Two wasted trips the Newton Abbot.

On Thursday I made a mistake. Now regular readers will not believe this statement, having gathered from previous post that I am the prefect bus driver.
But I did.
This is what happened. A young lady got on in Torquay and asked for the Willows , a shopping complex on the outskirts of Torquay. She also asked if I could tell her when we got there. I explained that the bus did not got all the way to the Willows but that it was a ten minute walk after she got of the bus. She paid her fare and sat down.
Now I don’t have the best of memory for thing like remembering to tell people when they have arrived at their destination. I like to think about other things, such as driving the bus and what I am going to post here each evening. So I have a trick; I press Zero and C on the ticket machine and a piece of ticket roll emerges from the machine with “Not valid for Travel” printed on it. A paper feed we call it. This I stick on the ticket machine with a piece of blue tac I keep in the cash tray for just this propose. From then on each time I issue a ticket I remember “The Willows”. Bit like a knot in a hankie.
But before I could do this 4 people got on the bus and wanted to go to Paignton. By the time I had explained to them that the bus did not go to Paignton and where to get a bus to Paignton I had forgotten about the Willows and only remembered when the poor young lady came up to me in Newton and asked if we had reached the Willows yet.
This was definitely a “Hole in the Ground” moment. Eventually I dropped her of at the Willows 40 mins later than she should have got there. Mia Culpa, mia maxima culpa.

To day, Friday, it was a lady’s purse that made the trip to Newton and there was a happier ending. I dropped some people in Fleet Street in Torquay and one of then handed me a purse which she had found on the bus. I am always upset when this happens, some poor soul has lost some thing and probably needs it now but it may take two days before they get it back. Anyway I dropped the purse in my bag to hand it in when I finished my duty at 16:30. It was now 13:30. However 15 mins later an other driver got on the radio and asked if any driver who had left Torquay in the last 20 mins had found a purse. So I was able to tell the driver that I would be back in Torquay in 50 mins and be able to reunite the purse and owner.
A happy ending, I like happy endings.

Guess Who Got on the Bus To day.

Yesterday he had an out of date Day Pass, to day he had an out of date Weekly pass. When I pointed out that the ticket expired on the 9th he looked surprised and asked me the date. I told him and he got of the bus. So on the radio once again and the next driver took the pass from him and over the next hour and a half I heard reports of him walking towards Paignton. 5 miles. And if you were in the Bay to day you will know that the rain was a lot more than heavy.

I just love a story with a happy ending!

From a Local Paper

I am 17 years old and was terribly disgusted with the bus ride from Swieqi to Sliema on bus number 64 on September 29 at about 1.45 p.m.
The number of unacceptable acts by the driver himself on such a public service are embarrassing to say the least.Before the bus left he asked the last person who got on the bus for a cigarette; she kindly enough offered him one. Unexpectedly the bus driver stopped the bus and got off to smoke. However, while doing so, the driver also went to do his "business" behind the bushes close to the bus stop.
Before returning to his seat, he rudely enough spat in front of all, locals and tourists alike.Then he came back on the bus, still smoking his cigarette, with hardly any windows open for some fresh air. Finally, he threw a paper and his cigarette butt out of his window while driving.
To finish off the bus ride, he decided to gargle and spit out for one final time. In addition, he was in conversation on his mobile phone throughout the trip.
When is public transport ever going to improve? And where are the transport authorities to check these things out?___________________________________________

Before the company have a fit I should point out that the local paper is the Times Of Malta and not the Herald Express.

First Day Back at Work

Tuesday, after having been away for nine days, it was back to work. 5 mins after I had started it was like I had never been away.

Not much happened really.

In the morning a young man got on the bus in Paignton and half showed me what appeared to be a pass and started to walk down the bus to find a seat. Something about the way he did it suggested that all was not right so I called him back. I would have called him back in any case as I like to make sure that all tickets and passes people show me are valid. This some times upsets some passengers but in the end it is their money I am protecting. When someone steals some thing from Tescos they are really stealing from all the other people who shop in Tescos. When someone steals a bus ride they are stealing from the people they are sitting next to on the bus.

Anyway, the pass, a Torbay MegaRider was dated 10 Oct 05 and to day is the 11th. I pointed this out and the young man protested that he had bought it earlier in the day. I gently told him that as the ticket was out of date I could not carry him. He still maintianed that he had bought it that morning. I suggested that he take it over to our Travel Shop, handily situated in the bus station, and they would tell him what to do. I was much to polite to tell him what to do. And company rules forbid me from telling him what to do.

He got off the bus and wandered in the direction of the Travel Shop but as I drove out of the bus station I noticed he was heading back towards the bus stop to try his luck on the next bus. So I got on the radio and warned all following bus drivers to watch out for him. I wonder how long he stood there before digging into his pocket and paying his fare like the rest of the passengers.

In the afternoon after my meal break the bus I was taking over was 20 mins late but no problem, so was the bus in front of me.

Back to Work

Well I have just had a weeks holiday and by good fortune Sunday and Monday were rest days. But it's back to work to morrow.

While I have been away the fares have gone up to cover the rising cost of fuel. Those of you who ride on our buses will know that lots of fares end in 5p. Return Torquay to Paignton used to be £2.75. The problem with this is that holders of the Devon Wide Concessionary Pass pay half fare. Half of £2.75 = £1.37 and a half pence. The government got rid of half pence coins back in the 70 s so the fare is £1.37.

Passenger tenders a five pound note. Driver has to fish about in his cash tray for 1p coin, 2p coin, a10p coin, a fifty pence coin and 3 one pound coins; all of which takes time especially as the cash trays only have 4 compartments so some compartments have to contain coins of different value.

Here was a chance to get rid of copper by rounding all the fares up or down to the nearest 10p and helping us to spent less time giving out change and more time on time. However today I went for a ride on a bus into Paignton and soon realized that lots of fares still ended in 5p. Maybe when the cost of fuel goes down and the fares are reduced they will take this radical step of getting rid of fares that end in 5p.