Yesterday I attended the first day of a two-week class for bus drivers who are converting from part time to full time. (The part-time class, during which they actually learn to drive a bus, is six-weeks.) It was cool to learn a little bit about how Metro operates from the inside, and it was really cool to spend the day with 24 bus drivers.

What I learned (the condensed version):

• You have to be a part-time driver before you can be a full-time driver. Part-time drivers have set hours and tend to be assigned to the straightforward (and relatively drama free) commuter routes. Full-time drivers get benefits.
• The coordinators (those people the drivers talk to over their radios about reroutes, breakdowns. emergencies, etc.) receive 450,000 calls per year.
• During morning and afternoon rush hours, there are over 1100 buses in operation.
• Bus drivers (and the people who love them) pack a mean lunch: po’ boys and sliced grapefruit and cut veggies and fancy chips…all arranged neatly in a mini Igloo cooler. Those of us spoiled by easy access to restaurants and cafeterias (and who barely managed to throw a pb ‘n j and an apple in a bag) did our best not to be jealous.
• Drivers don’t like the 174, either.

More on all the statistics and stuff later.

Bus driving, 201

At lunch, I talked to a woman who, after over ten years as a beautician, has decided to make bus driving a career. Her father is a bus driver as well and has been driving buses in Seattle for 32 years. Right now he drives the 8. She showed me his picture, so I’m on the lookout.

I talked to another Seattle OG, Alan Brooks, who told me that one of his passengers on the 255 actually ate a transfer. Something about Alan makes me think he’ll have many equally insane stories for me in the future. Another thing about Alan: His goal as a driver is to educate passengers not to stop a bus that with a sign that says “University District” and ask if it’s going to Federal Way. Good luck on that, my friend.

Irony of the day: The class instructor, Jeffrey (aka, “the man who brought me Busfather“), included an article about the high cost of car ownership in the class materials. One of the students, Rene, who has been car-free for 15 years, said that his job as a bus driver makes this choice extremely difficult. After all, someone has to get to (or from) the base when the buses aren’t running.

Rene went on to say that, according to his calculations, if he took a $10 cab ride to work every day and rented a car for two months out of the year, the total cost would be less than half the cost of a year of owning the two-year old vehicle he was considering purchasing. “I’m going to try that,” he said. “I’d really like to avoid buying a car if I can.”

Now that’s my kind of driver.