In Front of the Yellow Line

Changes in Routine

By Shawn Wells

Well, Old Man Winter has slapped my city across the face hard with his icy hand. The fact that I live in a Canadian city means that I’m not at all surprised, however the cold weather came in angrier than usual this year. Normally when I wake up to the first snowfall of the year, it is always frustrating and slippery, but little more than an annoyance. This year it was almost as if it rained all night, iced over and then dumped a bunch of snow on top, making it the perfect combination of slick and lethal.

Now, I say that to ME it is never a surprise and to ME it’s a minor annoyance. But, not everyone is like me. How short people’s memories can be from one winter to the next. And really, Canadians are supposed to be good at Winter...it lasts for half the year. Well, maybe not all Canadians. I’m looking at you West Coast Canada. That’s one of those “you have to live here to get it” type comments. In my city, we don’t shut down for anything. Snow days don’t happen here. Snow days are based on whether the city busses stop running, and we don’t. We may run extremely slow and constantly late on the really terrible days, but we don’t stop running.

But even with all this experience with winter every year, some people just fail miserably at it as soon as it starts. They have problems adapting on the fly. They forget that they don’t have the same traction on the roads and that they need to slow down. They forget that they need to give themselves more space to stop instead of being able to stop on a dime. And pedestrians also forget that too; dashing out in front of cars in their attempt to jaywalk (jay-slip?) across the street. I have actually had people running for my bus, in the road in front of me! I honestly don’t get very confrontational with people, but I have told people off for doing this. It is just plain unsafe. Anyone who has driven on ice before knows what kind stopping distance a car has. Now add several tons of extra weight. Luckily for these people that think standing in front of a bus is okay, I drive defensively and wasn’t going all that fast. I was driving appropriately for the weather. I adapted.

I just have to shake my head at people sometimes. On top of driving skill, people need to adapt to the temperature. Already this winter has been much colder than usual. We normally don’t see temperatures this cold for a couple more months. Maybe it’s the dad in me or the fact that I’m getting older, but why aren’t people dressing appropriately? If it is minus 20 degrees out, you should be wearing a toque and gloves. You should be wearing a proper winter coat. Or at the very least zipping your coat up. At what point in our lives is being warm more important than looking cool? Not High School or University age, I can tell you that much. I love when these kids get on my bus and say how unbearably cold it is outside, when they are wearing an unzipped hoodie as a jacket and no other warm clothing. Layers people! If there is snow on the ground, an extra sweater is probably a good idea.

A sign that this winter has been colder than usual, is the amount of times that we as bus drivers have already been asked to make extra stops. What I mean by this is express busses. These are the ones that will go from point A to point B with only a couple specific stops along the way. But in the extreme cold, we are asked to make stops in our express areas. Already, since the snow (which has been just under 2 weeks in my city) we have been asked to make this exception 5 different days. At this time of year, that number is usually zero. It’s not usually until January or February that this starts happening more.

Nothing throws a person out of their routine more than weather like this. Especially before they’ve had a chance to adapt and acclimate to the season. Boy, let me tell you, people hate having their routines broken. I’ve mentioned in the past how some regular passengers like to sit in specific seats on the bus and you can see the frustration on their faces when someone is already sitting there. Now, with the icy roads, all traffic is moving slow and the busses struggle to stay on time. More people are taking the busses to go only a couple stops, whereas in warmer weather they would’ve walked. And of course, stopping in express areas to help cold customers slows down the busses. And people just get angrier. They look at the bus drivers like all this is their fault. The weather, the traffic, the fuller busses. All our fault. You want to ruin someone’s day? Get stuck in rush hour traffic with them while they try to get to work.

I, for one, have decided to embrace change. We get too stuck in our ruts and don’t let things go. I find that the very nature of my job I have to adapt often. Sure, there are some things that I count on. When I work a route for a few weeks, I can start to predict the lights that I’ll make and not make. I start to see the same people at the same stops and times every day. Certain areas of the city that I’ll see certain traffic patterns. Some of my job becomes very predictable, very routine. But that isn’t always the case. There are times that my regular passengers get on at different locations. Some days I encounter unusual traffic.

The biggest part of my job that I have to adjust daily is with my actual bus. No 2 busses are created equal. Every bus has it’s own identifying number and even busses that are only 1 number apart can be very different. Like any job that has a fleet of vehicles, there are some you like and some you don’t. Every bus has pros and cons. I don’t think I’ve found the “perfect” bus yet. My day can be made or broken depending on the bus I get. And it can even be over the most trivial things. There are some busses that have no cup holders. Some have better wipers. Some have heaters that keep the bus at a more comfortable temperature. Mirror sizes, steering wheels, location of the kneel switch.... Every time I step into a bus, I have to make small adjustments to how I do my job.

I remember one time that I was driving a bus and the back doors were frozen shut. With the amount of time left in my day, it was pointless to get them to change my bus for me. Instead I carried on with it for the hour or so that was left in my shift. I was instructing people that the back door wasn’t working and that they would have to exit out the front. I had made a sign to attach to the back door stating “Out of Order.” But still, at least half the people tried to exit out the back before I reminded them to come out the front. Yes, even with the sign there. Don’t mess with people’s routines.

Now, I venture out into the biggest way of changing my own routine. Getting out of my own rut.  Every few months we sign our new work and so, for this upcoming shift I’m going somewhere else. I am changing garages. I’ve been in my current garage for almost 2 years. As I’ve mentioned before, there are 4 different garages in my city. Each one services certain quadrants of the city (not exclusively, but mostly). Because of this, there are certain transit centers that I haven’t even seen for 2 years. I am eagerly looking forward to the switch in environment. Getting out of my own comfort zone. Driving different parts of the city. New faces and new stories.

I encourage everyone to do one thing this month that takes them out of their comfort zone. Make one change to your usual routine. Or if you find yourself getting upset at an outside force breaking your routine, just go with it. Don’t let it get to you. Life is to short.

And zip up your damn coat, it’s cold out.

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

In Front of the Yellow Line

My Superpowers

By Shawn Wells

Did you know that I have a superpower? Not very many people know this, but I figured it was time to come clean and let the world know. Do you want to know what it is? Frankly, I’m going to tell you anyway, otherwise that would defeat the entire purpose of a blog. So, if you answered “no” to my question, I guess you need to stop reading.

Ok. Confession time. I have the power of invisibility. Neat, huh?

This week in particular puts it more into perspective than normal. I’ve mentioned in the past that people tend to ignore the driver when they are on the bus. But that isn’t the only time I’m invisible. That’s why I mention this week specifically. This week in my city is Rodeo Week. Because the Canadian Finals Rodeo is in town, that means I am allowed to wear “western wear.” This is one of those perks I look forward to. One week in the year where I don’t have to wear my uniform. Sure, it’s nice to have a job where I don’t have to plan my wardrobe every morning, but these breaks from the uniform are nice. It’s just like the perk we get where we are allowed to wear hockey jerseys for our local NHL or WHL team when they play at home. Or to show support for our local CFL team by wearing a their football jersey during game days as well. I look at these days, firstly as a fan. But second, as approximately 60 days a year that I can wear something different to work.

I’ve gotten off on a tangent. The point to all this expository information is to help illustrate my point. When I get to one of my layovers, I can step off my bus and blend into the crowd. You see, if I sit in my drivers seat at a layover, I become the target of an endless barrage of questions. “What time does the #4 bus come?” “Do you go to such and such place?” “Do you leave before that bus?” And so on. Yes, this is part of my job, but sometimes it is nice to have the break. I can get out to stretch my legs while wearing a hockey jersey or western wear and no one sees me. It’s refreshing to be invisible sometimes.

However, that isn’t the only time I’m invisible. Sometimes I can be in my full uniform and still not be seen. People getting on the bus can get so lost in their own world and routine, they don’t even notice the driver as they get on. The best example of this is a friend of mine. Someone I actually know outside of work. She has been on my bus on four different occasions and has only noticed me once. I’ve even used her name to greet her when she gets on, but she has still only noticed me once. Hilarious really. And she isn’t the only friend that has done this.

I’ve also had the other situation where I see one of my regular passengers somewhere other than a bus, when I’m not in uniform and they have no clue who I am. I’ve carried on long conversations with these people and all I get is a blank stare when I say Hi.

Realizing that I have the  power of invisibility, it got me thinking. If I could fall into a vat of toxic waste and emerge with other superpowers, what would I want them to be? What else would benefit me in my job?  Well, the first and biggest power that would help would be mind reading. Just like Professor Xavier for the X-men, the ability to read my passenger’s minds would be so useful sometimes. Quite often I will pull up to a stop to pick up a passenger and someone will get off the bus without ringing the stop request bell. So, if I hadn’t stopped there to pick up, they would’ve missed their stop. Also, I’ve mentioned before that when I drive down the street I have to be fairly aware of body language of people waiting for the bus. Many times, instead of acknowledging the bus and shaking their head or waving me past, people will just stare straight ahead. The amount of times I’ve pulled into a stop and opened my door just to have no one get on, would make this power more than worth it. It would be a real time saver.

Another useful power would be super speed, just like the Flash. It would make it easier to use the bathroom on short layovers. Or sometimes, I get to the end of my shift and I have another driver taking over my bus, I can end up stuck in my seat for an extra few minutes while the thick, steady stream of passengers gets on and off. But if I had super speed, I could beat the passengers off the bus. It would also mean less commute time for me. Just like everyone else who works outside of their home, I still have to get to my place of work. There are 4 different garages to work out of in my city, but for me, the one I live closest to is one of the most popular to work out of. It’s the newest and shiniest, plus it is closed on weekends, so if you work out of that garage you are guaranteed Saturday and Sundays off. The garage I instead work out of is the next closest to me but still a 20-25 minute drive away. If I had super speed, my commute would take a matter of seconds.

Maybe teleportation, like Nightcrawler from X-men, would be even better. Especially if I could transfer the power to objects around me. Imagine being on a bus, stuck in rush hour traffic and having a bus driver that can just teleport the bus to the other side of the line-up of cars. No more people upset that they’ve missed their connection by a couple minutes… at least on my bus. However, that being said, I would lose some of the fun that comes with the journey. I had one passenger recently that asked what time I get to my final destination. She obviously didn’t like my answer and was in a bigger hurry to get there. So she asked where my next timing point was and phoned a cab to meet her at that stop. I then got to play a real life version of the tortoise and the hare. In this case, slow and steady ALMOST won the race. Her cab ended up beating me to where she wanted to go by about 30 seconds. There was a small satisfaction to the fact that this extremely impatient woman paid 3 times the amount of bus fare to get to her destination less than a minute early. Who am I kidding… It was a large satisfaction. Sometimes patience is all you need folks. Teleportation would’ve taken away my thrill that day.

Superman’s X-ray vision would be a handy power. When my bus is packed, it would be useful to see through the wall of bodies to see who is trying to get off the bus. Sometimes there is a lot of guesswork involved. The mirrors I have only do so much, but seeing through people is definitely not something they do. Or, the other reason vision powers would help is seeing bus passes. Some people will hold their passes or transfers at such impossible angles, or keep them in sleeves that are hard to see through that it would help to be able to get a clearer look. I’m sure some of these things are done intentionally to disguise expired or counterfeit passes.

I think these would all be the most useful superpowers to have for my job. Sure, there others that could also work. Super strength or impervious skin would give myself (and my loved ones) peace of mind while I’m at work. Although, I have yet to feel threatened at work, it is always a possibility. Assaults have happened on busses. Flight, laser eyes, walking through walls… all fun, but not as necessary in the case of a bus driver. But really, if I had any of these superpowers, I probably wouldn’t be a bus driver anymore. I enjoy my job but come on… superpowers.

But for now I’ll just have to stick with my power of invisibility. Camouflage can be enough some days.

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