Sleepy bus driver

briantwin

Well just a little annoyed thread about bus drivers. Now for the most part they are ok and do a job i know i do not envy. But this morning i was waiting for my bus which was parked beside the terminus , the stop i get on at. It was due to leave at 10.30 i was there from 10.25. It was about 10.35 and i walked over to the bus and knocked on the window, the driver was lying across the back seat asleep. So i knocked till he woke up, realised what was happening and proceeded to get into the drivers eat/area. Anyway while he was sitting there with the engine running and getting the bus ready he dozed off for a further 5 - 10 minutes. His bus left 15 minutes late and with him half asleep behind the wheel. What a pro ehhhh?

Anyone else experience anything similar.
Oh i might add he was none to pleased with me when i got on the bus.

mad dave

must have had a late night.
madness

Cookie_Monster

been on two different busses recently where the driver has gotten off at the stop, one to get breakfast in the cafe beside it (over 5 mins) and the other to go into a newsagent for the lotto!

partyguinness

That is completely unacceptable...:mad:

I would make a formal complaint. Remember we are subsidising their wages. Plus its only a matter of time before they are out striking again.

briantwin

mad dave wrote: »

must have had a late night.
madness

yeah well his late night made me 30 minutes late for work. And the príck didnt even apologise he just sat there throwing filthies at me for waking him. There were about 5 people standing in the rain while he slept on the bus.

I was more concerned with the fact that he was only awake and operating an 8 ton bus in a suburban area. I can barely make a bowl of cereal if just out of bed and bleary eyed.

Cookie_Monster

briantwin wrote: »

yeah well his late night made me 30 minutes late for work. And the príck didnt even apologise he just sat there throwing filthies at me for waking him. There were about 5 people standing in the rain while he slept on the bus.

Do you really expect anything better from DB at this stage?
The fact that bus even turned up is nearly a miracle in itself:pac:

paulm17781

briantwin wrote: »

yeah well his late night made me 30 minutes late for work. And the príck didnt even apologise he just sat there throwing filthies at me for waking him. There were about 5 people standing in the rain while he slept on the bus.

I was more concerned with the fact that he was only awake and operating an 8 ton bus in a suburban area. I can barely make a bowl of cereal if just out of bed and bleary eyed.

As above, make a formal complaint. As long as no one complains, they can keep on doing it.

serfboard

paulm17781 wrote: »

As above, make a formal complaint. As long as no one complains, they can keep on doing it.

Absolutely. Specially as you say he was compromised while driving.

The RSA are focusing on tiredness now as part of their campaign - after drink and speed, the next biggest killer.

Stephen P

If it happens again I suggest take a quick picture on your phone, print if off and send it in with a letter of complaint.

Magic.Marker

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

been on two different busses recently where the driver has gotten off at the stop, one to get breakfast in the cafe beside it (over 5 mins) and the other to go into a newsagent for the lotto!

I was on a bus once and the driver stopped outside a McDonald's to use the loo. Didn't mind that time cause he got on the speaker and asked if we minded first.

A few weeks ago, I got on a 78A going into town and the driver had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on a novel. He was reading the novel during the whole journey. It was 8:30am in the morning and there was bad traffic. But the bus drove by several schools in its route. And if a child had ran out in front of the bus I don't think the driver would have been alert enough to stop in time.

Cookie_Monster

Magic.Marker wrote: »

A few weeks ago, I got on a 78A going into town and the driver had one hand on the steering wheel and the other on a novel. He was reading the novel during the whole journey. It was 8:30am in the morning and there was bad traffic. But the bus drove by several schools in its route. And if a child had ran out in front of the bus I don't think the driver would have been alert enough to stop in time.

Paper/book on the steering wheel is common enough.
That and/or a portable radio on the dash(though I have no objection to this)

zagmund

A long time ago I was sitting on a bus in Seattle when the driver leaned out of the window at a set of lights and started chatting away to another bus driver in the next lane. The detail is lost in the mists of time, but the gist of the message from my driver was that he had done two straight shifts yesterday and was on his second shift today and he was absolutely falling asleep at the wheel. It certainly caught my attention at the time.

Last year in China we had a mini-van driver fall asleep at the wheel as we were driving up a motorway. A truly scary experience. On account of not having any Mandarin (or whatever language he spoke) and not having a guide in the van we had no way to gently suggest that he might wake up so I had to whack him one. He wasn't impressed, but hey, it sure beats crashing head-on into traffic. When I complained to the travel company they came back with something from the Monty Python Parrot Sketch - he wasn't asleep, he was just resting . . . could have fooled me. I didn't fancy having the entire zag family wiped out so I had no compunction in thumping him.

Another thing to get used to in China is travel in the mountains. You know the way we might get stuck behind a tractor on a flat, 99% straight road for a few KMs here in case we might meet an oncoming car ? Doesn't happen over there, not even uphill, not even on a blind bend. They don't seem to crash much but it scares the bejabers out of you for the first few hundred times they try a crazy overtaking move. We had numerous examples where our bus would manage to get to 50km/h and overtake (very slowly) a truck going up the hill carrying tons of stone or something at maybe 20km/h. So, we're effectively doing something like 30km/h relative to the truck and the bus just keeps going, no matter what lies ahead. Really scary stuff. Like a slow-mo crash scene from a film with you in it.

z

Carawaystick

Brian, If I was regularly getting the bus from the terminus, I'd find out the depot phone number, and have it in my phone for when busses are late/don't turn up etc. And when the driver is asleep on the job too.

meanmachine3

briantwin wrote: »

Well just a little annoyed thread about bus drivers. Now for the most part they are ok and do a job i know i do not envy. But this morning i was waiting for my bus which was parked beside the terminus , the stop i get on at. It was due to leave at 10.30 i was there from 10.25. It was about 10.35 and i walked over to the bus and knocked on the window, the driver was lying across the back seat asleep. So i knocked till he woke up, realised what was happening and proceeded to get into the drivers eat/area. Anyway while he was sitting there with the engine running and getting the bus ready he dozed off for a further 5 - 10 minutes. His bus left 15 minutes late and with him half asleep behind the wheel. What a pro ehhhh?

Anyone else experience anything similar.
Oh i might add he was none to pleased with me when i got on the bus.

now before you start getting on your high horse and going in all guns blazing brian let me ask you this. are you 100% certain that the sleepy driver you woke up was in fact the same driver that was supposed to leave at 10.30.
be very careful here and think about it. was there a bus another bus due to leave at 10.45/50. i'd say the same to you all about this by the way. think before you start shouting. i was going to offer my services on helping but after seeing the lovely language well i think you know where you can shove it brian. you mean the late nights spent reading crap like this. ooops i better be off to bed ,dont want to be falling asleep at the termini in the morning in case i make the likes of brian late again. nighty night
ohhhhh if he was the driver ,let me work this out. he left 15 minutes late but you still managed to be 30 minutes late
so if he had left on time you would've still been late by 15 minutes.:D
wow lets blame it all on the bus driver.

meanmachine3

Carawaystick wrote: »

Brian, If I was regularly getting the bus from the terminus, I'd find out the depot phone number, and have it in my phone for when busses are late/don't turn up etc.

well said.no problem here what so ever. i know lots of people who do that, alot of these people by the way are the same ones that would expect the driver to stop and let them on if they're late, fat chance says me . if your late you can wait for the next one.

Carawaystick wrote: »

And when the driver is asleep on the job too.

just goes to show what you know about bus driving :rolleyes:

SickCert

Stephen P wrote: »

If it happens again I suggest take a quick picture on your phone, print if off and send it in with a letter of complaint.

Make sure you send it to the papers and not DB, some of the talks between managers recently about new schedules and you passengers makes me think they dont care about you at all.
Many a good driver here in the past doing his bit for the job BUT what ive witnessed since round 2 of the cuts is scary.

Cookie_Monster

meanmachine3 wrote: »

. he left 15 minutes late but you still managed to be 30 minutes late
so if he had left on time you would've still been late by 15 minutes.:D
wow lets blame it all on the bus driver.

maybe traffic gets a lot worse if the bus doesn't leave when it's supposed to??

Davy

Not just dublin bus drivers, i have seen this on the expressway services which is probablly a bit more worrying as they would be travelling at a faster speed. In one case the passengers had to keep taping the driver to keep awake.

MOH

partyguinness wrote: »

That is completely unacceptable...:mad:

I would make a formal complaint. Remember we are subsidising their wages. Plus its only a matter of time before they are out striking again.

Definitely make a complaint.

meanmachine3 wrote: »

now before you start getting on your high horse and going in all guns blazing brian let me ask you this. are you 100% certain that the sleepy driver you woke up was in fact the same driver that was supposed to leave at 10.30.
be very careful here and think about it. was there a bus another bus due to leave at 10.45/50. i'd say the same to you all about this by the way. think before you start shouting. i was going to offer my services on helping but after seeing the lovely language well i think you know where you can shove it brian. you mean the late nights spent reading crap like this. ooops i better be off to bed ,dont want to be falling asleep at the termini in the morning in case i make the likes of brian late again. nighty night
.

So you think it's acceptable for the driver to be sleeping while sitting at the wheel with the engine running? And this immediately before starting his journey?

Wishbone Ash

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Do you really expect anything better from DB at this stage?

The OP didn't specify that it was Dublin Bus! Usually, it's the drivers of private buses that I see asleep in their vehicles.

meanmachine3

MOH wrote: »

So you think it's acceptable for the driver to be sleeping while sitting at the wheel with the engine running? And this immediately before starting his journey?

but from my own experiences i have on numerous ocasssions got out to a terminus about 45 minutes before i was due to leave. what i'm saying here MOH is that the driver that brian is complaining about might not have been the driver for the 10.30. there are lots of things to be taken into account. the 10.30 might not have been operating, could have been running late.
now heres a little tip for those of you that are sociable and polite to bus drivers. if theres a problem. take down the I.D. number of a bus ,everyone has one. e.g.
ring the garage ask is the 10.30 operating from wherever and ask is the driver of say WV19 doing the 10.30 ,it's that simple.
some drivers take their breaks at termini. reasons being is that he might normally break in the garage then pull out of the garage and go straight to the outer termini to start his first run.so instead of doing this they just have their break there. saves alot of hastle like travelling to and from agrage, getting caught in traffic etc.
T.B.H. if brain had been more thoughtful about his choice of words i would certainly have tried to help out here , but calling him a prick is not the way to go.
yes there have been a few drivers that have been asleep at termini that i know of, but these have been very few and far between. in all my long years as a bus driver i only know of a handful i.e. less than five.
to answer your question MOH.
yes and no.
if the driver has plenty of time while waiting for their next run. YES. i cant see a problem getting a few ZZZZZZ's
leaving the engine running while doing this. a definate NO NO.

meanmachine3

Wishbone Ash wrote: »

The OP didn't specify that it was Dublin Bus! Usually, it's the drivers of private buses that I see asleep in their vehicles.

i missed that one, must have been dozing while i was typing.:D

Cookie_Monster

meanmachine3 wrote: »

there are lots of things to be taken into account. the 10.30 might not have been operating, could have been running late.

the 10.30 not operating is not an excuse and not really accectable either.

if it is late why can't the bus that is already there run 10.30 and the one due to run 10.30 run the schedule of the bus that swopped with it. I suppose it's beyond DB's (or CIE or whoever but am assuming DB) ability to do that:rolleyes:

amen

As above, make a formal complaint.

waste of time. Was drving around a roundabout 2 years ago. A dublin bus drove onto the roundabout right in front me causing to break heavily and I just missed the end of the bus. Loads of ppl beeping etc.
I followed bus got license place, bus reg no, route number and time.
Rang DB told them I would have to submit in write so I did.
Got a letter back that DB didn't know who was driving the bus at that time.

MOH

meanmachine3 wrote: »

leaving the engine running while doing this. a definate NO NO.

That's the bit I found alarming

Chris_533976

Was on a bus in Galway (City Direct clowns).

Driver gets off "Sorry I just have to go get my coffee" and runs off to the shop. 15 minutes later he comes back "I just had to get coffee sorry, I was out very late last night and I'd be lost with out it"

Out late = drinking heavily? Was tempted to call the police to get them to brethalyse the bastard, but that would have meant being late for work and getting fired.

No point emailing them either, those robbers never reply to anything. Worst bus company in Ireland.

Cleopatra12

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

the 10.30 not operating is not an excuse and not really accectable either.

if it is late why can't the bus that is already there run 10.30 and the one due to run 10.30 run the schedule of the bus that swopped with it. I suppose it's beyond DB's (or CIE or whoever but am assuming DB) ability to do that:rolleyes:

Am afraid its not quite as simple as this. Operations and schedules are a very complicated thing and those who work as a driver etc understand this and i understand that the logic, to those commuting, would be to swop one service for another and seems straightforward, but as am sure you can appreciate, life is never that simple!

Cleopatra12

partyguinness wrote: »

That is completely unacceptable...:mad:

I would make a formal complaint. Remember we are subsidising their wages. Plus its only a matter of time before they are out striking again.

Ok, yet again i have to point out, tax payers do not subsidise Dublin Bus wages. DB gets a subvention from the government. Its not to pay wages. I am a DB employee and am paid by Dublin Bus,they are my emplouer! I am not by the tax payer. Using your logic, since i pay tax, therefore i pay my own wages, eh????

Would you say such a thing to a Doctor in A&E? I think not!

antoinolachtnai

What is the subsidy used for so, if not to pay wages?

Cleopatra12

Operational costs for one!... hmm, buying windows for buses that are regularly being broken, diesel, insurance, road tax to name but a few!

dub_commuter

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

Operational costs for one!... hmm, buying windows for buses that are regularly being broken, diesel, insurance, road tax to name but a few!

Interesting...Still all the subvention seems to be a lot for that. Will have to have a look at the accounts, however I thought DB's biggest income was it's subvention, and it's biggest outgoing wages.........

Might be interesting to strip the subvention out of the income, and then see how much money is left from the last accounts income, and subtract the wages from the same year from the remaining figure and see what figure we are left with.