Local Transit Driver Oops

[Buffalo SpaceShip]

I had to chuckle over this one in my morning paper today...

[H3Jim]

Ouch, nice high center job. 
That would ruin your whole day.  Wonder when the driver's next raise WAS scheuled for.

[Jeremy]

I live in a fairly hilly area, with lots of narrow roads and sharp corners (actually it's the edge of the Derbyshire Peak District, which is a designated area of outstanding natural beauty etc etc). The local news regularly has items about buses that have lost control at corners, gone through the sides of houses etc. Usually the passengers are fine, but the driver isn't as there is nothing but a large sheet of glass between him and whatever he's about to hit.

Jeremy

[TomC]

Personally saw a Van Hool coming out of a McDonalds in Orlando, Fla that got high centered on the rear skid plates.  He was stuck with the drive wheels in the air.  You'd think an experienced bus driver, especially a Van Hool with its' long back overhang, would know to come out of the driveway at an angle.  If ever in doubt, back out at an angle-works much better than driving out straight.  Good Luck, TomC

[RJ]

Somebody's gonna get an LOR!  (Union-speak for a slap on the wrist. . .)

I suspect that RTD will be revising it's pick-up procedure at that stop after this little incident.

Thanks for sharing, Brian

[Buffalo SpaceShip]

I suspected you'd have something to say about this, Russ. You've probably seen your share of bumbling drivers and their misdeeds, eh?! 

What I don't get is why the bus was inside the Park-n-Ride lot to begin with. The lot abuts a very busy US highway and has its own bus lane on the highway for passenger pickup. Here's a map of the area. I can't imagine that it's procedure to have a driver back a bus across the two-lane road to turn it around. What should involve a multi-point turnaround looks like was tried to do straight back. And you'd think the the driver would have felt the tags go over the pavement long before the drives followed suit.

Not that I have much to feel superior about after the "house incident"... but, I'm clearly not a paid professional. 

I guess we're still waiting for... "the rest of the story."

bb

[muddog16]

I would venture to bet that that area in front of the drive wheels is the most abused area on a bus, I know mine was damaged there, when I replaced most of the chassis in that area i was amazed it had to be stuck like that several times! Anyone else notice this on theirs? 

Pat

[NJT5047]

Anyone know what the model of the bus is?  Looks like a 102A3, but has C3 look on rear?  Were C3s supplied with stainless...or is it a 102 with a new rear cap?  Or is it something else? 
JR

[RJ]

Hmmmm. . . looking at the Google link, it begins to make sense - may have been an experienced driver, but someone who was unfamiliar with the route.

At least he didn't try to bend that forty-footer around the cars parked in the lot at the east end!

Hey Runcutter & BusWarrior, whaddayathink?

[NJT5047]

I got it.  Looks like a 102.  Updated cap...C3s don't have the rad grills....do they?  
JR

[tekebird]

That would be a 102DL3 with the SS option.

Most transit agencies are getting the SS as it has a lower maint cost.......a slightly dinged SS door doesn't look as bad as the fiberglass one with the same impact.

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Yes Tekebird,

A DL3.....

Nick-

[belfert]

That would be a 102DL3 with the SS option.

Most transit agencies are getting the SS as it has a lower maint cost.......a slightly dinged SS door doesn't look as bad as the fiberglass one with the same impact.

Are the D4500 and D4505s still available with the SS option?  The local transit agency started using D4500s a few years ago and they got the full paint option.  The D4500 is basically a slightly updated DL3.  I think only a trained bus spotter could tell the difference between a DL3 and a D4500 if the ignored the label on the driver side.

I noticed the D4505 has been updated with a new front end.  It now looks very much like the E4500 and J4500 on the front.

Brian Elfert

[Runcutter]

First thing that comes to mind is an Extra Board driver or someone working his/her day off.  As Russ says, unfamiliar with the route, or maybe running late.  Other options include fatigue, etc.  I don't think any of the contractors are running the MCI's, but I could be wrong.  Some of the contractors (and possibly others) have been known to put brand new drivers, just out of training, on the Extra Board - arguably the most difficult job in the barn.  It could also be someone used to transits, that just lost track of the extra 5 feet (looks like a 45) and the change in ground clearance.

From experience, one wrong turn can quickly multiply into bad decisions - what the heck do I do now.  Denver has good turn signs for drivers (trailblazers), but its still easy to make the wrong turn - especially if this happened in the morning dark. 

Frankly, that's why I never cared to drive charters - expecially in the tight confines of New England towns.  One charter was taking folks from the Irish Catholic church to a dinner theater.  For some reason, I was at the French Catholic church a couple of blocks away.  Wrong Saint.  Kept calling DS on radio - "where are they" - his response was they were there, couldn't see me either.  When the light came on, realizing I was at the wrong church, I discovered that I could get a 4905 into 3rd gear in less than a block - it just took the right motivation.  I'm sure that my concern about getting them to their event also negatively affected my driving for the rest of the trip. 

Thirty or so years later, taking the mother-in-law to New Brunswick, first trip with the 4107, I didn't think I could make it into her sister's apartment complex.  Driving a 4107, but still thinking of the turning characteristics of a 4905.  (Start your turn 3 blocks or so _after_ passing the corner.)

Looked when I got there, and decided not to risk it.  Dropped M-I-L off at a bus bench, and went to park the bus.  The place my wife remembered - couldn't see it from the road, again too risky.  Ended up in downtown Moncton, trying to turn around.  GPS showed a main cross street, leading to Main St.  OK, let's try it.  By this time, I'd already lost a few ounces in persperation, because M-I-L was on a bus bench 3 miles behind us - and I was in my first deck and a half in 28 years.

Made the turns, taking Main St. back to the diagonal - when I "just happened to notice" the 3 meter/10 foot clearance sign.  Forced to take the next right turn, fortunately it worked.  However, my focus on the Mother in Law sitting at the bus stop, could easily have turned into bad decisions or really getting trapped. 
 
I have a newspaper photo in my files of a 4512 stuck under a 10' bridge (Manchester St, Lawrence MA).  My scanners don't seem to want to work, but I'll try again later.  Driver was on his regular (headstart-young kids) route.  As I recall, he normally used a schoolbus, or one of the other 4512's.  Unfortunately, this day he had one of the 3 that had (at least until that day), rear rooftop air conditioning.  A/C jammed under the bridge, photo shows the front tires in the air.

Story goes that a girl living near the bridge used to go paint a little truck on the bridge, every time it claimed a new victim.  I never found out if she painted a bus for this one.

The moral of the stories, for all of us, is that one "oops" can easly mushroom/multiply, just read some NTSB air and rail accident reports.  Stop and think, pause when agitated or doubtful, are better alternatives (at least I have to remember them).  My alternative is to remember Wile E Coyote, "Gee, that should have worked."

Arthur Gaudet   Carrollton, TX 

[gumpy]

Story goes that a girl living near the bridge used to go paint a little truck on the bridge, every time it claimed a new victim.  I never found out if she painted a bus for this one.

I know a guy that has little cars painted on the side of his bus for the same reason. Unfortunately, I think he's up to 4 or 5 now. I'm not naming names, though. He knows who he is