Glad we don’t have any bus drivers like this in Auckland ….. that I’m aware of.
Video released Friday, April 12th, 2013 shows an assault which occurred on a public StarTran bus in Lincoln, Nebraska. The incident happened in the late afternoon of Saturday March 23rd at 84th & ‘O’ streets. According to the Lincoln Journal-Star, driver Troy Fischer, 43, was cited with misdemeanor assault, and has been fired following a city investigation of the incident. Fischer punched a 40-year-old man several times and physically dragged him off the bus, throwing him into the street and driving away.
http://youtu.be/9TM7xvh2eww
Now lets flip to the opposite end of the spectrum. How about sharing any stories you have of good bus drivers.
My story is not actually my experience but my wife’s. Recently when the Western rail line had a bit of a meltdown in the afternoon thanks to a truck hitting the Titirangi Rd bridge, naturally the line had to be closed and the structure inspected. I saw this pop up on twitter so quickly got hold of my wife who was already on the way to the train. Very luckily just as I was talking to her a bus approached with its destination as Sturges Rd (the train station we use) and kindly the driver let her on despite not being at a normal stop. At the other end of the journey, she was the last one left on the bus and the driver asked where she was going to. He proceeded to drop her off as close to home as was possible when he didn’t have to do.
We should celebrate those good experiences, let me know yours in the comments.
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In Albuquerque, my wife and I had visited a mall by bus, but when we were ready to return the last bus on our route had departed, so we caught one going in roughly the right direction, but not as far as our hotel. We asked the driver for advice, then various passengers chipped in. As we reached the end of his route he tried to flag down a cab, but then went off his route to drop us at a payphone.
From there we called a cab; the driver turned up with his whole family on board (wife and two little kids) and regaled us with stories all the way back to our hotel. Needless to say he got a pretty decent tip!
The people of New Mexico were all just great, very friendly, definitely my favourite state. I was a bit disappointed when I crossed the Rio Grande though, it was about 2m wide and half a metre deep.
Many moons ago on a H&E home in an Auckland winter, an elderly gentleman got on in Ellerslie by the playing field who looked pretty cold. The older lady bus driver took off her gloves and gave then to the man there and then. Something I’ll never forget as she did it almost instantaneous.
I remember being on a bus heading home one day, when a car sped into the bus stop right in front of the bus. I think the car driver got a fright (the bus driver hit the brakes and luckily avoided a crash) and got very agitated about this, coming onto the bus and shouting at the bus driver. The bus driver was fairly calm for someone being shouted at, and told him that he wasn’t allowed to be in the bus stop, and said “I have witnesses”. The entire bus full of passengers cheered. I think at that point the car driver realised he should probably get off the bus and leave…
Maybe not exactly a story about a good bus driver, but it was still pretty awesome at the time.
It beggars belief the attitude of some people, why on Earth do they seriously think they can pull in front of a bus into a bus stop and then shout at the driver? What planet do these morons live on? Similar to taxi drivers parked in the bus stop who’ve told me to take a hike when I complain that I just missed the bus because it drove past thinking I was catching a taxi…..
I have no idea why this particular person drove into the bus stop. By their reaction I would say that they actually didn’t know that they weren’t meant to park there (as opposed to most cases where people knowingly park illegally). As for the taxi drivers in bus stops, I say report them all 😀
If buses had a retractable battering ram then the offending vehicles could be shoved out of the way. Simple, problem solved.
When I lived in the Netherlands, there were two local buses from Amsterdam central to my town: 171 and 172. Although the destinations were the same, one routed via a large campground that was usually full of backpackers. The other didn’t. The bus drivers ALWAYS checked that people who looked like backpackers were on the right bus when boarding, and made sure they knew what do if they weren’t.
One thing related to good driver experiences I would really like to see is some sort of tipping facility. The few times I pay with cash its often for one zone and thus the 10 cent piece is left warm and nearly worthless in my hot little hand for the remainder of the bus ride, would great if either on the way in or the way out you could put it towards the friendly drivers. Of course both employers and unions would probably be against it might create distortions related to expectations of wage etc. But for the low pay they get lots of good ones provide a public service that is worth its weight in gold, so contributing a slightly more tangible thank you would be cool I reckon.
Paying with cash is something that will be made increasingly more expensive to do, it’s more work for the driver and slows everyone else down on the bus, we want to be encouraging people to use HOP cards not installing things to tip the driver with.
It was more than several punches. It was 18.
I had one driver dealing with a very confused German tourist down by Britomart, who was trying to find the coach terminal (at Sky City) and panicking that she was going to miss her coach. The driver asked all those already on the bus where they wanted to get off, the proceeded to reroute the bus via the coach terminal to drop the girl off and ensuring that no one else missed their stop in the process. Definitely not by the book, but a very nice gesture for a guest in the country.
I do love how people say thank you to the driver when they get off. I’ve not seen this overseas, and I hope it doesn’t disappear once everyone is using HOP. It’s easy to forget to say thank you while trying to tag off, and also a bit awkward getting on because you just look at the card reader and don’t quite know what to say to the driver.
Not a story as such, but Peter on the NEX deserves high praise. Always well presented (he even wears his military badge), gives a warm hearty greeting when you hop on, walks to the back door at the end of each run to wish you a good day. Decorated his bus in flags during the World Cup and was super friendly with all the international visitors. He’s the shizz, somebody buy that man a beer.
I love the NEX drivers they are so polite and seem to really enjoy their work.
There’s a driver on a New North Rd route (222, 224 etc) that cheerfully commentates the journey.
Announces the bus stops? or acts like a tour operator? If the latter then that would get tiring pretty quickly seeing as most people are not on the bus only once.
I used to have a really awesome driver when I regularly caught the Link in the city. Can’t remember her name now – Maori lady from Northland. So friendly and warm towards all the passengers. We had many a nice chat in the evening after finishing work late when she had the late shift. Actually a bunch of the Link drivers were really good, I also remember the blond Pakeha lady who used to wear her giant dangly santa earrings and greet every passenger with a friendly Merry Christmas each December 🙂
The worst bus drivers I’ve seen are a couple of the Birkenhead Transport ones. There is the Asian guy who occasionally drives the Bayview 955. He’s friendly enough but he drives like a maniac – I’ve seen him run a red light on Fanshaw St, cut corners, miss passengers because he’s running ahead of schedule and on one occasion he took off from a stop at top speed before an elderly gentleman had got to his seat – the guy was bowled halfway down the bus and two of us had to catch him, his shopping went everywhere. The other terrible Birkenhead driver is the youngish Pakeha guy who occasionally drives the 957 bus to Albany, he’s really condescending and is constantly scolding customers for now knowing the timetable and stops or not having correct change – particularly mean to the Asian international students going too and from Massey Uni…
Oh and don’t ever bother complaining to Birkenhead Transport via the email form on the Maxx website – I’ve done it three times – never once got a response…
The bus companies are pretty good at getting back to you if you call the AT/Maxx number and complain. Although I admit I’ve never had to do it for Birkenhead Transport.
Most bus drivers are good. It’s a smaller number (less than half) who drive too aggressively, and spoil the perception of the others. If we could weed out a few of the bad apples, bus usage would increase, the companies and AT would get better fare recovery, passengers would have a better experience, and the good ones would deserve their pay rises (when they inevitably go into negotiations).
love this post topic – awesome positive. I have a bus driver who is amazing – one of our regulars on our express routes –
for a lot of years I have been nutty enough to take my kids into town with me to get some quality time in rush hour traffic before
we part for daycare and work. A lot of bus drivers might be understandly unimpressed to have a small child (or various I did it twice
– but one at a time!) and a harassed Mum on their fairly full bus churning down the motorway as somewhere between 5kmph and ohh maybe 100
(assuming of course everyone else in Auckland forgot to get out of bed!). Not this lady – shes been positive cheerful supportive funny
and accepting. She has turned a blind eye to me feeding snacks (well it can stop the screaming – and I always pick up the collateral damage)
and in the early days never said anything to the odd desperate breastfeed. She has sometimes made a point of stopping safely
a little away from the bus stop and a little close to our place when its pouring with rain and a dark winter night. She has given both my kids
the odd birthday present or perk and cheerfully tolerated their occasional meltdowns (its a long trip sometimes its nutty on those roads – If your were 2 you’d cry as well admit it 🙂 ). She remembers where to stop for the regulars for pick-ups and drop offs and she knows the short cuts if it gets a little too nutty. She doesn’t get angry with the traffic police when they pull people over into our only little bit of bus lane on the motorway and shes pretty tolerant of the crazy drivers on the road. She drives well – I rarely feel bus sick when shes driving as its not a stop start to fast slam on the brakes kinda ride.
In short unlike the trains where I have felt very unwelcome at times and rudely treated this bus driver has made the last few years so much more tolerable – in fact for me its drivers like her that have meant I am still nutty enough to be using public transport with a +1 or more in tow.
And I am sure she has to put up with split shifts and marginal pay and driving into her breaks and yet she has shown the utmost in customer service !
Wish sometimes these sorts of drivers got a bonus !
A number of times I have used the N05 late service home to Massey from K’Rd. As I’m usually the last passenger, getting off at the end of the route on Royal Road, on more than one occasion the Ritchies driver has asked me where I’m going; my street joins onto Colwill road which locals will know then joins onto Royal Road.
And so given that it’s usually 3:30am or some other ungodly hour, and I’ve probably been in a state at this point thanks to a good night out; rather than making me walk the 1.5kms to my house from Royal Road, that driver has proceeded to drive me down to the top of my street on Colwill Road. The last time this happened I’m sure I said something along the lines of; ‘You are one hell of a GC. Thank you so much and have a lovely evening!’ 🙂
So, out of the 22 comments on this blog we have 6 that are ‘positive Auckland bus driver stories’.
Put this up against nearly 2800 complaints AT received in 2014 for buses/bus drivers and we see the real picture. Our bus drivers ARE terrible. When I see a good one I pinch myself and nearly hug them.
As a cyclist, motorcyclist and very occasional bus passenger I am disappointed on a daily basis with the poor driving skills and attitude of Auckland bus drivers (typically Metrolink and H&E). Very few use indicators properly, most park over top of the cycle advance boxes, some squeeze past bikes with inches to spare and once a week I have to avoid a bus being driven at me (though a red light or in a show of intimidation). There is no ‘considerate attitude’ or exemplary driving you’d expect from someone who has chosen a career as a professional driver. Over the past 15 years commuting on two wheels in Auckland, I see that bus drivers still have the idea that they own the bus lanes and bikes should “get the hell out of the way” (quote from bus 220 last week on Symonds street after running me into the kerb).
I wonder if this issue has more to do with the stresses of being a bus driver, a lack of training/enforcement of rules, or are those who become bus drivers just simple-minded angry people.
Don’t get me started on the bus fleet that we subsidise. Old, poorly maintained, noisy, polluting dinosaurs that if you personally owned one it would have been traded it in, back in 1995.