“Unbelievable, just unbelievable.” This is the statement of a resident nearby the La Playa bus terminal by the Ocean Beach Safeway. It was recorded for the Jon Stewart Show. This was a comedy show, and the occasion for the recording was based on the fact that this man’s garage was hit by motor coaches more …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Shoes
“Baby needs a new pair of shoes.” That’s what I say when I am hitting hard, or I see sparks at night off of my collectors. Shoes are the carbon blocks sitting inside the brasserie or metal brackets that form a slot at the end of our trolley poles. This is the point at which …
Hot Lunch
As I walk to my corner coffee shop at zero dark thirty in the morning, I see another splayed design of “ejecta” on the sidewalk from someone’s drinking spree last night. At least this “hot lunch” occurred outside of the aisle and stairwell of a Muni bus. When someone pukes on the bus, we can …
Calling Central
One of the common comments I get from operators, even those with time and with lots of experience, is the refrain, “I never call central.” Or “Those guys are clueless.” And I have found operators on the extra board fall in to this category more than the average operator working a regular run on the …
The Cloak of Invisibility
If you would like to see a magic trick or illusion played out day after day, look no further than a ride on 14 Mission. The secret of becoming invisible is to sit in a wheelchair, particularly in a large group. The more, the merrier. It matters not where you sit on the sidewalk in …
Coach Trade and the Defect Card
As the buses warm up and get used, the dynamics change. What was once a great bus in the first four hours of service, becomes a creaky cantankerous old complainer. The back doors stop closing. The kneeler fails to rise. The brakes start to grab. Or the horn starts to blare without even touching the …
LPO (Late Pull-Out)
The installation of cameras on the front windscreen has had one beneficial effect. Those monitoring our pull-out time see how much extra time is required to move deficient coaches out of the way. With trolleys at Potrero, we have so many coaches dead on the tracks that we are trapped in a canyon or gauntlet …
Pulling Out
There are certain key points around the system where operators begin and end their shift not at the bus barn. Eleventh and Mission is a relief point. It is a place where drivers take over the seat and relieve another operator per the run schedule. And at this corner, it is also where defective coaches …
Upper Yard
At the Potrero trolley bus barn, we have two levels. Unlike the Presidio trolley barn (which has one level and a tricky pull-out from track one and a pull-out to Sutter) the Potrero barn has many lanes of challenging tracks. There is a horseshoe U-turn maneuver from tracks ten, eleven, and twelve that can lock …
Pulling In
One common comment people make when waiting for the bus is the question, “How come I see like three buses going in the opposite direction when I have been waiting 15 minutes for a bus and nothing is coming?” And this has to do with where the buses come from, and where they are headed …
The Dao of Doug: A Bus Driver's Perspective 