Our buses, like most modern vehicle have some form of computer chips in their engine management systems. Some of these work sensors that can get a little over sensitive and say some thing is wrong when there isn't. Usually a warning light goes on on the dash and the drivers gets on the radio and tells control. Their response is usually to switch every thing off, wait two minutes and try again. Some times controllers themselves can get a little over loaded as the following exchange heard on the radio illustrates:-
Driver. "Bus working 1234 to control."
Control. "Go ahead 1234."
Driver. "I have a problem, I am at the terminus and I have a puncture."
Control. "Switch everything off, wait two minutes and try again. Let me know if the problem persists."
Driver. "Err..........OK."
Two minutes go by.
Driver. "Bus working 1234. I switched everything off and tried again like you said. I still have a puncture."
3 comments:
I have had virtually the same conversation with a dispatcher here in California. I laughed out loud at this post.
I am a bus driving blogger in Santa Rosa, California. I live about 80 miles north of San Francisco. I work for Golden Gate Transit, a transit district operated by the Golden Gate Bridge.
Someone came to my blog from a Google search for "Bus Driver Weblog". I backtracked his search and found your weblog.
I've been a bus driver for more than 30 years. I'm also an ex punk rocker, an ex marxist lefty, an ex journalism student and twice an ex husband.
I drove for the City of Detroit in the mid '70's. I left to take up an apprenticeship, thinking that I'd never go back to driving again.
I hated the trade I was in, so I tried University for a couple of years, and did very badly as a returning student. I ran out of money and ended up working for the University as a bus driver.
I moved to California, hoping to never drive again, and ended up working for several different tour companies, driving over the road all over the western US.
I finally got my present job, working for The Bridge in 1988.
I don't blog that much about driving, but it certainly comes up. Mostly I write about popular music, religion and the sad state of American politics. I'm a life long trade unionist, and write about the US labor movement occasionally.
I've bookmarked your blog, and I'm looking forward to reading your posts.
I liked your photo of you at work.
I too have had a few jobs, taxi driver, school teacher, driving instructor and now bus driver, my last job. Only two and a half years to go, sorry to say.
It seems that solution must be in the radio operators' handbook. We have the same response to our faults.
Why don't they fit [CTRL][ALT] & [DEL] buttons onto the dash?
The great thing is when you turn everything off, wait two minutes and then it won't come back on. Priceless.
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