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Funny and sometimes crazy stuff from passengers
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:54 am    Post subject: Funny and sometimes crazy stuff from passengers Reply with quote

Well, as you can imagine I get exposed to all kinds of crazy nutty people so I think folks here might enjoy some of my experiences as they come along.

For the most part I see the same 20 or 30 passengers whom I see everyday and for the most part my days are really uneventfull. But sometimes? Sheesh!

Yesterday..."DRIVER!!"" I'd like to get off at 1650 Broadway!!!" Can you imagine giving a bus driver an address!?! The last time I checked I haven't seen any Shortline buses painted yellow with a checkered sticker running down the sides with an off/on duty box on the roof. C'mon now!

All I could do is keep from laughing and simply told her the closest stop is 51st street. To which she replies.. but the last driver stopped there. Believe me. The conversation ended right there and then.
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 6:44 pm    Post subject: Updated...9-23-08 Reply with quote

Well my last post didn't generate any interest really, but I do thank the both of you who took the time to take a look at it..

but I do constantly get asked the question..."WHERE'S THE 4 48!?!?" as I am the 5 PM. Well, being us drivers do not call each other to find out where the other one might be, we simply don't care, ...we're responsible for our own schedules..

But I was really, really pissy today as the UN is in town, really messing things up and turning schedules totally upside down, I reacted by saying, "well what did the driver say when you called him? She said to me, " I didn't call him?! I've never heard my passengers laugh so hard!

Yes folks.. a day in the life!
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TCC Senior Man



Age: 67
Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 28

PostPosted: Tue Sep 23, 2008 9:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know I haven't posted anything in a long time but I do check in from time to time.

Anyway here's a story that I'd like to contribute. I think that I related this story back in the old BTN but don't recall. This didn't happen to me but it has been confirmed to me by several sources including the driver who did do it.

This incident happened over 20 years ago to a driver who is now retired. He was driving the Q-33 to and from LaGuardia Airport. He got to one of the terminal stops where an out of town passenger wanted to board with numerous pieces of luggage. The passenger asked the driver before he got on where could he put the luggage.

The driver, not pleased at the sight at all that luggage, told him to slide the luggage "under the bus" and that the "Luggage Lift" would bring it all inside the bus. The passenger followed the driver's instructions and slid all of his luggage under the bus. The driver closed the doors and took off. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw clothing and personal items strewn in the roadway behind him.

BTW, the driver did get in trouble for his actions and the then Triboro Coach paid for replacing everything that was damaged or destroyed by the bus.
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ken/TCC,

There used to be an old raido show years ago called 'Can You Top This' where comedians of the Morey Amsterdam class would get together and try to top each others jokes with better ones.

Well let me tell you that TCC's luggage story is about as good as they get!

I've had funny experiences behind the wheel but I just don't happen to remember too many of them except the ones that used to get on and ask 'how much is the bus?' to which I would asnswer '$25,000 or the ones that would ask 'how long is the bus in the back?' to which I'd say 35 feet.

Of course, they were usually foreigner's heading for the airport and didn't really appreciate my sense of humor!

Oh yes, now I remember!, I did a vacation relief on a Q10 nighthawk one summer and I used to pick up this guy fresh out of a gin mill and stoned drunk at Liberty Avenue at about 1:30 in the morning heading for Old South Road.

There wasn't another soul on the bus but he insisted on staggering all the way to the rear and I used to watch him through the rear view mirror for fear that he might fall down on his way, and I was in no mood to make out an accident report!

So, if I saw him sway one way I would veer the bus the other to keep him steady on his feet and this went on for a couple of blocks until I saw him attempt to sit down at which time I swerved him right into the seat (I don't think he really knew what was going on but I had a lot of fun doing it).

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY
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Hart Bus



Age: 73
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 1150

PostPosted: Wed Sep 24, 2008 10:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's another story to add to the thread. It may not be politically correct in these times but this is what happened.

One day during the summer of either 1975 or 1976 when I was living in Forest HIlls, I decided to take TCC's Express bus that went up 6th Ave and ended up on Yellowstone and Woodhaven Blvd's. I don't remember the route number.

I got on at the first stop which was in the vicintiy of 34th street. Bus pulls out , no problem. Next stop in vicintiy of Bryant Park (42nd St) no problem. Third stop is under the Radio City Music Halll. The regulars pile on greeting the driver and fellow passengers.

Last person waiting to board was a Japanese man of slight build, with a camera around his next. Says the man "Escuse please, is this the bus to
Whita-a-stone?". Driver says "Oh no, this is the bus to Yellow-a-stone". Slams the door and burns rubber out of the stop.

Everyone is laughing. Then one passenger yells out to the driver " Hey JImmy, what are you laughing at? That guy might be your landlord tomorrow". More laughter because of the truth of the statement.
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 5:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Terrific!!!! Very very funny!!! I will post more as they come.. and pls! post more as they come to mind!!

Actually.. I do remember one....A passenger gets on in the morning, I've never seen him before, asks me..Is this the Port Authority? I said no, it's a bus. LOL!!!! My regulars loved that!!
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TCC Senior Man



Age: 67
Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 28

PostPosted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got another one. Hopefully you'll find this one amusing as well.

One time a long, long time ago, I was working the Q-38 in Forest Hills. An older woman, along with her daughter and her grand kids get on my bus. The older woman gets on first followed by the two grand kids, a boy about 7 years of age and a younger girl of about 5. Somehow when getting on the bus, the little boy reached under his grandmother's skirt and all I saw out of the corner of my eye was a pair of "bloomers." Grandma quickly pulled them back up but was clearly embarrassed. Her daughter, seeing what had just happened, tells her mother "look at it this way Ma, you're loosing weight." I never saw any of these folks ever again.
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Hart Bus



Age: 73
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 1150

PostPosted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One day while I was a "yout", I was on an FACC #15 with my mom going into
Manhattan. There was an FACC employee sitting in the seat closest to the door and talking to the driver.

He related an incident that happened several days earlier. The driver they both knew had found a paper bag with money in it. He dutifullly turned the money in at the end of the shift.

The next day the woman came to lost and found and swore that there was $1,000 in it not the $800 some-odd that was turned in. The supervisor knowing the honesty of the driver asked the lady to think if she went anywhere after taking the money from the bank and boarding the bus.

"Oh yeah I forget, I bought a refrigator with the shortage" came the reply.

Shows you how long ago this occured if you could buy a refrigerator for under $200 including the tax and delivery.
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Mr. Linsky
BusTalk's Offical Welcoming Committee



Joined: 16 Apr 2007
Posts: 5071
Location: BRENTWOOD, CA. - WOODMERE, N.Y.

PostPosted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 12:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The story that Hart Bus tells above about the found money brings up an interesting aspect of bus driving that I've never mentioned before.

The accusation that there was more money than what the driver found and turned in was very common in my time and probably even more so today.

Although my finding of money was limited to what I would pick up behind the seats between trips, I was fully prepared to follow a 'driver's' golden rule when it came to purses and wallets and that was to take the cash and dump the container in a mail box.

This way, at least any important papers might be returned to the owner and we wouldn't be called criminals!

It was just one of those things in which a good deed often got you in trouble and that was the most practical way out!

Mr.Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Wed Oct 08, 2008 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

OK this one isn't particularly a funny one but this does take place on a weekly basis with the OTR drivers. Yes, certainly Coach USA has taken over a "few" bus companies around here, but when I load up in the morning, our tickets must say "Leisure Line" (yes, even though we are Shortline), they retained the Leisure Line name being it's a cash only business and don't really exist..

anyhow..I digress! Passengers on a weekly basis give me Rockland Coach tickets and they can't seem to understand that even though both of our buses say Coach USA, we are a different entity totally and Rockland Coach has a different accounting department and they charge differently. If our accounting department sees a Rockland coach ticket in our envelopes at the end of the day, we the drivers see a deduction in our paychecks for that one!
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always get a kick when the pax ask me "WHERE'S THE DRIVER BEFORE YOU!!!!!????? HE'S LATE!!!!

Why they think I know what happened to him is beyond me. I just think to myself.....Call him at home ma'am find out why he's not here! LOL But I do say to them..Well what did the company say when you called them?

I get the predictable answer.. "I DIDN'T CALL THEM"

Ah.. I see.
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Sat Nov 29, 2008 1:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just changed runs so the passengers have to get used to me and my style of driving..

I make only scheduled stops along 6th and 5 avenues. the driver before me stopped when the passengers told him to. As it is, one of my passengers happens to be the head dispatchers wife. Nice lady.

Silly me thought when I explained to her that it's somewhat problematic stopping where the passengers feel like stopping, like every other block she'd know a LITTLE about the dangers. LOL!! yea right!

I explained to her ( which I don't normally talk to passengers about driving a bus becuase they know so extremely little about driving a bus and they actually argue with the driver with what little information they have) that I am increasing my risk of an accident. Ever try to pull out in front of speeding cabs?

Her response? YES BUT THAT'S WHAT THE PASSENGERS ARE USED TO!!

Hmm. I stood my ground. I"m sorry Eileen. That's how it'gonna be. ANd they can't complain to the company either. What are they going to say? HE's making scheduled stops?
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Tue Dec 02, 2008 8:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I actually had a real winner today. I'm the 8 35 southbound from Nanuet. at the last second or two I got bum rushed so I took on another 4 pax, by this time it was now 8 36 and change. Technically, now I;m late.

I close the door and pull away. Along comes this woman and bangs on the door, tell me to open it. I look at her after a few seconds and shake my head no.

She bangs on the door again, I just ignore her. She is screaming, irate at this point and says "I'M GONNA STAND IN FRONT OF YOUR BUS AND I'M NOT MOVING!!" Ah jeez, here we go. I've got 59 people sitting behind me and tell me I should open the door. The answer is no I tell them. I do believe it's a state law, and I could get disciplinary action taken against me by shortline anyhow for opening a door in the middle of a street, one lane away from the bus stop.

Eventually, she gets into a screaming match with the ticket agent who is right there, and she moves away from the front of the bus.

Honestly, that nincompoop can get on the ground, take off her shoes and socks and jump, jive and whale and that door still ain't gonna open.

That little stunt costs me 9 minutes.
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Hart Bus



Age: 73
Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 1150

PostPosted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 11:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

shortlineMCI wrote:
I actually had a real winner today. I'm the 8 35 southbound from Nanuet. at the last second or two I got bum rushed so I took on another 4 pax, by this time it was now 8 36 and change. Technically, now I;m late.

I close the door and pull away. Along comes this woman and bangs on the door, tell me to open it. I look at her after a few seconds and shake my head no.

She bangs on the door again, I just ignore her. She is screaming, irate at this point and says "I'M GONNA STAND IN FRONT OF YOUR BUS AND I'M NOT MOVING!!" Ah jeez, here we go. I've got 59 people sitting behind me and tell me I should open the door. The answer is no I tell them. I do believe it's a state law, and I could get disciplinary action taken against me by shortline anyhow for opening a door in the middle of a street, one lane away from the bus stop.

Eventually, she gets into a screaming match with the ticket agent who is right there, and she moves away from the front of the bus.

Honestly, that nincompoop can get on the ground, take off her shoes and socks and jump, jive and whale and that door still ain't gonna open.

That little stunt costs me 9 minutes.


Hey MCI that reminded me of a story I had heard along time ago when I used to take Alert Coach's short-lived bus run from the Walt Whitman Mall to Main St / Roosevelt Ave in downtown Flushing. The drivers would also have to do charter work with their OTR coaches.

Once a year a ballet school would charter 4-5 coaches to take their students into Lincoln Center for a performance. The drivers would park their buses and then hop onto one bus. That bus would go south to a chicken and rib joint in the (then) seedy part of Times Square on Eighth Ave. The driver would double park and the all the remaining drivers would go into the joint, get the food and they would return to Lincoln Center to eat the food.

This one time, the other drivers got off the bus, the remaining driver locked the door with the air-lock and was waiting for them. All of a sudden there is a banging on the door with a "let me on the damn bus" shout. The driver said "you want a city bus? Then go to the bus stop on the next block!". No, responded the young lady, she wanted to give the driver ten bucks, to let her and her john on the bus to do their thing. Didn't happen.

To Mr. MCI, I didn't know that Shortline hires 89 year olds to drive their buses (smile)
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shortlineMCI



Age: 54
Joined: 07 May 2007
Posts: 241

PostPosted: Thu Dec 04, 2008 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hart Bus wrote:
shortlineMCI wrote:
I actually had a real winner today. I'm the 8 35 southbound from Nanuet. at the last second or two I got bum rushed so I took on another 4 pax, by this time it was now 8 36 and change. Technically, now I;m late.

I close the door and pull away. Along comes this woman and bangs on the door, tell me to open it. I look at her after a few seconds and shake my head no.

She bangs on the door again, I just ignore her. She is screaming, irate at this point and says "I'M GONNA STAND IN FRONT OF YOUR BUS AND I'M NOT MOVING!!" Ah jeez, here we go. I've got 59 people sitting behind me and tell me I should open the door. The answer is no I tell them. I do believe it's a state law, and I could get disciplinary action taken against me by shortline anyhow for opening a door in the middle of a street, one lane away from the bus stop.

Eventually, she gets into a screaming match with the ticket agent who is right there, and she moves away from the front of the bus.

Honestly, that nincompoop can get on the ground, take off her shoes and socks and jump, jive and whale and that door still ain't gonna open.

That little stunt costs me 9 minutes.


Hey MCI that reminded me of a story I had heard along time ago when I used to take Alert Coach's short-lived bus run from the Walt Whitman Mall to Main St / Roosevelt Ave in downtown Flushing. The drivers would also have to do charter work with their OTR coaches.

Once a year a ballet school would charter 4-5 coaches to take their students into Lincoln Center for a performance. The drivers would park their buses and then hop onto one bus. That bus would go south to a chicken and rib joint in the (then) seedy part of Times Square on Eighth Ave. The driver would double park and the all the remaining drivers would go into the joint, get the food and they would return to Lincoln Center to eat the food.

This one time, the other drivers got off the bus, the remaining driver locked the door with the air-lock and was waiting for them. All of a sudden there is a banging on the door with a "let me on the damn bus" shout. The driver said "you want a city bus? Then go to the bus stop on the next block!". No, responded the young lady, she wanted to give the driver ten bucks, to let her and her john on the bus to do their thing. Didn't happen.

Boy I tell ya..you just can't make this stuff up! and even if ya did it wouldn't come out as sad or as funny! Sheesh!

To Mr. MCI, I didn't know that Shortline hires 89 year olds to drive their buses (smile)


Oh..yes..well you see, Shortline really like to hire very, very senior drivers. At 89 years of age, we don't speed, in fact the opposite. It takes a really, really long time to get places. Schedules at this age? haw..haw haw..haw.. Smile
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