This is hilarious. Luckily it was in Orlando and not Jacksonville.
'Is He Really Leaving Us Here On This Bus?'QuoteORLANDO, Fla. -- A Central Florida public transportation bus driver was suspended after he was caught on hidden camera leaving passengers and his bus with the engine running for daily walks to a nearby store for coffee breaks -- sometimes two a day.
Eric Henley, a resident who has been riding the bus for three months, recently tipped WKMG-TV in Orlando that the same Lynx driver was abandoning passengers along 441 for the breaks.
Henley said Norm Audet would leave passengers sitting on board or shut out of the bus. "We all looked at each other like, 'Is he really leaving us here on this bus?'" Henley said. "My point is why is he leaving the bus running with us sitting on it."
Full article: http://www.news4jax.com/news/14587778/detail.html (http://www.news4jax.com/news/14587778/detail.html)
Sorry y'all but I tend to want to talk with the driver first. Making news might be a pass time of the press in Orlando too, as they sure as ^*)_^%)@#& are NOT reporting any &#($*^!*& happening down at Mickey Mouse World.
Just imagine this:
You go into work early in the AM. Sure your tired, but you DO YOUR JOB well. The morning urge hits and you head down the hall to the restroom. On your way out, you stop for just a second to grab a cup of Joe at the break room. When you reappear at your desk, the TV crews are there, wanting you to "explain" yourself!
Now sorry, but if this happened to me, I'd look into the camera and say:
"PFT PFT FFT PFT PFT PFFFFFFFT!"
Sure anything can be abused. Break time is no different. The guy might have some problems, but no where did I read that...
drivers are people too?
drivers need breaks?
drivers are ALLOWED breaks?
Is this some sort of "ORLANDOLUTION?"
Scheduling calls this "PADDING". Simply put, all transit and transportation schedules have "padding" built in. Why? BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE FULL OF S**T! Certainly the media in Orlando is...
Lynx? Media? or JTA? Tell me your any different... Mystery riders are SO IMPORTANT!
Ocklawaha
I don't now what really happened, but if I had to take a bus/train to get somewhere and the driver made daily coffee breaks or stops, forcing me to arrive late to my destination, I'd be pissed.
Instead of a break, this is more comparable with a guy who routinely excuses himself from office meetings (leaving the client and others in the room to wait) while he runs out to buy hotdogs from the cart on the corner. There's a time and place for everything.
Might be? Maybe not? Who knows? What gets me is the slant that the driver is somehow wrong on all counts without any mention that the schedules allow for certain personal needs.
Then again, HEY! We finally found SOMETHING that OUR Skyway does better!
Ocklawaha
I think the issue is - is there a scheduled break in this schedule, at this location? Or, putting it another way, is this driver running ahead of schedule to get to his favorite break location (leaving passengers standing who arrived at their stop 'on time'), or is he late arriving at the destination end of the line (that is, after the published time)? If his schedule doesn't have 'slack' in it, and he needs those breaks, he should choose another assignment next time they come up (transit drivers typically get to choose their assigned runs, anywhere from 2 to 4 times a year). Or, if this is a problem all across the Lynx schedules, it is a matter for the Union to discuss with Management.
Just because the driver wants/needs a break, doesn't mean there is one built into that schedule. His job is to safely maintain the schedule.