The Dao of Doug: A Bus Driver's Perspective

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 being first does not mean being best. Or most comfortable. These regular riders know to look to see how crowded a bus is inside before boarding, and also look down the street to see if another coach is coming less than two blocks away.  This one act of looking in and behind a bus saves falls on board, fights on board, and squeeze play delay in the aisle and in looking for seats. The lead bus falls farther behind, as do those behind it.

The biggest help in keeping buses evenly spaced is receiving a switch from TMC central control. By turning back the second bus at a short line terminal, and asking the  leader  to complete a full trip, normal headway can be established quickly. The key is to allow bus number three to leave on time from the next terminal and give the leading coach a break. But the orders for even headway appears to be a forgotten art. 

Roving street inspectors are to put the line back on time after a delay, but this can sometimes take two hours to correct. If you look at each trip being an hour, and a delay occurs in the middle of the line, it is reasonable to expect that the line should be back on time in 30 minutes.  

Radio procedures are now being updated with the new software tied to our new radios being installed in our new equipment. We now have the ability to request a headway adjustment and ask for a reroute simply by our touchscreen. 

I am a firm believer that technology holds  many keys in helping smooth operations.  Without these simple communication procedures, the delays of buses did lead to an abysmal on time rating of 60 percent. Knowing when and how to ask for this crucial information can pay dividends.

I recently reported damage to the overhead using the new radio system. I entered in the message of mechanical electrical on the radio touch screen as a marker to my emergency call request. I got called back immediately and described the problem. The best part was that operations sent me back a message saying ‘thank you.’ I felt satisfaction in being heard and recognized. This is a huge step in the right direction in communication between operations and the operator on the street.

Bus bunching occurs and continues if no open communication exists and leads to anger and delay between staff and the riding public. Losing Zen is  easy to sort if no solution appears on the radio.

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The inability to see or read the head sign of a bus, or to know where to stand based upon stalled traffic or double parked vehicles notwithstanding, one detail that usually does not escape notice in our fair city is when our air temperature is not fair. The afternoon fog moves in, the temperature drops and those who do not live here become obvious to even the denizens of sidewalk cracks, the suits leaving a tower of high finance, and unfortunately, the thieves and pickpockets looking for quick takes. 

As I drive my bus past the humanity walking by, I point out to visitors on board my bus how we spot tourists instantly. They are curious as to how I know they are not residents of our city when I pick them up. True, the ability to read others becomes fine tuned within our senses as the years add up behind the wheel, but it can also be much simpler.  We key in on what you are wearing.

If an entire family is wearing brand-new hoodies and sweat tops with Alcatraz images, it is obvious the ferry ride over to the famous prison island caught them unawares of how cold our sea breeze hits the skin. Especially true when traveling the rails of a boat over the bay or waiting for a bus on a hill.  

The current gold rush becomes apparent. The gold is not in the hills at Sutter’s Mill. The gold is found by selling hoodies and sweat shirts to tourists at Fisherman’s Wharf; or out of a blanket atop Twin Peaks.  It can even be mined from a handbag held side saddle with a wide-open top or side pocket.

Not limited to the wharf, other places, such as tour bus vista stops, also become a bazaar for clothing sales. In order to bypass permits, vendors have all the shirts and gear lying on large blankets and sheets. If the spotter sees police cars coming up the hill on the road below, they quickly wrap the garments in the blanket and throw them over the rail. The clothing becomes invisible to the police in the patrol car when it passes by the vista point area. 

Most crime occurs because the police never exit their vehicle.  Beat patrols are always requested, but hard to fill. I argue with others that it is not more cops we need, but pavement pounders on the beat. We are not a car culture city. Our streets have not changed when it comes to foot traffic.  In fact, more people are walking than ever before. This is one reason we become slender after living here for a few years.

July is the number one month for visitors: Central Valley residents are beating the heat, Europeans are using their generous vacation time, and the occasional and occasional Midwestern family is visiting a young family member just moved into the city. It’s fun to watch a new city resident train their family on how to pay the fare and ride the bus. I really have to watch my self to make sure I don’t go overboard on being a driver guide instead of a city transit operator, but it makes for a fun ride.

Great places for selfies and shots with friends are the Hearts of San Francisco on the corners of Union Square. Alamo Square by the Painted Ladies has landscaping of new trees and freshly sodded green grass. New plumbing for sprinklers and a bathroom have also been upgraded. The Victorian beauties abound around the 4 block square, and look great as a backdrop for a picture. 

I like to point out the four different styles of the turn-of-the-century architecture, and to see where a house lost a complete story in the ’06 earthquake, and if the rounded windows in the cupola were replaced by conventional flat windows. Lots where a newer house stands, point to a fire, where an old house didn’t survive with its’ neighbors. Our city history is chock full of these old hotspots. Not so with the afternoon temperatures in July!

If you want to cool off on a vacation in July, San Francisco is the place to be! 

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I pick up a runner crossing from the far-side corner after I turn the corner and wait for him to come to the rear door as I toggle the rear door open.  A little boy with tears in his eyes giving the constant low moaning wail of not getting something he wants, lights up and goes quiet when I hand him a transfer for being a big boy. A late boarder slips in a dollar and takes a transfer from the top of the fare box and moves back down the aisle without showing the discount card.  

Sounds like a commendation on the way for being an expert operator, right?  Fat chance.  In fact, these actions may work against me in the long run, especially with my coworkers.  The common thread in these three examples, and many such others is this: I am creating great expectations.  The most cunning baffling and powerful demon facing a transit operator within this City by the Bay are unrealistic expectations from the service provided by the SFMTA.

Allowing large tour buses to use our bus zone for pickup for a dollar a day is an unrealistic expectation from our elected leaders about the value and worth of this curb space real estate, and keeping the city bus running on time. Not reading the head-sign of our coach, and asking questions after boarding and passing the yellow line, create distractions and delays. This need not be if the questions were asked at the bus stop while waiting. Separating yourself from those waiting for ride shares and shuttles, and those who have not bathed for several weeks also helps in getting our front door by your side.

Texting on a phone or wearing earbuds cuts off this important connection between riders.  All of this has a theme: a lack of willingness, coupled with great expectations, leads to failure of service. The failure to make a ride on the bus.

Here are some tips: if you can’t make it to the bus stop by judging the coach speed, don’t run away from where you are. Moving targets are hard to hit! Move to the corner where there is a stop sign. We don’t want to make an extra stop, and if you are by a crosswalk, stay there.  Step down, when safe, and raise your arm to hail us. The biggest mistake is that late runners run toward the coach, shortening reaction time to make a stop. If anything, walk in the same direction of travel as the bus, extending stopping time, and then raise your hand and stand still. Step down where we can see you, and create a fixed point.

You don’t have to run across to a far side stop, just wait at the near side corner, and smile. Most stoplights are short in cycle, and we’ll probably get a red by the time we get there. When you are in the Zen and remain calm and project dignity, you will appear attractive. We don’t want to pickup distracted and annoyed energy. Pounding on the door does not increase your chances if you want to get on the bus.

Of all the calls I make to TMC, (Transit Metro Control), none is more gratifying than seeing the response to a tree trimming request. Homeowners are required to trim the trees in front of their home or business, but this has created some disparity in when limbs and leaves get cut away from our overhead wires. The decision to make property owners responsible for tree trimming has created a dead beat culture that makes for a disparity of time of when a tree gets its branches cut away from our traveling wires. Fortunately, our overhead crew responds quickly, and when they cut down limbs, any complaints from the landlord or tenants about the manner of tree cutting, falls on deaf ears when ‘life and limb’ is made under a public safety action. Fortunately our crew does a good pruning job so as to not distort the tree’s canopy. Even so, trees are forced to grow in a way that is somewhat unnatural as they cannot overhang our wires.

If a building on a corner has doors that open onto two different streets, and only one address is used for the mail, the owner can discount the tree by the door that is not officially recognized as a mail stop and say that the address does not exist, and hence not their responsibility to pay for tree trimming by the unused entrance.  

The delay in maintenance we renters face in our older rent controlled buildings is astonishing. This is matched only by our denial or hesitancy to report or call in a problem to the owner via a building manager. Hence, most repairs come in the nature of an emergency. This can be disruptive, especially regarding water leaks and electrical hazard, and elevator repair. So much of our maintenance culture has shifted to an emergency case only.

The only thing more shocking is the cost of a rent increase in a vacant unit.  Some say that doing away with rent control would bring down rents overall, but most of us don’t believe it in a second. As long as a shortage of housing exists, rent control at least keeps some of us in a stable or more realistic budget to survive in San Francisco. If an exodus of population occurs, such as what happened in 1999, in what we call the dot com bomb, large leaseholders just keep units vacant so as to keep rents up, to wait out the cycle until the next boom. This city has a history of boom and bust, and the siphoning swindle of taking cash from unsuspecting newcomers or visitors. So too goes the escape from responsibility with tree trimming. 

Transit Metro Control no longer asks us for an address for a tree trim request, as the mandatory owner responsibility law for tree trimming can create more problems in a lack of action necessary for safety. When my poles come down from a tree, I do get results very quickly now that the law seems to be off the books, at least unofficially. This is how most city departments work. We can only guess what the current modus operandi is, with or without a law on or off the books! On and off changes baffle even the best of us with what the current Standard Operating Procedure is in play.

The one good thing about major street construction, when pipes for a sewer or water line upgrade occurs, are that trolleys are moved temporarily to a curb lane and all the overhanging branches get cut down.  I guess this is because eminent domain and public safety are much more obvious to point, hence the fear of litigation remains close to zero. A huge overhanging limb on Hayes was finally cut down because pipeline installation is on the way. Other smaller tree limbs have been cut so we can travel in the curb lane without threat from tree limbs. 

Indeed, as any bobtail delivery or pickup driver can attest, trees on the curb get damaged or cause damage when attempting to park properly by the curb. The fear of tree and vehicle damage make for a double park situation that cuts off free travel in a lane. Tree trimming helps all large vehicle drivers great and small; including trolleybuses, because our poles fall off of the wires when the tap the branches, especially after a heavy rain when the limbs droop lower, laden with water.

A branch from a gum tree inadvertently fell in front of my trolleybus by the corner Walgreens at O’Farrell and Divisadero. Luckily, no one was hurt, and I saw it in time to stop nearside at O’Farrell and call it in. Just a few moments later, a cyclist was hit up the street in the other direction so the line was blocked. Because of this delay with the tree branch, I was put out of harms’ way from the distracted cyclist that got knocked off his bike by another bus. I felt a wonderful feeling of Providence as the tree protected me from harm, from another accident. My gratitude for the shade they provide is immense, and I felt as though this love came back to me by this gum tree.

The Fire Department came in ten minutes to direct traffic, and our Overhead Crew arrived in fifteen minutes. I love it when passengers and bystanders marvel at how fast our city responds to an emergency. In less than half an hour, I was on my way, with all the branches cut down and cleared to the curb. 

A poem follows about our median trees making way for the BRT on Van Ness. I am not saying cutting them down was a bad thing, I am just thanking them for their existence on a hot summer day. I also thank the Friends of the Urban Forest for planting new ones, and can’t wait to pitch in when I have more time when I retire. Hah.

Being in the Zen in transit means the overhead crew has trimmed branches, or we get an immediate response when we make a call after de-wiring!