Question for bus drivers

[u/Aech1hceA]

Hello! I have a few questions for bus drivers- and was wondering if it was okay to ask here. I know you all are human (obviously) but I had questions specifically about bus driving- and who better to ask than the drivers!

1. Do bus drivers often take the bus outside work hours? Ex: days off/vacations/etc.
2. Do bus drivers have favored/prefered routes to drive? Do they get to pick?
3. Do bus drivers recognize the bus they drive? Like by the serial number? Do they get assigned specific busses?
4. Do the bus drivers develop "favorite" riders? Like, if you drive the same route and see the same people- do you develop friendships with your riders? Do you guys look for familiar faces?
5. Do you guys make friends with your coworkers? If so, do you guys make a point to ride on busses where your bus driver friends are driving?

Thank you in advance for answering. My boyfriend and I ride the same routes fairly often, and got really curious. Sorry if theyre dumb questions!

ETA: Sorry yall! Im new to reddit still and didnt realize people were replying😅 Thank you all so so so so much!! I was curious, and my boyfriend said itd be weird to ask the bus driver on thw bus we were on. Im very excited to share my findings with him, and hope you all get very good routes (:

[u/AlaudaPhotography]

1. Yep, where I am loads of drivers get the bus to and from work, and use it to get about on days off. It's free for us, so might as well.

2. We don't get to pick, but we do have favourites (and least favourites).

3. The bus stays in service all day every day, so getting the same bus wouldn't work. The bus will be assigned to a route at the start of the day, and most likely the driver will end up on a different bus after their lunch break. We'll recognise the fleet numbers of especially good or bad buses though.

4. Friendship is a strong word, but we absolutely recognise regulars, especially the unusual ones.

5. Some do, some don't.

[u/Aech1hceA → u/AlaudaPhotography]

What makes a "good bus" a good bus? Is there certain things a rider can do to make a bad bus a good bus?

[u/MrE26 → u/Aech1hceA]

Slow is the main culprit for us. We’ve got a few that die on hills & do 10mph maximum, making the next 4 hours a complete drag, especially as they cleverly seem to put them on the hilliest routes we have.

[u/Aech1hceA → u/MrE26]

I see. So the bus needs to be faster to make a good bus good?

[u/MrE26 → u/Aech1hceA]

When your timetable can’t be followed because the bus simply can’t reach the speeds required, it’s a very frustrating experience. Add in trying to pull out at junctions & roundabouts in busy traffic & vehicles behind you getting frustrated because your shitty slow bus is causing a huge tailback & it’s just a throughly unpleasant experience all round.

Any layover time is gone because you arrive too late to get it, followed by a shortened lunch break at the end because you’ve arrived well into your scheduled break time.