or, How to drive a bus (part 3)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15
All week, I’ve been sitting through bus driver classes. Monday and Tuesday’s sessions were very slow and boring, and I thought I could ace everything. Wednesday and Thursday, though, were hurricanes of information and acronyms, with lots of “seven things you wouldn’t think to do but ought to, in this very-likely situation” lists, presented just as quickly as the list of eleven things to obviously do in a very unlikely situation.
Our big test is today. Student drivers who pass will get two weeks of hand-on training inside and around the buses. I’ve found the class occasionally confusing, and there’s a chance I could fail the test today. The teacher urged us to take the books home yesterday and study, but much as I want this job, Doug doesn’t do unpaid homework, and that’s an absolute.
Friday’s test-flunkers will have one last chance to take the same test on Monday, and I figure, even if I fail the test the first time, if you tell me what I got wrong, I’ll probably pass it the second time. So that’s my strategy. And if I fail both times, well, I was out of work when I found this job.
In my rant a few weeks ago about slow bus drivers, I wrote this: “Slow bus drivers are often allergic to yellow lights, so that driver slowed the bus a bit more when approaching green lights, for fear the light might turn yellow.”
Turns out I was wrong to complain about that. In the class, we’re taught that slowing down for green lights is what you’re supposed to do, when driving a bus. It’s about safety and passenger comfort — safety, because you don’t want the big long bus to be stuck in the intersection, and passenger comfort, because you don’t want to slam on the brakes and jostle everyone.
When approaching a green light, best driver practice is to take your foot off the accelerator and hold it over the brake. The bus slows a little, but if the light changes to yellow you’re prepared to ease the bus to a smooth stop. So, oops.
And something else — as a passenger, it often seems like we’re waiting at a red light even after it turns green, and that’s something else I’ve muttered about, but guess what? That’s policy, too.
We’re supposed to wait three seconds after the light turns green before accelerating. It’s an extra layer of safety, in case a pedestrian is still crossing the street, or a vehicle on the cross street tries running the yellow or red.
And now I’m wondering… of the millions of things I’m always complaining about when riding the bus, how many are like that — things that would make sense if only I knew jack crap.
8/5/2022
Republished 11/22/2025
Next: No bus to the bus barn
or, How to drive a bus (part 4)
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5
Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10
Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15
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