i am a municipal bus driver and former light rail operator. here are some things i have learned:
- driving a bendy bus is basically the same as driving a normal bus. every once in a while, even after you get experienced, you will look in your mirror and think "dang, why is that other bus following me so close." and the other bus is also you
- driving is not the hard part about driving a bus. driving is easy. it's the hours and 0.2% of the people that are hard
- but we get a pension and i can pay my mortgage so i'm not complaining to you all too loud. i am complaining to management at maximum volume however solidarity forever labor is entitled to all that it creates etc etc
- we get a little spring-loaded switch called a hill holder that holds the e-brake so you dont bust your knee holding down the brake pedal, particularly on hills
- the most important skill any driver can learn is acceptance of lack of control. the second most important skill is bladder management
- i drove trolleybuses for a year and now i can't think of anything interesting about them to say. please leave your questions below
- actually, here's a bit of trivia: trolleybuses are older than diesel buses
- light rail trains can stop faster than i would have thought before driving them. but it's not that fast
- operating a train is astonishingly boring. like driving a bus is pretty boring too but trains take the cake
- if you "jokingly" lunge toward the tracks when the train is approaching, as though you were going to throw yourself in front of the train, you will go directly to hell when you die. no priest can absolve this
- the trolley poles have graphite shoes at the end where they contact the overhead. and when it rains, the graphite rubbings mix with rainwater and cling to the poles. when an operator goes outside the bus to put the poles back on the wires, it is of paramount importance for them to keep their mouth closed as they look up at the overhead
- they call this slurry "trolley juice"
- i managed never to get juiced
