Post by bennyp81 on Jun 20, 2005 6:47:28 GMT -8
Roberto
User ID: 9161143 Jul 17th 5:30 AM
From San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Bus drivers need road skills, patience
ARCADIA -- Transit buses are the 600-pound gorillas of the road: 40 feet long, 8 1/2 feet wide, 15-ton wide-bodies that intimidate even SUV owners and take skill to thread down crowded city streets.
To demonstrate how much skill, Metropolitan Transit Authority officials invited news media to a Santa Anita Park parking lot Wednesday to sample driving a bus in the run-up to Saturday's Metro Bus Roadeo. In this annual contest, operators compete to see who's the MTA's top driver in a field that was pared from 300 contestants down to an elite 30.
Sure enough, piloting a bus is harder than it looks. The air brakes are grabby, but you can stomp on the gas pedal and the diesel engine responds with leisurely speed. But the air- cushion driver's seat, which goes up and down over bumps, is fun and should be in every car.
Frank Cecere, an MTA acting assistant manager, said knowing a bus's pivot points the center of the rear wheels and, since buses don't have rear windows, learning to use the outside mirrors is critical to driving a bus.
"In other words, you can come up to an object and if the rear wheel is at or just beyond the object, you can't hit it because the bus is going to pivot around it,' Cecere said. "But if you start turning before you get to it, then you're going to run it over.'
Car and van wheels are in front of the driver, while bus wheels are behind the driver, and that takes some getting used to, he said. One of the hardest maneuvers for drivers, one they'll have to perform twice Saturday, is backing up.
"They have to do right- and left-hand reverses; back the bus down 45 feet of cones. It's tough because on the street we teach them to never back up the bus. So they come here and have to do something they don't ever have to do in real life,' Cecere said.
Driver/instructor Ernie Martinez, a 17-year MTA veteran, said driving isn't the hardest part of the job.
"It takes a lot of patience because you are dealing with the public,' he said. "The public is kind of hard if you're an impatient person and don't have any tolerance.'
Saturday's winner will advance to the Southern California regionals Sept. 6 in Chula Vista. That winner go to the American Public Transit Association event Sept. 21 in Salt Lake City, Utah. MTA drivers have placed as high as third there, but have never won, Cecere said.
Buses used Saturday will sport the MTA's new color scheme: red and silver for Rapid buses, orange and silver for Local lines, and dark blue and silver for Expresses. The public will see those colors next year on 200 new buses, Cecere said.
Chris Ledermuller
User ID: 1718124 Jul 20th 7:55 AM
Two problems with this story. One: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, not Transit Authority. It's a proper name, and Transit is not to be used as a synonym just to make the words shorter.
Two: the lead. Buses are "600-pound gorillas" and then described as 15 tons a few words later. Mixing a metaphor like this cuts the story off at its knees before it even has a chance to grow into a mighty oak. :>
User ID: 9161143 Jul 17th 5:30 AM
From San Gabriel Valley Tribune
Thursday, July 17, 2003
Bus drivers need road skills, patience
ARCADIA -- Transit buses are the 600-pound gorillas of the road: 40 feet long, 8 1/2 feet wide, 15-ton wide-bodies that intimidate even SUV owners and take skill to thread down crowded city streets.
To demonstrate how much skill, Metropolitan Transit Authority officials invited news media to a Santa Anita Park parking lot Wednesday to sample driving a bus in the run-up to Saturday's Metro Bus Roadeo. In this annual contest, operators compete to see who's the MTA's top driver in a field that was pared from 300 contestants down to an elite 30.
Sure enough, piloting a bus is harder than it looks. The air brakes are grabby, but you can stomp on the gas pedal and the diesel engine responds with leisurely speed. But the air- cushion driver's seat, which goes up and down over bumps, is fun and should be in every car.
Frank Cecere, an MTA acting assistant manager, said knowing a bus's pivot points the center of the rear wheels and, since buses don't have rear windows, learning to use the outside mirrors is critical to driving a bus.
"In other words, you can come up to an object and if the rear wheel is at or just beyond the object, you can't hit it because the bus is going to pivot around it,' Cecere said. "But if you start turning before you get to it, then you're going to run it over.'
Car and van wheels are in front of the driver, while bus wheels are behind the driver, and that takes some getting used to, he said. One of the hardest maneuvers for drivers, one they'll have to perform twice Saturday, is backing up.
"They have to do right- and left-hand reverses; back the bus down 45 feet of cones. It's tough because on the street we teach them to never back up the bus. So they come here and have to do something they don't ever have to do in real life,' Cecere said.
Driver/instructor Ernie Martinez, a 17-year MTA veteran, said driving isn't the hardest part of the job.
"It takes a lot of patience because you are dealing with the public,' he said. "The public is kind of hard if you're an impatient person and don't have any tolerance.'
Saturday's winner will advance to the Southern California regionals Sept. 6 in Chula Vista. That winner go to the American Public Transit Association event Sept. 21 in Salt Lake City, Utah. MTA drivers have placed as high as third there, but have never won, Cecere said.
Buses used Saturday will sport the MTA's new color scheme: red and silver for Rapid buses, orange and silver for Local lines, and dark blue and silver for Expresses. The public will see those colors next year on 200 new buses, Cecere said.
Chris Ledermuller
User ID: 1718124 Jul 20th 7:55 AM
Two problems with this story. One: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, not Transit Authority. It's a proper name, and Transit is not to be used as a synonym just to make the words shorter.
Two: the lead. Buses are "600-pound gorillas" and then described as 15 tons a few words later. Mixing a metaphor like this cuts the story off at its knees before it even has a chance to grow into a mighty oak. :>