No bus drivin forum. So here goes.

We ride the casino bus to bolixi. I tend to give driver 20.00 a person in my party. Because my wife's friends tend to party.... Watch out for the born again pool dancers. Lol

 

I have a bus drives endorsement got it along with my CDL I always had an interest in running motor coaches or charter buses. When doing charters you have to do your homework. Went to driving school with a man who was up grading his CDL, but he had 20+ years experience in the charter bus world and I learned a great deal from him. So if I want to pick it up later I can.

 

I did the bus/limo thing for the past 2 1/2 years, decent money during the "season" but all work was unpredictable. Some days I would run my tail off, other days I would sit home and not know when I was going to work again. Lots of free time, but doesn't help when the bills keep coming every month and your not working regular hours. 2 1/2 years driving Class B buses and no companies running straight trucks will even talk to me since I don't have experience in a truck. Doing the bus thing is good if you have a second income like a pension or something, but for me it was a waste of time. Hanging up the suit and going to bite the bullet and go drive Class A trucks to get experience so I have a shot at doing local work. I know some bus/tour drivers make great money, but not all do (just like trucking).

 

Funny. I rode greyhound onto 10 inches of ice sprinkled with a foot of snow during the great blizzard of 93 to mount eagle Covenant for orentation where a day eariler I watched atlanta city buses slide sideways down ice hills on live news tv in Baltimore holding the greyhound ticket trying to decide to go or not.

24 hours later I was back home. Having failed a hearing test in a room filled with 60 people all talking at once. Impressive.

 

Well. It was ok, what happened after affirmed by faith in the process with FMCSA I think it was called. I submitted their decision, situation, my hearing chart and so forth to them for review pending a ADA suit against Covenant. FMCSA came back with a very nice letter hand signed teaching me that Motor Carriers have the option to be stricter and selective at which applicant they hire. And by the way, nothing about my stuff disqualifies me anyhow as far as Uncle Sam was concerned. I left them alone. They follow God as well as I do from what I met of their suits and leave it be. Maybe not all of them do.

Another thing with Greyhound. I cannot ever ride those things again, the hum of the engine at 70 mph is a sleep generator for hundreds of miles on a express not local bus. And the moment that engine spools down or brake air kicks in im awake grumpy.

Not to mention the 50 of your closest unwashed friends crammed in the DC ternimal bound buses. Oy... ugh. I used to be sick for a week to 10 days after a ride thinking it's infectious or something from at least one of them.

Im sorry, I cannot do it.

Now.

Thinking way back, this will get your goat... as a child on church trips across the bay bridge, they would plop a foot stool and set me on that at the white line on the floor all the way down and back. Ive wondered if that was legal, it was a paid seat, just one extra soul more than the paid seats equipped on those buses.

One driver in particular. he had a Prevost two axle job with 45 aboard from the early 70's luxury all around then. He was able to fit the thing around a residental corner once, gently climbing a curb. I knew we wanted to be dropped off on that road so that he can still get out at the cross light in either direction, but that is NOT a road or area to take that big honking bus. Keep in mind housing built between 1890 and 1920 and small streets to match.

 

I actually interviewed for a bus slot shuttling Western Maryland Tourists past Emmitsville from Baltimore and thought it would be pretty cool even if I slept in the baggae area while they milled around the destination resort half the day.

Nope. Once the subject of my hearing came up, the interviewer got cold and showed discrimination. To this day I still hold anger against them because my Class A and history at that point was virgin with no accidents and good record. What a ##### she was. Cold one too. What a waste.

 

Eight years driving the dog! You must have a whole lot more tolerance for your fellow man than I do!
I ran Grayline sight seeing busses out of Denver a couple of summers back in the '70's, and Denver Tramway, which was the bus service for metro Denver. The fact is that I am NOT a people person.