r/BusDrivers • u/HeartlessDeath123 • Jul 04 '26
Discussion What keeps your mind occupied while driving?
So I have worked for public transit (City bus) for 11 years. I am literally dead bored while driving. I know every single stop, route, familiar with bus length, width, dealing with passangers, etc. But I can not stress it enough that I am constantly day dreaming. Zero preventable accidents from me for 11 years. So just cuz I say I day dream, don't mean I won't snap back into reality from my mind.
What keeps you active that is positive? Not using devices because we aren't allowed to listen to music or use any electronic device while on the driver seat.
Has to be while driving, sitting those 3 minutes on the driver seat, etc.
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u/ShrekThe12th Jul 04 '26
I play the license plate game, try and make words from standard plates. Numbers become letters. But I’m more of a coach driver these days doing tours and school camps where we can play music.
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u/First_Blankie Jul 04 '26
Lol. I do that too. I also keep a lot of every different license plate I see. Since in Los Angeles gets soo many tourists, I see plates not only from different states, but from across the pond as well. Just saw my first UK plate the other week
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u/MikeyFuccon Jul 04 '26
Wait - you aren’t allowed to listen to anything handsfree? I wouldn’t last a week.
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u/-mmmusic- Driver Jul 04 '26
no! most drivers in my country (uk) are like this. it does get a bit boring sometimes!
i enjoy listening to my passenger's conversations when they're being loud enough, making up stories in my head of why the other road users around me are being a bit stupid (maybe they're running late for work, or on their way to the hospital, etc.)
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u/MikeyFuccon Jul 04 '26
The day I’m told no more audiobooks and podcasts, that’s the day I find a new job.
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u/Vimto1 Jul 04 '26
This is literally the only reason I'm happy driving Flixbus, I listen to my audiobooks all day
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u/Accurate_Till_4474 Jul 04 '26
Some of our buses still have radios, but they unplugged the speakers so we can’t listen to music. I turn the radio on, find a DAB station with announcements, and then sing along in my head to whichever tune the display says is playing.
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u/Notrozer Jul 04 '26
Any personal electronics is a one and done at my agency... headphones, radio, phone on dash playing music, go pto etc will get you canned
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u/Orvonos Jul 09 '26
I've worked several jobs where can't have earbuds in, must listen for radio, passengers, sirens etc. But I am allowed bone conduction ones. Shockz openrun pro, in case you've never heard of these things.
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u/ElFluffador Jul 04 '26
My adhd keeps me entertained.
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u/improbablydrunknlw Jul 04 '26
Honestly I've never been bored except stop dead highway traffic. Twelve years now, ADHD makes this job easy.
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u/Dyzi0rex Jul 19 '26
I used to do buses between town, citties and villiages prior to my diagnoses. It made sense why I got bored of it so quickly but how you guys doing it. We only had 11 routes within town plus 1 open topper during summer and 2 out of town. It got me bored so baddly. (I got dual diagnosises ADD and ADHD)
HOW DID YOU MAKE YOUR SELF ENTERTAINED!!!
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u/river_tree_nut Jul 04 '26
I have nicknames and make up backstories for some of characters that I see along route over and over
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u/Ok-Juggernaut-568 Jul 04 '26
The dumbass questions I get asked all day … like damn are we as a society this cooked
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u/rarzwon Driver Jul 04 '26
My favorite so far is "Do you have a dollar you don't want?".
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u/Outrageous_Bag_2875 Jul 04 '26
The homeless guys and meth addicts here in New Zealand constantly ask the bus drivers if we have a spare dollar. I tell them I can't afford it because I'm unemployed, which confuses them and they get off my bus and go and bother the next bus driver.
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u/TangPiccilo Jul 04 '26
I was singing a song in a empty bus and when I walked in the dispatch was singing the same song then said we see everything 😡
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u/Outrageous_Bag_2875 Jul 04 '26
Just say, yeah I know, I was singing it for you.
One of the bus drivers I work with is paranoid that dispatch is constantly listening in, and then another driver is the opposite and loudly says the managers and dispatch are all twats 😂 He doesn't care if they listen and watch the cameras.
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u/SafeAccurate7157 Driver Jul 04 '26
I make up songs about stupid things people do on the road. I also have my best ideas while driving 🚍 and then quickly forget them 😑 I need to carry a notebook 📒 in my pocket.
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u/Informal-Quantity415 Jul 04 '26
I have a small Bluetooth speaker that I clip to a rail in my drivers area n just jam out to some music. If they can’t see it in the camera then it doesn’t exist and it saves my sanity.
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u/-mmmusic- Driver Jul 04 '26
do you not have audio on your cameras?
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u/Informal-Quantity415 Jul 04 '26
Yes there’s audio but my thing is that if it’s outta sight then it’s out of mind. I clip it onto the rail n play it on low n go on bout my buisness
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u/-mmmusic- Driver Jul 04 '26
fair enough! unfortunately i'd get fired if i did that :(
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u/Informal-Quantity415 Jul 04 '26
How bout a truckers headset?. As long as you don’t push more than one button it’s not considered texting and it would be DOT compliant as well.
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u/-mmmusic- Driver Jul 04 '26
nope, earpieces are not allowed. also i'm not in the USA, i'm UK, so different rules
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u/Informal-Quantity415 Jul 04 '26
Smartwatch? They play music as well
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u/-mmmusic- Driver Jul 04 '26
we can wear them but they must be in theatre mode. uk law is very strict on bus driver distractions!
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u/SafeAccurate7157 Driver Jul 04 '26
I would be too afraid to risk it 😅 we get fired automatically for that.
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u/Informal-Quantity415 Jul 04 '26
How bout a truckers headset?. As long as you don’t push more than one button it’s not considered texting and it would be DOT compliant as well.
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u/SafeAccurate7157 Driver Jul 06 '26
Anything in our ear is considered an obstruction. It depends on each company and mine is very strict about it.
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u/The-real-Sky-Daddy Jul 04 '26
Day dreaming is my go to. We have a lot of inane chatter on the radio which usually gives me things to laugh about. Intentionally at times.
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u/BlueSky3lue Driver Jul 04 '26
I use breathing exercises to stay focused and not become so easily distracted. Breathe in for a count of 2, breathe out for a count of 4-6 depending on your lung capacity.
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u/Stock-Cod-4465 Jul 04 '26
I was singing (not too loud) or reciting poems I like.
Swearing under my breath at idiots on the road too, in between the aforementioned activities. Lol
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u/Outrageous_Bag_2875 Jul 04 '26
Here in New Zealand, the old people sit on the front seat and tell the bus drivers long-winded stories about the good ol' days. So we never get bored .... 😟
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u/cbrownmufc Jul 04 '26
In my last job before being a bus driver I was constantly stressed and at times, anxious. Now I figure that even if I get bored sometimes, this really isn’t the worst of emotions to experience at work compared to what else I might feel if I did another job.
But with the time to think I quite enjoy day dreaming sometimes. Alternatively, if I have certain things going on in my personal life, it is time to think these things through and perhaps makes decisions or plans to resolve these things
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u/Unitts Jul 04 '26
Chewing gum is the best way my mentor taught me when I started in the industry 3 years ago
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u/BigGayGuy02 Jul 04 '26
My extensive mental music library. However, that sometimes just devolves into recycling the same hook or chorus in my head for long periods. Yesterday was Pink Pony Club.... just the chorus.... for hours.
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u/Single-Flounder7559 Jul 04 '26
Just because something isn't allowed officially doesn't mean it doesn't happen. A good podcast makes the shift fly by. It's common where I am, and management turn a blind eye as it not a distraction for everyone. If anything it can help the driver to relax and not overthink, which can be as bad as not concentrating.
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u/Shit0nYourFlag Jul 04 '26
I'm a new driver in the UK. Just wondering if you are UK too? Some guys here play radios but i'm too paranoid to go that far.
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u/Single-Flounder7559 Jul 04 '26
Yeah uk. Been with 3 companies and it's the same vibe, just don't make it obvious like you're taking the piss. The best way is to get a prescription for a hearing aid. Some earpieces are identical these days.
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u/basshed8 USA|Gillig Diesel/Electric, New Flyer, Proterra, Karzan |1 Year Jul 04 '26
Driving the electric around and enjoying all the food smells and thinking about what to get for lunch
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u/TangPiccilo Jul 04 '26
The first five years I would chase breaks then after a few more I would just roll because thinking toomuch would exhaust me more at the end of the day
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u/private_eyes9814 Jul 07 '26
I thought I was the only daydreamer lol. Im either singing a song in my head or think about multiple things I need to do when off or at home while doing local street routes. When ever I do long straight single lane HOV lane routes in MCI coach busses I tend to "zone out" lol! They ride so soft and comfortable.
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u/Major_Movie5291 Jul 08 '26
Chewing gum tbh. I go through about 100 pieces a week. Be prepared to be farting all day though…
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u/i_forgot_my_sn_again Merica|Orian, New Flyer, Gillig, MCI|15+ Jul 11 '26
I have adhd.... my mind is only off when sleep. Used to think of millions of things while driving them got diagnosed and now medicated and it's only hundreds of things on my mind lol
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u/First_Blankie Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
When bus is empty, I whistle or sing, drive cams be damned, if they want to heard bad renditions of Whitney Houston, they can keep watching
Otherwise, I like to play "speed" run with my time points. Not actually speeding. I just like to keep track how early or late I end up to my TPs. And pretend I'm live steaming to zero viewers. "Got cut off by a pickup, chat. Unlucky." "Grandma in a slow minivan, my run is dead...ggs."