run 84, over the length of one long signup, but I gave up my ‘guided discovery’ opportunity to enlighten an intender, as it just wasn’t worth the work. Especially, during peak inbound morning period, and outbound peak afternoon rush hour.

The spiritual life is not a theory, we have to live it. And working for Muni, the answer to this principle is to realize I know only a little, and that more will be revealed–hopefully not in the Superintendent’s office, or with time off without pay.

The other dilemma a city worker in the transportation department faces is the trespass and fighting that occur on the 14 Mission Line to Daly City. Unlike the orderly boarding and fare payments on the 1 Line, Da Mish is especially exciting and dramatic, and many bus driver’s choose this over the bucolic One Line, perhaps because time goes by faster! The truth be told, many operators prefer the 14 Line over a ‘boring’ line like the 1.

The key to staying out of trouble is to keep accident paperwork to a minimum. Towards my twilight years as an operator, Muni came up with a new rule such that five accident incidents filed within a short period of time would count as a single major accident, going on our permanent record, increasing the length of time penalty in assigned days of unpaid suspension! If you guys could hear some of the newer rules in effect, like PSR’s (passenger service requests) never being erased, or that unlike incidents count as a whole, and the shock of a quintupling of years of service to become a vested member, the wonder of morale surrounding an office hours appointment becomes apparent. Unlike politicians which get permanent benefits after short stints in office, and no break in automatic increases, spirituality is all that I have left to keep right and a good attitude and keep a good job.

The problem with the Mission line, especially during peak inbound or outbound during ‘Crunch Time,’ or late at night outbound to Daly City, is in building experience in knowing when to let go and let God, and keep a report from the dispatcher, in the hopes that nothing comes of an argument or on a push comes to shove. Filing a miscellaneous short card is hopefully the path or Dao, to reducing accident reports, and good counsel from a seasoned Dispatcher or Union Rep., can go a long way to keeping anxiety away.

Several keys develop when seeing the patterns of fights and refusals to leave the coach. The first comes from coach in high school football: The best offense is a good defense.

Seeing where sleepers board is a key. This is my last trip, and I don’t want you to get stranded. Where are you getting off? Even if they can’t answer, which is not a good sign, rousing them and saying cheerfully, Here’s your stop! while at Evergreen at one stop before my last terminal, is the best way to hand out a free transfer as bait for being a good guy and a friend and not an enemy.

Keeping the senior area empty before the coach is full is also another key to avoiding, Say excuse me bitch! When I let someone going a long way that they will have to vacate the front area only after all seats are taken, the begrudgingly move back before the half-way point on the trip, so the odds of altercation get reduced. The best offense is to become like an insurance company: take out as many danger factors as possible, as soon as possible.

The second key here is to pop the brake, arise from the cockpit seat and face the audience (arena). Not only can the action help stretch the legs and provide release, these times come in handy if there’s no recovery time left at the end of the line.

The hard part of this is to get out of the mind shell that develops in the cockpit over the nine or ten hour straight through of a twilight or an owl. A break and a brake, to get out of the thoughts in my head and connect with my riders can be the saving grace to reduce paperwork on the drama. Plus the added benefit is that by communicating the correct word, any witness to a later hearing, or to the camera tape on file, will show I tried to do the right thing. But only from within the cockpit! Leaving the area can also open up another line for an epic fail.

In the end, the best measure is to sit back and watch the show!