Driver Fired Following Serious Incident.

I came across this little story while surfing the net:-

Police: Bus driver tosses complaining rider into traffic

Thursday, February 9, 2006
PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (AP)

A transit bus driver grabbed a woman by the hair, knocked her head into a pole, opened the door and tossed her into traffic after she yelled at him for missing her stop, police said.
The 52-year-old woman, who was not identified, suffered a broken shoulder.
Bus driver Mario Edney, 53, was arraigned Thursday on aggravated assault and other charges, said Officer Jillian Russell, a police spokeswoman. He was being held on $2,000 bail.
Edney said he had to skip the woman's stop Wednesday morning because of a detour, police said.
Transit officials intend to fire Edney, who has been suspended without pay, following a hearing, said Richard Maloney, a spokesman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.

Now you really could expect to be fired for doing something like that.

Now this IS interesting.

BUS LANE PLAN FOR CONGESTED ROAD (from the Herald Express)

11:00 - 23 February 2006

Bus lanes could be incorporated into one of the Westcountry's most congested roads. Highway engineers are drawing up a scheme to speed up bus times along the Torquay to Newton Abbot main road - Stagecoach's busiest route, where buses are often caught in snarl-ups, causing commuters and schoolchildren to be late. Devon County Council has come up with a £125,000 project to incorporate short stretches of bus, taxi, HGV and cycle lanes at Kingskerswell, where highway engineers will unveil the proposals to a parish council meeting on Monday.

What ever you do; Don't Hold Your Breath.

What this streach of road needs is a bye pass, not

£125 000 wasting on it. The only way a bus lane would work is if it went from Scotts Bridge all the way to

Penn Inn on both sides of the road and there just isn't enough room for that and it would cost a lot more than £125 000.

Cold, wet, miserable, slow and Half Term

This week just gone has been cold, wet, windy and miserable. It has also been half term for the local school children, poor dears. Well by Friday afternoon, after the chaos of the previous days road closures, the traffic was extremely light. So light in fact we were having to stop and wait time at every timing point we came too. The alternative would be to drive along the road at 5 mph. I don't like following buses that are crawling along the road at 5 mph and I don't expect anyone else does either. So you end up at timing point early. Dead boring for the driver and the passengers on the bus. Now you can drive on early if you want, There is no body standing there stopping you. Problem with this is one of the few people in the Bay who actually can read and understand our timetables (1) will turn up just after the bus has driven off and get on the phone to complain. Given the fact that the bus company view running early as not a nice thing to do and that the company keep notes about drivers who do not nice things and if you do too many not nice things they have been know in the recent past to suggest in very strong terms that you find an other job.

Anyway, I digress. At one timing point on Cary Parade in Torquay some one got so bored waiting that they decided to take it out on one of the bus seats. With a knife. A few stops later when he got off the bus an other passenger came running up to me, very excited, and told me what had happened. I am not sure what they expected me to do. Perhaps to jump off the bus and chase the slasher, wrestle him to the ground and hold him in an arm lock while shouting, " I am making a Citizens Arrest." and waiting for the police to arrive. This guy was not an unloved teenager but in his mid thirties of unkempt appearance and 6 foot 2 ins and sporting several tattoos(4) and carrying a knife(5). I used the radio to inform control.

Note (1) If you do wish to join this happy band of people who can read and understand our timetables, please phone South Devon College and ask them if they run a Timetable Reading and Understanding Course. If enough people do phone then may they will run such a course. They could do with the students. If they don't then you could phone our head office and ask some one there how to explain how the timetables work and what you have to do to qualify for the free magnifying glass(2)

Note (2)Have you seen one of our timetables (3).

Note (3) Our Managing director once described timetables as getting the most information possible on the smallest piece of paper possible.
Most of the information on a timetable is of absolutely no interest to you. If you are in Torquay you really don't need to know what time the bus left Brixham at, or Broadsands or Paignton Bus Station or Preston Shelter. All you need is when the next bus is due ( allegedly) at this stop.

Note (4) I am not suggesting for a moment that tattoos = seat slasher.

Note (5) I am suggest that someone carrying a knife = dangerous and should be avoided. And/or spend some time as a guest of Queen Liz 2. Though not actually in Buck House, somewhere up on Dartmoor would be just as nice.

Mladic

Punishing people for crimes, especially murder doesn't bring back the dead. It rarely stops any one else from committing the crime other wise no one would go out one day and kill 9ooo people. In that sense it is an act of revenge. Well when we punish that bastard Mladic it is an act of revenge I wish wasn't needed but will take a small amount of satisfaction from.

Crash on the Newton Road.

Let me start we an apology. If you were waiting for a 12/12A or X46 to day between midday and about 6:00pm and you had a long wait I am very sorry. It wasn't our fault but I am sorry if you were inconvenienced, Especially as it was such a cold and miserable day.

What happened was some one was driving down Coffinswell Lane towards the Newton Road just North of Kingskerswell with the intention of either turning left and going to Torquay or turning right and going to Newton. As they reached the junction with the Newton Road they suffered a heart attack and carried straight on over the main road and ended up in the hedge on the other side of the road. I went past only a few minutes after this had happened and the police and ambulance had arrived. The accident turned out to be fatal the police had to close the road while photos and measurements where taken. I went through and continued to Paignton on time but all the buses behind me were held up for well over an hour. Even after the road was opened it took several hours for the backlog of traffic to clear. Buses were running over an hour late and drivers were running out of driving hours and in the wroung place for their breaks. One of the problems with the Newton Road is that there is no other way into Torquay from the North so if the road is closed chaos ensures. An other problem we had to day was the fact the the Rail line between Newton and Torquay and Paignton is being repaired and rail passengers are having to travel by bus between these points. Double chaos on such a miserable day for all concerned.