All about me and driving a bus for MK Metro/ARRIVA Milton Keynes

I’m currently sat in my bus on a break as I type this. My head is spinning with thoughts, and if I don’t spill to someone soon I’m gonna go mad. Seeing as I aint gonna see anyone till tonight I’m putting them on here, Just to clear my head more than anything else.

(This is my excuse for why this post might not seem that joined up and slightly all over the place

It’s my last day on the 200 today.

Well from this coming Monday I will no longer working at Arriva Aylesbury as I’m transferring to MK Metro.

Bus after a couple of petty and childish incidents with a few of the older Metro drivers in the past two days I’m starting to have second thoughts…

Argh I just don’t know..

I’ve really struggled for the past six months trying to make my mind up if I wanted to transfer and now I just don’t know what to think, At the moment I have this horrible feeling that it’s gonna be a re-run of 2005

Still not a lot I can do now so just gonna have to make the best of it.

How comes other bus companies seized the opportunity to advertise bus travel during the summer when petrol prices were sky high, Yet we finally tag along six months later when prices start to drop LOL.

I really don’t understand why we take so long to do stuff like that!

Harry, The other Aylesbury driver who’s over at Milton Keynes, who normally covers my breaks, Is leaning against my bus, While I’m sat in the cab.

I’m telling him that the bus I’ve got seems to have major Wheel Wobble..

Me: All the yellow wheel markers are in the right place aint they Harry?

Harry: Yeah

<Bent over old woman with compulsory trolley walks by and mutters something, Me & Harry assume it’s not directed at us>

Me (To Harry): Hmm I wonder what’s…

Old Woman (To me): SHUT UP! I am asking a question

<Harry Looks at me, I look at him, Old woman starts to mumble her question again>

Me: Harry, Get on my bus

Me (To Old woman): WE ARE NOT INTERESTED <Close Doors>

And people wonder why I’m not a fan of OAP’s!

Another week passes where not alot happens :/

A bus stop has appeared by the fancy new Sainsbury’s in Central Milton Keynes, by “The Hub”. The timetable states that is is valid from Monday, 6th October and has times for the route 7/7E….. Pity noone seemed to tell MK Metro about this new stop and route change as they were still sending their buses the old route for all of this week. It’s great to see the Council and Bus Company working together! LOL

Still no sign of our new buses at Aylesbury. We’re now being told that they are in the wrong shade of blue and have all got to be repainted, A bit embarrasing to be repainting brand new buses, But hardly surprising either

Nothing at all has happened on the 200 this week. While waiting my time at the City Centre on Friday afternoon I seemed to make a new friend who wanted to tell me everything thats wrong with MK Metro & Arriva buses and that their were 72 speed ramps on the number 9 route. I just nodded and grunted til it was time to go.

MK Metro seem to have gained an old The Shires Trident, I think it was new at Southend, But not sure. Anyway it caught fire quite a while back and has only just reappeared after a rebuild. It’s been painted bright orange, and according to one driver it still smells “smokey”.

UPDATE:

I’ve been directed to a news website that reported on the fire of the trident, You can see the bus was in a pretty bad way which might explain why it took so long to rebuild.

You can read the newspaper article here.

Oh and highly exciting news I almost forgot to tell you all. I’ve managed to wangle myself one of the new style ARRIVA fleeces, I bet your all so so happy for me

Just a quick post about some changes.

For the past few weeks, My blog has been going offline are various points of the day, Mostly due to the Database server that hold all the posts being overloaded.

As of now the blog is with a new hosting company that should be more reliable. I’ve already noticed that the blog loads faster, So far I’m impressed.

During the move I lost the list of email addresses that were subscribed to receive an email each time i blogged about something, So these people will now need to signup again.

Cheers everyone.

James

People that know the 200 will know that it’s soooo busy we need 2 buses in tandem….

Of course thats not really the case, It just seems that the people that work out the Duty sheets haven’t realised that the 08:14 bus from Northfield is on two different duties, LOL.

Still, this is the first time since I started this route in March that I’ve actually met the bus, and followed each other all the way to town.

If you flag down a bus, and when the doors open it has one of these….

Please don’t expect the driver to be able to understand what your saying if you stand on the pavement and wisper.

If your then asked to speak up as they can’t hear you, Don’t then whisper at the very same level as before.

And once you’ve been asked a third time to speak up as the driver taps the plastic screen, Just to make sure you realise it’s there, Don’t then shout at the top of your voice in a sarcy manner.

All you have to do is talk normally at the holes in the screen, Not towards the floor or into the rest of the bus, If you do that then we can hear you just fine! Thankyou!

Lady who I don’t think was 100% walked upto my bus today

Lady: Does this bus go to the National Express Coach Station?

Me: Yes It does

Lady: Oh it does, does it?

Me: Yes

Lady: So it does go there then?

Me: Yes!

Lady: Oh right, I was waiting for the 200

Me: This is the 200

Lady: This is the 200?

Me: Yes

Lady: Oh, I thought it was the 70

Me: <looks at blind> It does say 200 on the front

Lady: Oh yeah I know, I just thought it was the 70

Me: Oh ok….. <pause> So do you want to goto the coach station?

Lady: No, Not right now thankyou

I received my Driver CPC book this week, and have been having a glance at it.

For people that don’t know, If you now want to become a Bus or Lorry Driver you now have to gain a Driver CPC as well as pass your practical Driving Test, The Theory Test and a Hazard Perception Test.

The idea is that it’s supposed to make us all safer drivers out there which is no bad thing, But having another layer of testing to get through may put people off becoming a Bus or Lorry driver, Which I don’t think it going to do either industry any good seeing as they are normally crying out for staff.

As I already have my Licence to drive a Bus and a Lorry I don’t have to “pass” this new test to carry on driving. Instead I have to work towards completing the course over the next five years. It is an ongoing thing, So you have to complete 35 hours training every five years, Which works out to roughly one day a year.

Flicking through the book it seems there is quite a bit more a person trying to get a Licence has to do compared to us people who already have them, which seems a bit unfair, But then the book says that that’s because we already have experience on the road.

Some of the things you need to know are a bit out there. At the end of the day I’m mostly interested in getting from A to B without crashing or getting any hassle, Going home roughly on time and being paid by the company. Why I would need to (or even want to) know the following things baffles me…

• “Being able to recognize and explain the nature of the Bus Company and understand different reasons why passengers travel”
• “Know who is responsible for determining bus policy and administering the system of licensing & registration”
• “Be able to understand the policy and use of concessionary fares as they apply to England – For example, That around 11 million older people in the UK are guaranteed free local bus travel”
• “Be able to understand how bus travel fits into the general travel picture and know about recent and current trends – For example, That in recent years the long-term decline in the use of local bus services in Great Britain has reversed and is now showing a steady increase, and that in 2004/2005 bus usage was 4.7% higher that 10 years earlier”

YAWN!!! Why the hell I would want to know any of that is beyond me! I’m gonna sound like a right nerd reciting that last one LOL, I’m sure all my passengers would love to hear all about what I’ve learn’t hehehe

If you want to get your own copy then you can buy one from here, and any commisson the shopping site makes goes to the Psoriasis Association

Can’t think of anything exciting happening since I last blogged so I’m gonna tell you all about the boring things instead LOL

I’ve finally ditched the Telephone Network for my Broadband and now have it coming through the air from the council. When I ordered it they said it would be a small Aerial about A4 size that would be put on the front of the house… What they didn’t mention was the great big pole lol.

Last Sunday I went to Showbus and it was the first time I’ve taken a bus, It didn’t actually rain which was a miracle!

There’s more to add to the Banking saga, But save that for another time, I can almost see Lynne/Dreamy rolling her eyes LOLOL.

If you are a regular commenter on my blog then you might be interested in this system called Gravatar.

Once you signup and upload an image of your choice, Any blog you comment on, Using the same email addy that you signed up for with Gravatar, Will display your uploaded image.

From the site (and explained in a far better way)

“What is a gravatar?
A gravatar, or globally recognized avatar, is quite simply an avatar image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on gravatar enabled sites. Avatars help identify your posts on web forums, so why not on weblogs?”

My blog is now Gravatar enabled so why not get yaself one?

http://en.gravatar.com/