Thursday and Friday

When I came back to work on Tuesday after the New Year I had a very quiet day. Good, thinks me, a few easy days is just what the Doc ordered. Wednesday was a bit busier but still OK. Then on Thursday road works started in Newton. At lunch time I was just working my way through the temp traffic lights when the radio crackled into life and a driver reported an accident at the Arch, half way between Newton and Torquay; just where I was heading. He also said the road was partly block but traffic was getting through slowly. A mile up the road and long enough for the police to have arrived at the scene, and all I could see for a mile in front of me was standing traffic. So, I decided to spread the bad news around and let Paignton Control know that I hadn't moved for 5 mins. Paignton Control were indifferent to my plight. Forty mins later I reported to control that I had reached the scene of the accident but should actually be in Paignton changing drivers. Paignton was still 45 mins drive away. Also the number 12 in front of me had managed to get past the crash site before the police had arrived and had only been delayed about 10 mins. Me, I ended up 50 mins late so there was a big gap in front of me. By the time I got to Paignton I was due to go out on the second half of my shift in 23 mins. But I have to have a 30 min break by law. As there were no spare drivers left by this time I just went out 10 mins late and spent the rest of the shift fending off questions like, "Why are you late?", "Where are all the buses." Which by the time you have answered them you are even later still.



That was Thursday, on Friday I did the same duty and morning went by with no problems, lunch went by with no problems, then early afternoon someone knocked some scaffolding down in Newton Bus Station and the place was closed for an hour while all the poles were moved out of the way and buses were all over the place. Then at one stage I picked up 40 students from South Devon College followed by 40 pupils from Paignton Community College plus 10 others and was heading for the bus station where any other 50 passengers awaited me when this happened. An other of the "I can park anywhere."brigade.

As the controller said when I reported the problem, "That's all we need." I bet he was thinking a little more that that. I know I was. When the driver turned up he did say "Sorry, didn't know buses came down here."

There is a story in the local paper about the scaffolding and how it came to be knocked down. The photo shows the scaffolding and a parked car on the other side of the exit road. The car wasn't there on Friday, it was a van that was parked there. An other contributing factor is the length of time it has taken for the toilet block to be built. I have a photo of the silver birch tree cut down in September and the first photo showing building going on was taken Oct 25. For a building 10 feet by 10 feet by 12 feet high that seems pretty slow. If the Great Wall of China had been built at this speed it would be a mile and a half long and not visible from the next hill never mind from space.

Not a great deal of room here for a double decker.

National Express Coach Crash

My thoughts as I write this to night are on the National Express Coach crash that occurred last night near Heathrow. There is little I can say except to express my sorry at this tragic event.

Controllers may be wonderful but Contractors.......?

Yesterday we were having trouble getting out of Long Road in Paignton. This was because the contractors who had set up the temp traffic lights at the road works had never driven a bus and had left us with just enough room to get though provided we drove at half a mile and hour and didn't mind getting 2 inches away from an oil drum with 100 pounds of concrete in it.

In the afternoon the controller in Paignton reported that the contractors had been contacted and the situation would be resolved.

To day at 12 moon I got to the lights and nothing had changed. (As in top photo.) So I stuck my head out of the window while waiting for the lights to change and explained the problem to the site foreman, a sympathetic sounding gentleman who promised to move the offending oil drum, which is holding up one of the traffic lights.

35 mins later I got back and the oil drum had been moved about 6 inches back and the barrier on the right had moved about the same back. A big help, two or 3 feet would have been better.

Long Road Road Works

The council are improving the junction with Long Rd and the Ring Rd. Long Rd is where the College is and at the moment the College is still off for Christmas but will be back any day. As you can see in the photo the contractors doing the work have put a few signs up to direct the traffic round the works.

The problem is that they have never driven a bus and have no idea how much room we need to get the bus round the road works. The blue sign is hiding a 25 gallon oil drum full of concrete and is about 3 inches from the side of the bus as we drive by. Next problem is it is taking us so long to drive by that the lights on the Ring Road are changing before we get across, and the ring road is fairly wide so we have to watch out for traffic setting off and finding a bus in their way. Third problem is that it is taking us so long to get through the lights that we are the only vehicle getting through before the lights change, at the moment this isn't a problem but once College starts back there will be a very large jam of people trying to get out of Long Rd who will all blame the buses.

Any way, I had a word with the duty controller at Paignton Bus Station and he fixed things. He rang the contractors and they are going to have a look at the situation and see what they can do.

Aren't controllers wonderful?

Doesn't Time Fly

Well, well, well. Jan 2nd already. Doesn't time fly when you are having fun. If that is true then I must have had a lot of fun in 2006 as it seemed to last about 3 weeks. OK, one or two comments about 2006 before it vanishes into the pages of history and the mists of time.

First, not to be too alarmist about it, it was the hottest year on record since records began some time in the 16th century. Roll on Global Warming.

I had 8 weeks holiday which was nice as we are only supposed to get 5 weeks. Don't worry I only get 2 weeks this year just to redress the balance. One of the problems with the way our holiday rota is set up.

I only had one accident last year but that means I wont get a good driver certificate and the £25 gift voucher that goes with it, just because a stupid, expensive, bus shelter jumped out in front of me.

I worked 226 days last year and I carried 49664 passengers, an average of 220 per day and I would like to thank almost all of them and hope they continue to travel by bus and tell all their friends how wonderful it is,I also hope about 200 of them got a Christmas present in the shape of a book called, "How to travel by bus without throwing rubbish all over the floor, drinking beer and spilling it all over the floor, singing and shouting, not having any money, trying to ride without a ticket, not knowing which direction the bus is going in, thinking the bus driver is there to be verbally abused, etc,etc." and about 10 of them discover the joy of travelling by bike, taxi, police car, ambulance or even walking in 2007.

The Photo. Well I have to start the year as I mean to go on and have a go at the Local Council. Rubbish round her is usually collected on a Friday. The council didn't tell us they weren't going to collect it last Friday so it has been there since Friday (to day is Tuesday), maybe they will come next Friday. I live in Hope.

Best wishes to all in 2007.