In Front Of The Yellow Line

                              By Shawn Wells

                          Japanese Efficiency

I started writing my last post and it got away from me. I realized how much more I want to say about my experiences in Japan. So instead of making you read an entire novel, I decided to do what the 'Twilight'  books did with their movies and split the last part of my trilogy into 2 parts. Of course I feel dirty using 'Twilight' as an example, and even though Harry Potter did the same thing with it's SEVENTH book, the more direct comparison is, ugh, 'Twilight'. Or maybe this one will get away from me too and I'll end up pulling the Peter Jackson/Hobbit treatment and talking about Japan in three parts.

Ok... Not a movie blog. Time to move forward with:

Historical Blog 3: Tokyo Drift (Part 2)

October 7th, 2018

I'm an expert on how to use the trains in Japan now, time to test my skills. My lovely travel companion and I move on to Tokyo on a Shinkansen... The ol' Japanese bullet train. Let me tell you, that's a hell of a thing. Part VIA Rail (or Amtrak if you're American) and part, I dunno... "Land Jet" might be the way to put it (but with more leg room than an "Air Jet") this marvel travels over 300 km/hr. A smooth, fast and quiet way to travel the country. 

We had done a day trip to Yokohama (Cup Noodle Museum totally worth checking out) on our way so we didn't actually arrive in Tokyo until about 8 o'clock at night. Now, remember when I said I'm an expert at trains in Japan now? I discovered that I was still drastically unprepared for "Tokyo Station" (nice easy name to remember, finally!) Even at 8pm, this station was bustling with activity. Like the inside of a beehive. My first thought was "Holy crap! What is rush hour like?!?" Immediately I could see the difference between a city of 3 million people vs. a city of 30 million.  I had the foundation of HOW to use the trains, now I just had the new larger crowds to adapt to. And FYI, Tokyo Station is only the 8th busiest station in Japan. That's right... This was a light crowd compared to some others.

One thing I saw a lot of in Japan was places where they employed double (if not more) the amount of people to do a particular job than they would back home. For instance, back home I will see someone changing the posters in our bus shelters. They will have a long stick propping up the glass window while they change the poster. In Japan, I saw the same job being done by 3 employees at the same time. One was holding the glass up, one was washing the glass and the third changing the posters. (How many Japanese does it take to screw in a lightbulb? That wouldn't be a joke there... That would be a legitimate question.) The other employment thing that I saw a lot of was people working jobs you'd never see back home. The number one most bizarre transit related job has to be The Pusher.

Did you know that in some parts of Japan (Tokyo especially) the trains get so crowded during rush hours that they have employees whose job it is to literally push people into the trains? They help push and stuff the people inside so that the doors will close. They're shoehorns for people. (Man... I wish that was actually what their job title was! "What do you do for a living?" "I'm a shoehorn.") I'm sure there are other things in their job descriptions, but I don't know what they are. You just see a lot of official looking Japanese people patrolling around. I tried to convince my travel companion to take a ride in a shoehorn train because why not? She didn't go for it. We saw some busy trains, but not shoe horn busy. 

Here's another good one... If you there's a problem or you can't figure out how to use the ticket machine, you push the help button for assistance. You expect someone to come running from somewhere in the building or some kind of intercom system. Instead, a panel beside the ticket machine itself opens up and there's your helper, sitting in a room that's right behind the ticket machine. They employ someone to watch the machinery. I mean, it makes sense. To keep stations like that operating well, you'd want technicians and help desk people on site. But in my previous post, I mentioned how many different ticket machines there are and they aren't all in the same place. So it makes me wonder, how many Japanese people are sitting in little rooms behind ticket machines in Japan? Is it every ticket machine in the whole country? In our travels, we found ONE station in the middle of nowhere outside Kyoto that was unmanned by any employees at all. Honor system at that one. The gates aren't even plugged in.

Segue.

Previously, I also mentioned the gate keepers. More people employed to sit and watch technology do it's thing. In a way I guess they are also security or something, but there's a few of them (plus yet more official looking people milling about) at every gate. Several gates per station. Hundreds of stations per city.... That's a lot of employees! I also noticed every train had a minimum of 3 people working it. 2 that stood up front (one driver and one... "Spotter" maybe is what you'd call them? Bodyguard? I dunno) and one that rode in the other end (I'd say this would be another "spotter"... They make sure everything is clear and have their head hanging out the window). There was even one case where I saw a train with a VIP Car... When this one pulled in, 2 well dressed "Doormen" stepped out onto the platform and waited to greet passengers who have the VIP Pass while they bow at passerbys. Meanwhile, back home, our trains have one employee operating it who switches ends on the train when it's time to go the other way. 

 And the bathrooms in the subway stations. The bathrooms were as nice (if not nicer... Man I miss those Japanese wonder toilets) as just about any fancy restaurant back home. In a subway! You'd never get away with granite in a subway bathroom where I live. Some morons would ruin it for everyone. Where I live, you have to push a button and get buzzed in to the washrooms after security downtown has had a chance to see you on camera. But the Japanese have toilets that spray your butt in THEIR subway bathrooms.

In Osaka, my first day in Japan, I saw someone use an emergency assistance bell on one of the trains. Someone had passed out and collapsed on the floor of one of the cars. The emergency lights were flashing and within seconds there were 6 official looking people running towards the train. Maybe THAT'S the other thing "pushers" do. So impressive. I'm quite confident you'd never see immediate response like that where I live.

Everything talks to you in Japan. Everything plays music to you. Or that's how it seems. It's not a lot of unpleasant noise, at any rate. And a lot of things are catered to the blind which I found very cool. Throughout the cities in the high pedestrian areas, you'll find a strip of tile in the sidewalks that has grooves in it which someone with a cane can easily follow along and feel with their feet. All this stuff flowed down into the subway stations. At the bottom of the bannisters, you'd find Braille saying (presumably) last step, or something. Through one of the stations, I followed one of these paths (it's not hard, they're bright yellow and bumpy. Except in fancier districts where they use fancier tiles.) At each fork in the road, there's a tile with a different texture to warn you. I ended up coming to a bathroom (once again, I love Japanese subway bathrooms!) Outside of the bathrooms is a map on the wall showing the station (on which the bathroom I'm standing outside of is depicted on... Are you following me still?) As I step up to this map, a voice comes on overhead (must be on a sensor... Everything talks in Japan. Even the escalators.) which tells me (presumably again, because this one didn't have an English translation) about the map in front of me. The map itself, has a plexiglass cover that has Braille over the words on the map. And the bathroom, which I'm standing outside of, has a tactile map of that bathroom so you can know the layout before going in. I love the Japanese! If I was blind, I'd be able to navigate safely, listen to the little pre-recorded message (which begins with a little musical chime as if politely saying "pardon me"... Because everything plays music in Japan.) and feel my way around the bathroom before going in. Genius.

Fun fact that I learned on a open roof bus sightseeing tour of Tokyo. The amazing train system is a result of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. They needed efficient ways to transport athletes and spectators around the city so voila! The Tokyo train system was born. 

In Japan, you don't just need bullet trains to go longer distances. A lot of the town's are interconnected. We took a trip to a smaller city called Nara (where tame deer roam the park and the temple of the giant Buddha... You can feed the deer and they bow to you.) for this trip, we took a "regular" train.

In a town called Hakone (in my previous post I mentioned mispronounced Japanese words... This is pronounced "AH-ko-nay" not "HA-cone") we missed out on a gondola and boat ride because a typhoon had blown through the day before and so conditions weren't ideal and they we're closed.  So in Hakone, we traveled around by bus. That's where I found out how the payment process on a Japanese bus works (see previous post.) And bus drivers dress fancy in Japan. They get white gloves and ties and fancy police style hats. I'm actually a little jealous of drivers uniforms in Japan. I could be fancy.

 Incidentally, typhoon is one of the few things that wreaks havoc on the trains and schedules in Japan. The night of the typhoon, we had to be back in our hotel by 6 pm because the trains were going to stop running. Tokyo shut down at 6 that night. Strangely enough though, Tokyo is not an all night city. Shutting down at 6 was only 6 hours earlier than normal. Tokyo stops operating shortly after midnight. Not completely, obviously... But the trains stop running and you have to try to get on to the... Midnight train.

Earlier when I said I couldn't convince my partner to take a ride on the shoehorn train, the midnight train is one of those busy ones I referred to and one night we couldn't avoid it. We met up with a friend that was living in Japan. He showed us a cool little bar district called "Golden Gai". Hundreds of tiny bars. When I say tiny, I mean each one sat a dozen or less. Just three blocks of tiny bars side by side and stacked. Anyway, the night was fun but it couldn't go too late because otherwise you have a choice to make. Party all night (I'm too old for that), pray you can get a cab and pay way too much, walk, or midnight train. We chose midnight train. The platform was packed, people pushing in like sardines. Everyone HAD TO be on this train or they were stranded (perfect excuse to stay in a capsule hotel, which I did do one night. Had to. When in Japan, right?) That was the craziest train ride if the whole trip.

Thank you for listening to my ramblings. I had such an amazing trip and I recommend anyone go if you've ever thought if going. I'd love to go on about everything non-busblog related but I think I've already meandered as far off my train of thought (pun 100% intended) as I dare. So I leave you with one of the most ironic things about this whole post. In all of this, I've mentioned just how many people have unexpected jobs in Japan. People that are seemingly hired to stand there. I saw one guy who was directing people around a pylon with a lit up wand. He was doing the job of a pylon, FOR a pylon. Yet when it came to the bus drivers at the end of the night, I saw them cleaning their own buses. Out of all the amazing things about Japan and Japanese efficiency, that's one thing that we have and they don't... People to clean our buses. I'm too fancy for that... Even without the fancy Japanese bus driver uniform.

Domo Arigato, Japan. You were the coolest.

From in front of the yellow line, that's how I see it.

                   In  Front Of The Yellow Line

                                By Shawn Wells

                             Turning Japanese

My trilogy comes to an end with a change of scenery. This time, I'm not here to talk about my home town. Instead, I want to talk about the mind-blowing experience that is transit in Japan. I'll level with you... I really didn't take many bus rides in Japan. But man oh man... Those trains. That train system is freaking awesome.

Historical Blog 3: Tokyo Drift

October 7th, 2018

I've always wanted to travel the world. I've spent most of my 40 years on this planet limited to North America. Until recently, that is. I'm finally making travel a priority in my life. Earlier this year, I made my first ever trip off of mainland North America (with a trip to Cuba) but now I just got back from my first ever trip overseas to the land of the rising sun. "Why Japan?" you may ask. "Why not?" is my answer (followed up by "There was a seat sale.") And let me tell you, it did not disappoint.

The first thing to understand about Japan is that it's actually pretty easy for a Canadian to get around. The language, of course, is a major challenge (at least in European countries, I have basic broken French from school and Spanish from Sesame Street to fall back on.) but the country of Japan is prepared for ignorant tourists. Almost everywhere you go you're able to find English translations or picture menus. And when in doubt, Google Translate becomes one of your best friends.

We flew into Osaka which is one of the smaller major cities there. I highly recommend this to anyone who may want to go because it's a great "practice city". I was busy being overwhelmed by culture shock and pure giddiness over the fact that I was on another continent that I may not have been able to handle a city like Tokyo (population equal to my entire country). So, the education of navigation started fairly smoothly.

The train system in Japan is one of the coolest, most complex things you'll ever come across. But man oh man do those Japanese know how to get around. The first thing to understand is that there are dozens of different train companies and just because you have one pass or ticket doesn't mean it'll work on all the trains. Case in point, we bought a pass which gave us admission to the Osaka aquarium and this included transportation. Unfortunately, the pass that we received only worked on certain train lines and we still had to make a transfer and buy a ticket for a second train to get us closer to our hotel. It was the same thing with our Japan Rail (JR) Pass. We bought it because it's cheaper for the bullet trains between cities and it also works on JR lines in the cities, but the JR lines aren't the most convenient and you find yourself taking other trains (therefore paying additional fare) to get around. I will say, although the JR lines weren't the most convenient and therefore not used much by me (really, the biggest appeal was their use on the bullet trains) when I DID use it, I really felt like a VIP because I used a special gate and merely had to flash my pass at the attendant in the booth.

So, here's how our education went in Osaka (and believe me, there was definitely some trial and a whole lotta error) First thing to do is buy a Japanese sim card for your phone. That way you can Google Map everything, find out what station is near your destination, find out how many transfers you'll have to make, etc. Let Google do the trip plan. Then you go to the train station and look at the giant map on the wall. Every different rail line is color coded (conveniently, Google also knows the color codes when making your trip plan.) So, if Google says I need to be taking the "Chuo Line" and it's color coded green, that's the path I'm looking for on the big wall map. Starting from the "you are here" sticker, you follow the route and look for your destination. Each destination along the route has a number above it. So when you find your destination and it has "290" above it, you now need to buy a ticket valued at ¥290. Are you with me so far?

Now you've got your route and the value, it's time to buy your ticket. Bring on the ticket machine. You want to piss off a local? Stand in front of a ticket machine for the first time and try to find the "English Translation" button... It's like a bizarre Japanese Game Show version of Where's Waldo. And of course, just like the trains themselves, every ticket machine is different so the location of the English button is always a mystery. Oh, and let's not leave out the fact that the ticket machines aren't for every train line.... You want the Chuo line? You need to find the machine that dispenses the Chuo line tickets. You know that pissed off local I just mentioned? Now imagine that after a solid minute or two I've finally found my English button, just to discover that I'm not even at the correct machine. By the end of the trip, I was pretty good at it though.

Alrighty... I've now gone through the whole rigmarole of purchasing a ticket (cash only, by the way), now it's time to use it. You take your little ticket and head to the gates, stick your ticket in the slot, walk through the gate and retrieve your ticket (which now has a hole punched in it) on the other end of the gate. As long as you've found the right gates, that is. I know first hand (on a few separate occasions)  that if you stick in the wrong kind of ticket, the machine flashes a big red X and a barrier closes in front of you. That's when a Japanese gate attendant comes over to you and tries to explain in broken English what you've done wrong. But if you've chosen your gate correctly, it's a green arrow for you. You grab your punched ticket and carry on to the platform. (However, sometimes finding the platform, or the correct side of the platform can be a whole other adventure.) Still with me?

"But Shawn" you may say "train systems are like that in other places too." Although I have no doubt that many of these things aren't exclusive to Japan, in my limited world travel experience, it's all very new to me. The train system in my own city is SUPER simple and my only other big city subway experience was in New York City 20 years ago.

At this point, I've successfully conquered the ticket machine, the gate and found the correct platform. Now it's time to wait. Thanks to Japanese efficiency, you don't have too wait long (which is also good because the Japanese don't seem to feel the need to put benches on their train platforms... And garbage cans. Why are garbage cans so hard to find in Japan?!? But there's no litter either. Strange phenomenon.) The trains start coming by and now you have the challenge of making sure you board the right one. Multiple train lines will use the same platform. Luckily, all the train arrivals are announced in Japanese and English and accompanied by a little tune that is distinct to each train line (I remember one that played the first 2 lines of 'I've been working on the railroad'.) This is now where things in Japan may differ from other cities. On the ground in front of you are all the places to form queues to board the incoming train and boy are they accurate.... Those motormen are definitely well practiced at stopping in the right place. Apart from showing you the location of the doors before the train gets there (also color coded for the different lines because the doors line up with the different trains ) they also have helpful instructions on how to properly, courteously and efficiently board the train. Nothing fancy here, just "stand aside and let everyone exit before boarding" complete with lines or dots to show WHERE standing aside is in relation to the doors. The key part though, in Japan, people obey.  The other piece of information on these floor signs  is they will tell you which doors to board at if you have mobility issues... The doors that open closest to the "priority seating".

Another floor sign you're likely to come across on the platform is the "Women only" sign. Turns out that this low crime, respectful society has a seedy underbelly as well. That's because the Japanese businessmen get a little handsy on crowded rush hour trains and start groping the female passengers. The solution? Rush hour cars for the women to ride in, molestation-free.

Ok... So now I'm on a crowded train. Back home, I've been on some crowded trains before, normally after a hockey game or a concert, but it never prepared me for this. The first thing I noticed upon entering the train (other than the sheer amount of people) is how quiet it is (DESPITE the sheer amount of people) My experiences at home or on the New York Subway had people yelling, panhandling, blasting music... Not in Japan. Everyone is reading, napping, playing on their phones or in a few rare instances, having hushed conversations with their neighbors... It's like riding a library. The loudest sounds are the wheels on the track and the station announcements. But what the Japanese lack in noise on the train, they make up for in visual stimulation. Advertising everywhere! On the walls, the windows, doors, hanging from the ceiling. Digital displays announcing stops, television screens showing the route map or announcing delays (with reasons for the delays) in the system. Everywhere you look, something new to see. And that's even without people watching (ever been the only white man on a busy train? I have.)

Now thanks to the quietness of the Japanese subway, I'm able to listen for my station announcement. They're all made in Japanese first, then English. I have to admit that it always made me nervous for two reasons. The first is because the Japanese announcements seemed to go on forever but when the English translation happened, all you'd get would be "Next stop, Osaka-Jo station." Why does it take so many extra syllables is Japanese?!? The other thing that made me nervous is that I soon discovered that I was pronouncing nearly everything wrong. For example Akihabara, which I thought was A-key-HA-Bear-Ah, is actually pronounced in a way that makes you think of "Abracadabra" a-key-ABURA. ("It's LeviOHsa, not LevioSA." Sorry couldn't resist the Harry Potter reference.)  So, if you're relying on audio alone, it's tough. Thank goodness for the digital displays.

Provided that I haven't gotten on the train going the wrong direction (which happened once) or that I haven't overshot my stop (which happened a couple times) or that I read the map at my starting point correctly in the first place, I'm now at my destination. I get off (with right-of-way... Thank you floor signs) and try to keep my wits about me as I'm rushed along in the crowd streaming from the train. This was usually the point that me and my lovely travel companion would try to press ourselves into a corner and let the locals do their thing before trying to get our bearings.

Now, back out the gate. I have to find my punched ticket again and feed it into the gate. This time, if everything goes correctly, I get my green arrow to go and my ticket is eaten by the machine and gone forever. If, for example, I've gotten off at the wrong stop and the amount I paid for the ticket isn't enough for the station I'm in, once again those gates of embarrassment and the big red X will appear and I'll have to pay the difference to the gate keeper. In theory, you could ride a train all day in Japan if you wanted as long as when you finally do get off, it's in the right zone that you paid for. (Incidentally, the buses in Japan work in a similar way. You get a "blank" ticket when you board and pay when you exit, fare amount depending on how far you've gone.)

The only challenge left now is navigating the labyrinth that is a Japanese train station and trying to understand where the signs are actually pointing. After a couple days in Osaka, I felt like a pro at taking the trains. It's easy, once you get the hang of it (but insanely daunting until you do.) Now you too, dear reader, can go to Japan and be an expert like I am. But do like I did, learn how to do it in Osaka because the Tokyo train system is much more complex. And Tokyo has 10 times the amount of people. And Tokyo is 3 times the size.

Just don't start in Tokyo, ok? You'll appreciate the training wheels.

From in front of the yellow line, that's how I see it.

         In Front Of The Yellow Line

                    By Shawn Wells
                       Award Season

In the spirit of the title I've chosen, I'd like to dedicate my current wave of historical blogs (I've already decided it'll be a trilogy) to 2 people. One whom I've never met, one whom I knew years ago and only recently reconnected with on Facebook. (Ah, the power of the interwebs.) During my time reconnecting, I was asked by this old friend "Did you used to write a blog?" From there I discovered that she has a University Professor friend who enjoys my writing and even uses my humble little ramblings as an example in her classes. I'm part of a syllabus, y'all! So, Amie and Farra... Thank you for inspiring me to write again. Flattered doesn't even begin to describe how this makes me feel. And now the highly anticipated sequel to my recent post:

Historical Blog 2: Blog Harder.

July 24, 2018

Well, would you look at that. Who wants to take a ride with an award winning bus driver? If you ride my bus, you've come to the right place for just that. Today, I got presented with not one, but two trophies. This is no time for modesty... I'm pretty awesome.

Let me set the stage by saying, it was totally unexpected to win ANY awards, much less 2. (Even as 2019 Shawn, I'm still blown away by it.) However, I suppose if I wasn't hoping for a prize, I wouldn't have put myself in a competitive situation.

In the past, I wrote a blog post talking about the "Transit Skills Competition" or "Roadeo" (spelling error intentional) as it is also known. It's a friendly competition among drivers to see who can complete some of the most challenging turns and skills you would ever attempt in a bus. All this done on a controlled course with pylons marking the path, many of them inevitably squished by our buses. You may say "How hard can a right turn be?" This is to the extreme. Short answer: Pretty difficult. On top of the actual driving, I'm also judged on the professionalism and completeness of my uniform, my ability to find all the intentional "mistakes" on a modified bus during a pre-trip check and I have to take a driver's written test (a mixture of government issued exam questions and operations manual policy knowledge.)

Well all this competition and day of fun happened about a month ago. Shortly after that the results came in and turns out, good ol' Shawn came in third. Third! Missed second by just a few points. I was stunned. Although I compete, I never actually thought I'd crack the top 3. There are some very talented guys out there. Just to put it into perspective, I've been driving a bus for 5 years (6 now, says 2019 Shawn) and the 2 people that did better than me have both been driving buses for 25 and 30 years. Both of them have been on top of the leaderboard before... Old pro's at it. And here I am, the newbie, sitting with rather elite company.

Well, now it's banquet day, everyone gets their trophies and I of course have been invited. It's taking place I'm in a banquet room at the local football stadium and down on the field the team is practicing. A very special behind the scenes perspective that makes me feel, not gonna lie, a little like a VIP. Members of the training team and management team are here, including the big cheese, the branch manager for all of my city's transit. (A little disappointed, I have to admit, because I was led to believe the mayor would also be at this event.) Definitely getting the right people (for future promotions) to know my name and for all the right reasons.

But wait a minute Shawn, didn't you mention 2 awards. Absolutely, I sure did. I am in fact at this banquet to receive both of them. As exciting as my standings for the Roadeo were to discover, the other award is almost more exciting. Maybe. I don't know. It's tough to say. No one can seem to give me a very clear answer to what this award is actually for. I get vague responses. It appears there's no official mission statement for it. But I won!

Best that I can gather, is it's basically an outstanding employee award. Named after the first female bus driver in our city (as usual, I try to maintain a little anonymity because my views in no way reflect those of my employer and I'll refrain from naming the award... Maybe I'll just refer to it as the Jane Doe award.) this award is kind of a Roadeo MVP award. Someone who expresses themselves professionally, received a high score and embodies the values of our city's transit. And right now anybody who knows me is going "Um... That doesn't sound like the right person." Well, this year it is.

So what does this mean for me going forward? Really, very little. For both awards, I got a trophies to put on display at home. More people at work know my name now (bus driver life is so solitary that unless you put in a social effort, which I don't, your name is generally not known.) My name is now forever etched for posterity on the official "Jane Doe Award" plaque which is in the lobby trophy case. And I got something new to put on my resume if I ever switch departments in my organization (and frankly, instructor is what I want to be one day so a third place finish in the skills looks pretty damn good.) Other than that, I'm back to driving a bus as usual tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll mount the trophies on my dashboard and show off to my passengers. (2019 Shawn here... I didn't.)

I guess the only way to top this is to get first place next year and win the trip to the national championships. Or at least go for a repeat performance. Hopefully it wasn't just a fluke.

"It was" says 2019 Shawn.

From in front of the yellow line, that's how I see it.

In Front Of The Yellow Line

By Shawn Wells

The Auxillary Instructor

     Whoa! Where'd Shawn go? Hey guys, I'm still around. But I needed to take a break from writing for awhile. I'll be honest, I got to a point where the job started wearing on me a bit. Grizzled me. I needed to regroup because I was struggling to push positivity into my messages. I took a breath and I'm back. The only problem with a long hiatus is that there's a lot to catch you up on. So, I present my first "historical blog." Lets rewind a couple of years...

July, 12, 2016

     So, I have a new job title. Don't worry, reader, I'm still a bus driver or Transit Operator if I want to sound pretentious. But now I can up the pretentiousness factor by stating that I am officially an "Auxillary Instructor". Pretty fancy sounding, right? It's kind of a promotion, but not really.

     When I say "job title" , I mean just that. Very little else has changed except that title. The fact is that for 99% of the time, my job description is exactly the same. Transit Operator. But that 1%... That sweet occasional shift... I become an Auxillary Instructor. But what, you may ask, IS an Auxillary Instructor?

     Basically, I'm the final step in a new hire's training process. That's right, I'm now part of the training department. An extended branch of it, but a part of it nonetheless. The people who grew up with me are probably terrified to know that I am considered qualified to be involved in such important decisions as to who is able to drive a bus in my city. 

     Ok... When I said I'm a branch of the training department, I might have embellished the importance. More like a twig. Basically, by the time the trainees get to me, they really should be ready. There should be no reason they've made it as far as my twig and not be officially hired.

      See, what happens with the training for our bus drivers is quite an involved process. Believe me, when you look at one of these people driving you around you should understand what it's taken to get there. Drivers have to have a clean driving abstract, take a road test and pass in a regular car (just because you have a clean abstract doesn't mean you can drive well), take a spin around the block in a bus, psych test, physical fitness test, map reading tests. And this is all during the interview process!

     Then they go into classroom training. They learn about and get certified on the use of air brakes. And then it's driver's education boot camp. There is a month worth of classroom and on road training ahead of them, but for now the focus is on the first week because by the end of it, the students need to have learned how to operate a bus (look back at my previous blogs to see the challenges of that), logged enough hours and take and pass a Class 3 driver's test. If they fail the first time, they get one more chance or they're removed from class and ineligible to reapply for 1 year. Many classes lose a person or 2 at this stage. (When I was in training, mine lost 4) Fun fact: yours truly got the maximum amount of demerits a person can get and still pass. But before you pass judgement and become terrified to see me driving your bus, 40/50 points taken off were for going too slow. I've sped up since then.

     So now, the students have gotten their new license. Time to learn about the policies, practices and procedures of our particular organization while also refining on road skills. A nice balance of classroom and on road practice (much like getting the license, they need a certain number of hours behind the wheel.) As their month comes to an end, the time has come to try some customers. There's always one day a month where all of a sudden there's extra buses on the road. The trainees are out there and just driving as regular routes to get the practice of stopping for and interacting with passengers. They've now worked their way through everything except keeping a proper schedule.

     This is where I come in. The Auxillary Instructor. The student now gets a week's worth of real world experience by driving my route for a day while I observe and report on the trainee. It's a day out of the seat, passing on my knowledge. I love it. The biggest reason? Nothing reinvigorates me more than to see a trainee struggle so much.  It really shows me how far I've come and how easy I find my job now, 

     There are of course different levels of student. The day 1 guys and the day 5 guys, with the obvious missing numbers in between. The trainees get different Auxiliary Instructors every day so they get to try different work at different time in different parts of the city. Each Auxiliary Instructor gets one trainee for one day per class. And not even that often. So, when I said that one "sweet occasional shift", it really is just one. There are a lot of twigs on this particular branch (a hundred and some) so the work is spread around. Making myself sound even less important now, eh? Anyway, back to the day 1/day 5 thing. You'd be impressed how far people come in that one week.

     See the thing is, the classroom instructors have to tell the students what HAS to be done. The OFFICIAL way of doing things. But in the real world, let's be honest... Some of the things taught just aren't practical. So, the day one guy comes straight out of the classroom, green as they come and you can tell it's going to be a long day. Frankly, I'm probably going to be getting an hour of overtime that day. (Actually, I don't think I've yet had a trainee that ended my day on time. This is 2019 Shawn talking.) Day one guys are definitely the most moldable. You give them tips and hints to save seconds on the road. Maybe demonstrate something. Every Auxilliary Instructor offers a unique perspective and stories. (I vividly remember a couple of my own that taught me tricks I use to this day.) The day one guys, although super slow and nervous usually show big improvements by the end of the day. They get the real shock of the real world of Transit. And you have to be big time alert with day one guys. The amount of wrong turns I've prevented, customers that almost get passed up, transfers that are set for the wrong time... Sometimes it feels like I'm doing the exact same job, just not from the driver's seat.

     But day 5 guys? Hell yeah! Give me a day 5 guy. They've already had 4 days to pick up tools of the trade. I can spend a day swapping stories. I can trust they know where they're going. Let down my guard and relax a bit. They've learned almost as much by being on the road for a week than they did in a month of classrooms.

     Now comes the part of my job where I get to sign off on the new hire so they graduate and fly off into the Transit world. I don't actually know how strong an impact my input actually has. I've never personally had a student I recommend as a no-hire. But oh, the feeling of power.

     But next time you feel annoyed at something your bus driver does, just think about how many steps and hurdles they've had to overcome to get in that seat. Including the final and most terrifying... Me. Bwahahaha! Beware my new job title!

     Maybe I should fail my next student just to see if this twig can build a wall.

From in front of the yellow line, that's how I see it.

                       In Front of the Yellow Line 
                                    Vegas, baby!
                                  By Shawn Wells

Recently, I travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada.  Now, for anyone who has never taken the trip to Sin City, one thing you need to know is it's a super expensive trip to take. Sure, the airfare can be cheap, but that's how they get you. So, in an effort to penny pinch where I can I decided that I would go as inexpensive with my in town commuting as possible. No rental car, cabs or Uber for this guy. I figured, almost everywhere I wanted to go was within walking distance. Especially since the hotel I was staying in was somewhat centrally located. It worked out well... Mostly.

When planning my trip, I realized that there were a couple of sights that I wanted to see that weren't in the nice, compact walking distance of most of the other stuff on the strip. Again, if you've never been there, the strip is one straight stretch of road about 6 miles long (at least the "popular" stuff is in this distance... Las Vegas Blvd itself carries on through the rest of the city.) It's bookended by that iconic Welcome sign in the South and the 103 storey Stratosphere Tower in the North, with a high concentration of casinos and hotels in between. The famous part you see in TV and movies... The pyramid of the Luxor, faux skyline of New York, New York, the replica Eiffel Tower of Paris, the fountains of the Bellagio, the fireball shooting lake and pirate ships of the Mirage and Treasure Island, and so on. When wandering along the strip, you can weave your way in and out of all the different buildings, taking in the sights of all the shops and casinos. The problem is, all that stuff makes up about 3/4 of the strip between the Welcome sign and the Wynn. After that, there's a dead zone until you get north to Circus Circus and finally the Stratosphere. Nothing (at the moment) to see except "planned" buildings. A long, boring walk.

This is how I came to experience "The Deuce". Unlike all the shuttle and tourist sightseeing busses, this one is actually run by the local transit authority. It's a double-decker that runs 24 hours a day, whose sole purpose is driving up and down the Las Vegas strip. I'd like to say that my only reason I took this route was to save money, but deep down there was the nerdy thrill I received from experiencing a bus in a city other than my own. See how the "other half live" so to speak. And I must say, I was fascinated by the differences.

The first thing that I noticed was the payment part of the bus. It was much fancier than payment in my city because in Vegas, they have swipe cards that you buy from vending machines at the stops and then swipe them as you get on. My bus has an old school fare box that you drop your coins into. So, I purchased myself a 24 hour pass (with the help of the helpful transit worker stationed at the stop, handing out maps) and hopped on board the Deuce, swiped my pass and because this was my first ever time on a double-decker, I headed right upstairs. I was truly mesmerized by the bus as I made my climb. Video screens displaying the upcoming stops, as well as what touristy stuff could be found there, accompanied by recorded announcements telling you the same information. Talking busses are nothing new to me since my city has converted to their "Smartbus" technology, but it was the additional information this bus voice provided that was interesting to me. Telling me which connections could be made at the next stop or which hotels were accessable, for example. All my bus at home does is list the closest street and avenue, or the name of the transit center I'm pulling into. I was giddy... This bus was detailed in it's information.

Over the next 24 hours, I took several rides. Mostly on the Deuce, but on a couple other busses as well. I took in all that these busses had to offer, from their plastic seats (unlike our cloth covered ones) to the relaxed Nevada open container liquor laws (unlike our passengers who just sneak it when I'm not looking... I've found the empties...) and even just the style differences of the bus themselves. The way the "priority seating" differs, or the way the seats are laid out. But it was observing the drivers that really impressed me. 

This is the point that it occured to me, I would be so overwhelmed driving the Deuce. I have high respect for these operators. You see, the city I live in isn't a HUGE tourist destination. Sure, we have a few tourist draws here, but it's nothing like Vegas for worldwide recognition​. When I started listening to the drivers, I realized that I don't know nearly as much about my city that some of these Deuce drivers knew about theirs. The knowledge these people have to know about their route... Stores, restaurants, casinos, hotels, shows, clubs, museums.... The list goes on. Too often when I'm working, I find myself going "oh there's a concert downtown today?" or "huh... I didn't know there was a grocery store there." And not just the strip itself... North of the Stratosphere you get into the area less travelled in Las Vegas. A bit of a seedier/sketchier part of town. The downtown area where all the pawn shops and wedding chapels start making appearances. And of course Fremont Street, the original strip, now a party headquarters.  

Beyond Fremont, I went to the Mob Museum and from there was going to visit "The Boneyard" a museum of old neon signs from famous casinos of the past. And when we told the people who worked there that we were looking to be pointed in the right direction to get there and told them we were willing to walk, we received the advice of "I've lived here all my life and I wouldn't walk through that neighborhood", we decided to hop a different bus. And this time I watched the passengers. Got to watch the bus from a different perspective... And see different walks of life that aren't in my city. I also got to see different rules that are enforced on their busses. For example, in my city, standing behind the yellow line is just a suggestion. In Vegas, it's a rule. The driver got really upset when someone tried to break that rule. Same with exiting out the front door. They actually redirect people to the back. With our busses you just hope the common courtesy will shine through, but it often doesn't. And only on a couple occasions have I "suggested" someone use the back.

It isn't just the knowledge that these drivers have either. It's that this city is also well known... There are songs written about it, movies and TV shows set here, world famous shows. "Friends" popularized "Vegas, baby!" as part of our pop culture. This is a place people from all over the world come. So now, you aren't just giving directions to places, you also have to try to understand them all too. A few days ago I had a woman on my bus with an incredibly thick Chinese accent. She was asking if I drove past a certain doctor's office. I still don't know what the actual name was because I had that much trouble understanding her. But I told her "I pass several offices but unfortunately I don't know if it's the one you want. I don't memorize every store I pass." And that is true... Even if I had been able to interpret what she said, there's still a good chance I wouldn't know. I see this as a struggle that any driver in a tourist heavy city, not just Vegas, would deal with constantly. Translating AND knowing. There's been times with my own job where an international sporting event has happened and you see more out of towners than usual, but it's only for short periods. It isn't 365 days a year. My hat is definitely off to these drivers in tourist destinations. I would struggle to do the extra things involved with their jobs.

One thing I can say is that I definitely saw just how proudly Canadian I was when I was there. I was the only one who thanked the driver when I got off.  

From in front of the yellow line, that's how I see it.

                  In Front of the Yellow Line
                         By Shawn Wells
                          My Obsessions


Recently, I watched an episode of "Hawaii 5-0" in which the character Danny "Danno" Williams gets his car stolen while he's spending time with his kids. As part of the quality family time, he had insisted that he and his teenage daughter leave their phones in the car. So now, stranded on the wrong side of the island with no car and no phone, he now sees his best option to be taking a bus back home. Telling his kids "you meet some interesting people on a bus."

For some reason, this plot point gave me a little thrill. Partly because of the mention of the interesting people his children are bound to encounter (pretty much the basis of this blog) but also because of the kinship I now share with this character. He's suddenly more relatable to me. It's like when you go to a concert and the lead singer yells out the name of your home town. Or when you're reading a book and the author mentions one of your own pastimes as something the protagonist enjoys. Just gives you a giddy thrill. "Oh wow! They're just like me!"

As you can imagine (or if you watch Hawaii 5-0) the story of Danny's bus ride doesn't end there. During his ride home, his bus happens to pass his stolen car. Well, of course the next course of action is to use his law enforcement influence and get the bus driver to persue the car thief. Sitting on my couch, a snort of laughter escaped my face. My wife looks at me and say "What are you laughing at?" I said "The fact that they expect to catch that car in a bus." "Thought as much." my wife responded. Really, in my humble opinion, there is no way a bus would manage to keep chase with ANY car let alone the fancy suped up Camaro that Danno just had stolen from him. (Plus, don't get me started on all the other flaws regarding the bus in this episode) And then, when things get really intense, Danny lets everyone else off the bus and takes over the driving duties himself, handling the bus like a pro.

Sure, Hollywood always takes liberties. I have to be willing to let things go and just enjoy the entertainment presented to me. But here's the problem with that: I'm easily influenced by my surroundings. It's always been a problem for me. In my life, I've had a couple dozen different jobs. Quite often when I start working for a new employer, I become obsessed with whatever that company's specialty is. Things that I wasn't interested in before I started working there, I suddenly become a huge advocate for. I've sold car audio equipment and ended up with subwoofers installed in my car. I worked in a furniture store and became very interested in home decor. A chef in a restaurant made me broaden my flavor horizons. A job in a hardware store made me want to renovate things. And so on.

Well, working as a bus driver is no different for me. Never in my life have I been interested in busses, until I started working on one. In fact, after watching that particular episode of Hawaii 5-0, one of the first things I did was email my friend who lives in Hawaii to ask her about the accuracy of the episode. Things like whether that is actually what their busses look like or whether those are the uniforms the drivers there get to wear. The answer was yes, by the way. THAT stuff, at least, was accurate. Man, I'd love to have a Hawaiian shirt as a uniform. It would be like Weird Al Yankovic driving a bus, which if you know his extensive and legendary music catalog, he actually does have a song about.

I'm off on a tangent. The point is, now that I'm a bus driver, I'm quite fascinated with how "the other half live" so to speak. I now notice the difference between my busses and other city's busses when I'm on vacation. I've even had friends humor me in my obsession and take pictures of local busses when they're on vacation as well. And I'm always fascinated by even the small differences. A picture one friend took for me in Pittsburgh showed busses that list the current temperature on the display. A picture a friend took in Vegas showed much different mirrors than my bus. And of course,  the double deckers in London. Before I started working this job, I would've never noticed the busses but now I want to see them.

Even for places I have been before, but before I started driving one, I now want to see these busses I never noticed when I was there. I guess I'm a bit of a nerd. Naturally curious. However, not so curious that I'm willing to Google it to satisfy that curiosity. It means more to me when a friend takes a picture for me. And I'm also just interested in how they look. It's not like I know all the specifications of each individual bus. I'm just a casual observer. I'm not as obsessed as that guy that was in my training class. That's right, I'm talking about you, Mark.

But for those of you who have never driven a bus before, let me at least set one thing straight. In real life, a bus is not going to keep up with a Camaro. I'm sorry to destroy that illusion for you.

From in front of the yellow line, that's how I see it.

In Front Of The Yellow Line

The Regulars

By Shawn Wells

One day I saw a woman running down a side road to catch my bus. Thinking she had missed me, she was surprised when I pulled over and stopped for her even though I wasn’t at a designated stop.

Woman: Oh Thank You! You are now my new favorite person on the entire planet!

Me: What a coincidence! I love collecting memories of people who tell me I’m their favorite person.

Woman: Well, I guess it worked out for both of us.

Me: It Sure did, number 7.

I had never seen this woman before. But since then, I’ve seen her a few more times. Always at the same place, same time and always running for my bus. I found out that it’s her work schedule that causes her to be cutting it so close. Because of this, I’ve made sure to always check down that side street at that time, every time I work that route. She has officially become one of my regulars.

She isn’t the only regular I have. It does, however, depend on which particular route I’m driving. Some of the busses I drive travel the same path as a dozen other routes, therefore people will get onto these busses without discrimination. They all end up at the same place (usually downtown) so it doesn’t usually matter to these passengers whether they get on mine, or the one behind me. I see familiar faces, sure, but no one I would call a “Regular”.

Now, give me a quiet little community route and that all changes. The ones where I’m picking up people from their houses and taking them to work. I get to know some of these people so well by sight or by where their stops are, without actually knowing anything else about them. Not even their names the majority of the time. I can have transfers already waiting for the people that I know are going to be paying fare rather than using a bus pass. I know which seats they’re going to be sitting in. I know which customers are going to be ready and waiting and which ones are going to be cutting it close. I know who is going to smile at me, who isn’t. Who is going to say thank you, who is just going to give me a wave. I know which customers to get extra close to the curb with because they have trouble with the step if I don’t. But the funniest thing is, no matter how familiar I get with some of these people’s habits, when the weather changes and they start wearing different coats or hats it throws me off.

There are advantages for you as a passenger if you are one of my regulars. Keep in mind, this may not necessarily apply to all bus drivers out there, but for me at least there can be perks. See, on top of learning people’s boarding habits, I also become familiar with their exit habits as well. I get used to which busses they need to connect to, which directions they head when they get off. So because of this, I will start to make adjustments to my own driving habits specifically for these people. Some of them are probably so subtle that I’m the only one who actually realizes I’m doing them. Things like not pulling a little past a stop because I know it puts them 30 feet closer to their destination.

I remember one regular woman I had on one of my routes who was on my bus every night. She knew that with the stop she wanted, if we hit a red light at the intersection before her stop, there was a good chance she would miss her connecting bus. However, if I let her off at the corner before going through the intersection, it was never a concern. The first couple times she had to ask, but after that I would do it without her having to. I eventually I got to the point where it was just let her off at that corner whether it was a red light or not because I knew it was the more convenient place for her anyway. The day came when I stopped working that route and moved on to my next shift. The interesting part is, one night a week I ended up driving the bus that she needed to transfer to. One night a week, I was still watching for this woman.

One of my favorite days to work is Sunday. Sure, part of it is because it’s a quieter day traffic wise. But i also get a kick out of the Sunday schedules because there are so many fewer busses on the road. There was one shift I worked where I was driving one particular route for 8 hours straight. What was special about this particular route is that I was literally the only bus on the road working this route. It gives me a feeling of power. A feeling of  importance. Not to say that I don’t feel like I’m not important any other time. I know how many people count on me no matter what route I drive. But with this route, if I saw someone on the other side of the street waiting for my bus to go the other way, I could call them over to get on because I was going to be the next bus going that way. They’d have to sit on the bus for half an hour longer, but at least they weren’t waiting in the cold. This is one of those routes where I became familiar with my regulars more than just about any other bus I’ve ever driven. On a Sunday, I may not be taking many of them to work, but people are still creatures of habit. Going to church, weekly grocery trips, things like that. And because I was the only bus on the road, I would often see some of these people twice in my day. Taking them to church AND home from it. To the grocery store and home from. It was also a route where I became very conscious of looking for these regulars because I knew that If they missed my bus, they would have to wait an hour before I’d be back.

It isn’t just on my busses that I see regular passengers. There are definitely regular bus station people too. People that I seem to see a few times a week whether they’re on my bus of not. They stand out because of some distinguishing feature because frankly, they’re usually bizarre. There is the guy dressed like a 19th century trapper, full leather outfit with fringe, moccasins and a ‘coon skin cap. There is the grown man who wears a plush fox tail and ears. There is the woman who cleans the busses for us just because she feels like it. The guy that paces around the bus station while twirling his finger.

There are also the people I see that are just very regular transit users. It doesn’t even matter which bus I’m driving. I’ve thrown them off sometimes because I’ll make comments to them based on their quirks. Like one woman who is responsible for filling downtown restaurants with a local newspaper. She has a special cart that she has built to carry these papers around. I’ve had her on multiple routes I drive in the downtown area. But one time on the weekend, she got on my bus on the south side this time with a different cart that she was using for grocery shopping. I said to her “Ah… so is that your weekend cart?” And she was so taken aback by the fact that I recognized her. My response to that was that she had been on my bus numerous times and “frankly, I may not have recognized you if you hadn’t been pulling a cart.” It was the idea of changing to a new jacket all over again.

Regulars are great.

From in front of the yellow line, that’s how I see it.