The dreaded FIRST BUS!

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 10:03 am

Terry M - I hope you don't mind my asking, without going into any personal details on here, but I think I may be remembering the wrong person. The Terry M who I knew had been, I'm almost certain, at Ledgard's until the October 1967 end of that Firm and was then at Torre Road, and regular for a long while on the number 1 Lawnswood - Beeston service. Perhaps you wouldn't mind clarifying this in view of your 1974 starting date mentioned.

Terry M · Post by **Terry M** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 12:24 pm

Hi,Slight mix up.. I started with the old LCT in March 1974. We were the last recruits taken on by LCT before the WYPTE on the 1st April.I started at Bramley garage with Dorothy Birkett and Mel Harris.I was at Bramley for a couple of years before a short stint with Independent at Horsforth mid 1976, then I returned to WYPTE but this time at Headingley.I had the pleasure of meeting you again and also the famous Wally Brock.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 12:50 pm

Terry M wrote: Hi,Slight mix up.. I started with the old LCT in March 1974. We were the last recruits taken on by LCT before the WYPTE on the 1st April.I started at Bramley garage with Dorothy Birkett and Mel Harris.I was at Bramley for a couple of years before a short stint with Independent at Horsforth mid 1976, then I returned to WYPTE but this time at Headingley.I had the pleasure of meeting you again and also the famous Wally Brock. Thanks for clearing that up Terry - different person then. I thought the World of Dorothy Birkett - she was a really nice person - and Mel Harris a grand lad, as is his brother Winston who I still see quite often. Poor Wally passed away quite recently after bravely fighting a rotten illness for years.

WiggyDiggy · Post by **WiggyDiggy** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 2:47 pm

@BlakeyYou don't make any points I dont disagree with! The dress standard is also something which bugs me, boarding a bus with a smartly turned out driver gives you more confidence in their dedication to doing a good job. Some slacker in baseball cap and scruffed up shirt is looks like they don't care.@TerryIf driving their bus for 10hrs a day makes them so miserable, why carry on, why not choose another job? I do sympathise that in this climate jobs are worth holding to so perhaps that comment can be taken less seriously than another time, but why take that misery out on the passengers with a bad attitude and poor driving?I do expect bus's to run on time yes as that is what the timetable is for, don't bother publishing one if it is unreasonable to expect at least a small attempt to keep to it. As for friendliness a simple nod of the head as I show my pass would be enough, at least look at the dam thing. I'm not exaggerating when I say the majority of drivers I see can barely look at me let alone acknowledge me in a friendly manner.Your not wrong in listing some problematic customers but again why make the majority suffer because of the minority? I'm not anti-bus driver, nor are most folk, we just want a reasonable service and the chance to occasionally see that the drivers are human and not some miserable prisoner in their plastic cage.

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 2:58 pm

That there are some pleasant drivers was seen in a lady driver on a 7A that I used a few days back. She took great care in helping a person in a wheelchair access the bus and even helping people that had mobility problems getting on and off. She is a credit to First Bus, as also are the other drivers like her.

WiggyDiggy · Post by **WiggyDiggy** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 3:01 pm

Leodian wrote: That there are some pleasant drivers was seen in a lady driver on a 7A that I used a few days back. She took great care in helping a person in a wheelchair access the bus and even helping people that had mobility problems getting on and off. She is a credit to First Bus, as also are the other drivers like her. The sad thing is that such commendable behaviour on her part would likely put her behind on the timetable as there doesnt seem to be any provision in them for people that can't leap on/off like a gazelle.Top behaviour though (-:

jim · Post by **jim** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 3:16 pm

My missus tells me that Amberly Road railway bridge has been tested for height gauge by a 42 today. The result showed conclusively that double deckers won't go through..........No serious injury evident I'm pleased to report

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 9:28 pm

jim wrote: My missus tells me that Amberly Road railway bridge has been tested for height gauge by a 42 today. The result showed conclusively that double deckers won't go through..........No serious injury evident I'm pleased to report Well well Jim - that explains a lot to me !! While driving this lunctime from Whingate to Five Lane Ends - to one of the finest fish and chipperies for miles - I wondered what a number 42 single decker was doing coming the other way. On reaching the mini roundabout though I saw that all the white lining was brand new, so assumed that the painting lads had just been and closed the road.This though is by no means the first time that a double decker has gone through the Amberley Road bridge and come out the other side a saloon !! The bridge is very obviously too low one would think, but I have to say that "it could happen to anybody", acutely serious though it is.

BLAKEY · Post by **BLAKEY** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 9:33 pm

WiggyDiggy wrote: The sad thing is that such commendable behaviour on her part would likely put her behind on the timetable as there doesnt seem to be any provision in them for people that can't leap on/off like a gazelle.Top behaviour though (-: I quite agree - none of the schedules (except perhaps at the very quietest times) allow for this degree of delay very often. The other latest instruction to passengers, by hypocritical operators who KNOW it can't work, is:-"If you wish to alight press the bell once and remain seated till the bus has stopped." If every passenger did this, including those at the rear of an enormous upper saloon, the City would be at a total standstill before daybreak !!

jim · Post by **jim** » Wed 25 Jul, 2012 10:43 pm

BLAKEY wrote: This though is by no means the first time that a double decker has gone through the Amberley Road bridge and come out the other side a saloon !! The bridge is very obviously too low one would think, but I have to say that "it could happen to anybody", acutely serious though it is. The bridge is certainly too low for modern traffic, but when the line was built (opened 1854) there would be no thought of road traffic of the height it later attained. Construction would take the then present height standards, add two or three feet for luck, and assume that that would cope with anything likely. To alter things now would be costly indeed. The line to Bradford and Manchester which the bridge carries is already at an uncomfortably steep gradient that no-one would wish to increase. The road beneath has already been dropped to increase headroom, and further excavation would probably result in drainage problems. The only way to make things safer would be close the road to road traffic, leaving the pedestrian right of way and directing traffic to alternative routes.