The Good, The Bad and The Lazy

Good bus drivers can make your day... bad one can ruin it!

I am the kind of person who insists on greeting the bus driver at the beginning of the journey, and then shout a ‘Thank you’ across the bus when I get off.  And with the time that I spend on buses, I have met many different bus drivers. It took me some time to realise that there seems to be a trend. There are different types of bus drivers, I thought I might mention the three main types, though I don’t think that they are the only types, nor do I think that 1 person can only be in one category.

The Good

These drivers are the ones that welcome you with a smile on to the bus. They reply to the mumbled ‘morning’ or ‘evening’ with enthusiasm, as though they know you personally. Some even tell you what is going on when you have stopped for an unknown reason. This happened to me recently actually, on the way to uni in the morning the motorway, which the bus joins for part of the journey, was gridlocked. This is the announcement that we got from the bus diver:‘Sorry guys, there’s some sort of incident with police and ambulance so… just bear with us please.’ Now in it self such an announcement would have surely produced titters from the crowd. However under the circumstances (being trapped in a crowed bus on the motorway) it was a small reminder that the bus driver IS aware of his passengers.

The Bad

Everyone knows these characters. The bus driver who blatantly SEEs you running for the bus… and they drive off just as you reach the back of the bus. If you happen to catch their glance in the side mirror, some may even throw you a cocky grin. I have experienced this plenty of times, as I am sure you have. Something else I have noticed is that this kind of driver is either unaware of the passengers, or they care little for the well-being of the people they are transporting. What has led me to this opinion? The way they drive. There are some bus drivers who drive like they have an important appointment to keep, not caring for the poor passengers who are being thrown about the bus as they try to reach the speed of light.

The Lazy

The last, and arguably the most annoying, kind of driver. Oh, how to describe this undeserving specimen of the profession. Well, I shall try to illustrate their key aspects through a recount of an experience I had yesterday. 

Picture the scene: I am running for the bus. I step gratefully into the bus, thanking the driver for waiting and sit down. I am just about ready to settle down for the 30 minute journey, listening to music (also coughing up my lungs and promising myself to do more sport). The bus begins to drive, around the roundabout; by now I know the third exit is the one we’ll take. So imagine my surprise when instead of leaving the roundabout, we went straight past the third exit. In the end we did  a 360 turn, ending up going the direction the bus had just come from. Until the next bus stop that is. Here the bus driver stopped. This is what came out his mouth: ‘fheiuw henjgkw’ at least that is what it sounded like. Turns out he wanted everyone to get of the bus. I still don’t know why, all I know is that I had to wait for the next bus. Personally, I think he just wanted to get his break quicker. Now that’s what I call lazy.

So which kind of bus driver do you have to deal with? Do you have any favourites?

PS. Thank you to my sister for being the 'model' in the photos.