A little while back I noted with sadness the end of the road for a much loved, well much used by me, bus stop on the Newton Road. This is it's replacement. The local council (1) moved it about 200 yards, (that's 200 metres if you live in a more advanced part of the world) down the road. They said the old stop was in an unsafe place close to some traffic lights.
It is still a timing point and drivers still change over here. The bus you can see is having it's driver changed. A bit like having a nappy changed, it can be messy. This change was messy. Now some drivers when they are finishing or going for their break are out of the cab in about 5 seconds flat and in 10 seconds are about half a mile away from the bus. Not that I am in any way suggesting that they are glad to see the back of the bus. These drivers don't even want to see the back of the bus, they just walk away without even looking at the back of the bus.
Other drivers are not quiet so enthusiastic about leaving the bus. They like to spend as long as possible explaining to the new driver exactly what has gone wrong so far that day and what is likely to go wrong with the rest of the day. When they finally dragged, kicking, screaming and saying,"And one last thing.........." out of the cab, the new driver then has to adjust the seat and the steering wheel, hang his cash tray on the hooks provided and put his module in the ticket machine and press a few keys, 38 keys actually to set the machine up so it is capable of issuing tickets; which is of course it's one ambition in life.
If you are taking over and driver you are taking over from is of the, "let me out of here," group then you can be on your way in a couple of minutes. Which can seem a life time to all those drivers sat behind the bus waiting. Why are they there you ask, why didn't they just pull round the bus when it stopped I can hear you saying. Well a hundred yards ahead there is a set of traffic lights. At these lights the left lane goes straight on and the right lane has to turn right. So the drivers behind don't want to pull out into the right lane in case the can not get back into the left lane and they are forced to take the right turn and end up miles from home and lost. They also don't know the bus is having it's nappy changed and expect it will drive away after only a few seconds. Poor fools. If the driver you are taking over from is in the group that don't care if the ever get out of the cab then the couple of minutes can easily drag on into a real life time.
Since this stop moved here we are certainly not making any friends in the car and white van driving community here in Torbay.
Footnote (1) The local council decide where bus stops go here in the UK.
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