In Front of the Yellow Line
My Fans
By Shawn Wells


Recently, I stumbled across a letter from a Hawaiian pen pal I had 20 years ago. Through the wonders of Facebook, I tracked her down and we reconnected. In the process of catching up with her, I discovered that she's dating a marine biologist. Well now, I live in a landlocked area of Canada so this guy sounded like a rockstar to me! I pictured a guy who spends half his life on a submarine, swimming in shark cages and discovering new species of marine life. A thrill seeker who battles giant squids with a single harpoon! A guy with a lab where the floor is made of steel grates with a big pool in the middle attached by underground tunnels to the ocean where his pet dolphin can come to say hi. And I mean actually say hi because he's outfitted with a special headset that allows him to speak. Man, that shit is cool! Hell, even PRETENDING to be a marine biologist is cool! Just ask George Costanza!

Of course, the truth is far less glamorous. He breeds shrimp for a living. It's even less magical when you hear my friend describe how to force a shrimp to mate. My image of a marine biologist was shattered. It's sort of like when you hear the word archeologist and you know that in realitly all they're doing is paperwork and occasionally cleaning up some artifact, very carefully. But boy oh boy... you wish they were all like Indiana Jones dodging poison darts while running away from a giant boulder. I feel similarly about being a bus driver. The job isn't very exciting at all, but to some people there is a certain mystique to what I do. Especially kids. Its one of those jobs, like Firefighter, which kids are just obsessed with.

I have 2 very young children who are obsessed with busses. Any time a bus drives by, they have to point it out to me. Even things that aren't busses get pointed out to me as busses. My 3 year old son will call an RV a "camping bus". "Blue bus" "Yellow bus" "Big bus" "Little bus"... doesn't matter. If he sees them in person or on TV or in a picture, he'll tell you about it. My one year old daughter doesn't say nearly as much as he does. She's the strong silent type. But around busses, she follows his lead and squeals and points. "Do you see a bus sweetie?" "Yaaa."  I wish I knew what it was about busses that is so magical to kids.

Then came the day that my wife brought my kids on one of my busses for the first time. Blew their minds. Suddenly,  I was the coolest guy ever in their little worlds... I was Indiana Jones! Now when daddy left for work, they actually knew that meant I was leaving to go drive a bus. Then one time I actually took them to my work to the "bus house" so they could see where the busses "sleep at night". Well, you would've thought I had taken them to Disneyland. In the garage, I took them onto one of the parked busses. I let them sit in the seat, honk the horn, open and close the doors, turn on the windshield wipers... It made their day. Then we got off the bus and they headed right to the next one in line to do it all over again. We could've probably spent all day checking out all the hundred or so busses that were parked at that time. According to my son it was the "best day ever". Of course in all fairness, he's had several "best days ever" since. Oh well. At least I was their hero for one day.

My kids aren't the only ones who love busses though. I see children all the time who get excited because they get to take a bus ride. Up until a certain age, riding the bus is actually cool. Although, I'm sure that also depends on the circumstances. I also have a teenage son who probably doesn't get excited to ride the bus anymore, unless I'm the one driving. I can drive that kid everywhere in my own car and always get the same angsty teen lack of gratitude, but have him ride my bus and he's a kid again. I even get adult friends of mine who haven't taken the bus for years who want to ride my bus. I guess there's something about knowing the driver that makes it exciting.

This is something else I've noticed when I'm driving. On a few occasions I actually have had friends ride my bus, purely by luck. They will usually stand at the front with me and chat. It's a nice distraction from my day. But you know that they don't do that for any other drivers. Makes a guy feel special... like I'm the rockstar and they're my groupies. Even the one friend I had on my bus one day had just been through knee surgery so she chose to sit... but that didn't stop her being my groupie and chatting with me. My favorite though, is the few occasions where I've had friends bring their children onto my bus. A couple of these, like the time my wife rode my bus, were planned ahead of time. This is where I get to see another side of the kids. The one where they are impressed that their parents know the driver.... by name! It's as if my "celebrity" status on the bus has now rubbed off on my friends and they just became Indiana Jones to their own kids. Well not quite... I'm still Indy. But they get to be Marion or Shortround.

When one of my friends bring their kids on the bus, I try to do something special for them. Sure, no one gets the same VIP treatment that my own kids did, but I will usually let them sit in my seat and push a couple buttons. I remember one friend specifically bring her 8 year old son on my bus. It was his first ride ever on a bus. I made sure to give him swag to take home (nothing major... just a pin and a route map... but still.) I wanted to make his ride as memorable as possible. I particularly enjoyed being able to see the job through fresh eyes from him. He was abundantly curious, asking questions about things that I'VE never even noticed before like "What's in that panel?"

But I'm the same way with most children on my bus. I try to leave an impression on them. No big gestures like I do with friend's kids, but the little things. Stuff like making sure I say hi or bye to them directly or answering their questions. Talking to them if they ask questions. Or letting them dump my fare box. I mentioned in one of my previous blogs that I like letting the money in my fare box pile up for just this reason. (Well that and the joy it brings me to see how full I can get it.) I've been known to start sing alongs with kids on my bus on a couple occasions or join them in their own songs (Let it Go from Frozen is a popular choice.) Or high five a kid as they walk past. But the easiest way to make a kid's day on my bus is by letting them be in charge of the stop request bell. Recently I had 2 little sisters on my bus who were arguing over who would be allowed to ring the bell. Each one claimed that it was their turn. So, I helped the mother sort out this argument my letting them know I would let them each ring the bell. And that's what I did, I let the first girl ring the bell, deactivated it and then let the second one ring it. Made their day. Indiana Jones may have a whip, but I have a stop request bell.

At some point in our lives, this awe wears off and the bus driver is not viewed in as high esteem. That is, unless you know me personally. Often when I meet someone outside of work, when they first find out what I do for a living, their reaction is almost always "oh wow... I could never do that!" For some it's because they feel road rage would get the best of them. For others, its the customer service aspect. Whereas my perspectives on that are "I get paid by the hour" and "I just sit back and enjoy the show.", respectively. I especially appreciate the irony when one of these people who says they couldn't do my job is someone who is professionally trained in theirs. "Oh you're a surgeon? You probably COULD do my job... but I promise I can't do YOURS."

Some people appreciate what I do, some don't. All I know is that my biggest fans are usually the smallest people on my bus, and I'm ok with that. At least to kids, I get to be Indiana Jones and without the threat of having my heart pulled out of my chest by a temple priest. I hope. That's the reason I enjoy taking my own kids to work. Since that first time, I have done it again. Except this time I took them to the garage where we keep our "Heritage Fleet". A sample of all our busses that have been retired. I thought that the only thing better than letting them see busses was letting them see CLASSIC busses. I have to admit, I was mistaken. Although I was fascinated seeing the old busses, it really made no difference to the 3 and 1 year old. Oh well. No matter what, they are still my biggest fans.

Ok... this blog entry is done. You can go watch the marine biologist episode of Seinfeld now, because I'm sure that's what you've been thinking since the first paragraph. I don't blame you. It's a great episode.

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