You know you're in trouble when...
Apr. 28th, 2008 07:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
omahasLast week, when waiting at the nearest bus stop for the 132, I noticed a warning sign at the bus stop. The stop would be closed starting 4/25, because construction would be starting on Des Moines Memorial Drive up ahead and the road would be closed for about a mile. Board the bus on Ambaum (the road that forked off of this one just a 100 feet south of this bus stop). No biggie.
So, today, I went to the new temporary bus stop. I was waiting with another man, when our bus comes by the bus stop. But not the temporary bus stop. No, the bus goes zooming up the other fork (Des Moines) and stops at the now closed bus stop.
We go running over to the bus. I'm pissed, because I thought that the bus stop was closed. I could see that the sign warning folks that the road was closed ahead is now *behind* the bus (meaning the driver drove past it). As I got on the bus, I asked the driver why he was stopping at the now closed bus stop.
"This stop ain't closed," he adamantly declared.
"Oh yes it is," I replied, sitting down.
He started the bus forward, and probably made it another 100 feet before realizing how right I was...the barriers across the street preventing him from traveling any further were in sight.
"Well, I'll be...no one told me 'bout this," he said. "Where I'm supposed to go?"
"You're supposed to go down Ambaum," I replied. Great, I thought. You know you're in trouble when you know more about the bus' route than the bus driver does.
But wait, it gets better. I think he could have probably moved a little further ahead, then turned left and gone through a large, but short, parking lot to get to Ambaum. Instead, he tried to reverse back up the road we were on. It took five minutes, at least. Somehow he succeeded.
When we finally made it onto Ambaum, he then said, "how far up Ambaum am I s'posed to go?"
"I don't know...I just know you're supposed to go up Ambaum a ways." I'm not your fucking driver, dude! "Call your base," I finally said.
He couldn't get the base on his radio. They wouldn't answer for some reason. Finally, I told him to just continue down Ambaum straight, rather than curving right onto 1st Avenue (I knew the construction was only about a mile, and getting onto 1st would have missed a whole bunch of stops on Des Moines that, it turned it, no one was at). Continuing down Ambaum a short bit revealed a "detour" sign that brought us back onto Des Moines properly again.
Yeesh. I really didn't want to continue driving with this guy who, very obviously, not only didn't pay attention to the road signs, but also didn't pay attention to his work's review of his route changes. Fortunately, I got to my stop in one piece.
So, today, I went to the new temporary bus stop. I was waiting with another man, when our bus comes by the bus stop. But not the temporary bus stop. No, the bus goes zooming up the other fork (Des Moines) and stops at the now closed bus stop.
We go running over to the bus. I'm pissed, because I thought that the bus stop was closed. I could see that the sign warning folks that the road was closed ahead is now *behind* the bus (meaning the driver drove past it). As I got on the bus, I asked the driver why he was stopping at the now closed bus stop.
"This stop ain't closed," he adamantly declared.
"Oh yes it is," I replied, sitting down.
He started the bus forward, and probably made it another 100 feet before realizing how right I was...the barriers across the street preventing him from traveling any further were in sight.
"Well, I'll be...no one told me 'bout this," he said. "Where I'm supposed to go?"
"You're supposed to go down Ambaum," I replied. Great, I thought. You know you're in trouble when you know more about the bus' route than the bus driver does.
But wait, it gets better. I think he could have probably moved a little further ahead, then turned left and gone through a large, but short, parking lot to get to Ambaum. Instead, he tried to reverse back up the road we were on. It took five minutes, at least. Somehow he succeeded.
When we finally made it onto Ambaum, he then said, "how far up Ambaum am I s'posed to go?"
"I don't know...I just know you're supposed to go up Ambaum a ways." I'm not your fucking driver, dude! "Call your base," I finally said.
He couldn't get the base on his radio. They wouldn't answer for some reason. Finally, I told him to just continue down Ambaum straight, rather than curving right onto 1st Avenue (I knew the construction was only about a mile, and getting onto 1st would have missed a whole bunch of stops on Des Moines that, it turned it, no one was at). Continuing down Ambaum a short bit revealed a "detour" sign that brought us back onto Des Moines properly again.
Yeesh. I really didn't want to continue driving with this guy who, very obviously, not only didn't pay attention to the road signs, but also didn't pay attention to his work's review of his route changes. Fortunately, I got to my stop in one piece.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-29 03:29 am (UTC)Actually, having to tell the driver's the route happens a little to often on our route (the 311). Can't understand why.
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Date: 2008-04-29 05:17 am (UTC)I remember one time years ago that I got on a route 20 (which doesn't exist anymore). The stop I was at is the last stop before the bus is supposed to take a left fork and drive up a ramp onto a bridge and freeway access.
Now, it's hard to fault this driver, because this particular area is pretty confusing, but he had several of us trying to tell him that he was going the wrong way. He took the right-hand fork. Then, it got worse when he tried to turn around...we told him he could get back onto the freeway if he took another lower bridge access. Instead, he drove down the wrong side, and ended up heading back down the direction he had just come down another street that he couldn't get access to the freeway from.
But wait, there's more. He tried to literally turn the bus around in a 180 on this two lane street...and got stuck on the railway that parallels the street. Twenty-minutes later he finally gave up trying to get onto the freeway, and I knew that I wasn't going anywhere. He had to call a bus tow-truck. Heh.