Not All Bus Drivers Suck

Last Friday when I was on my way to a job interview at UQ, I waited patiently for the bus at the Whickham Terrace bus stop. It was about seven minutes late, which I wasn’t too pleased about. I hopped on to the empty bus and the bus driver kindly offered the explanation that the Friday afternoon traffic had picked up earlier than normal.

Fair enough.

So, I said to him, “I have a job interview at 1PM – any chance we’ll get to the end of the line before then?” to which he replied, “The 412 service would’ve been a better choice, it goes direct almost. But… if we do a kamikaze run, we might make it on time…” I laughed and didn’t think much of it.

At the first stop, he pulled up rather abruptly and opened the door. There were a few people milling around waiting to get on the bus, and at this point they started fumbling with their wallets and such, hunting for their tickets. The bus driver says to them, “Come on, come on, get on! Don’t stand around thinking about it!” I was surprised to see the driver actually hurrying people in light of our earlier conversation!

The last person to hop on was still struggling to find their ticket (I have no idea how people do this – put your ticket in your wallet with your notes for fuck sake! That way you know where it is and can find it quickly) and the bus driver said to them, “Just go and sit down, I believe you.” She was confused and didn’t quite understand his meaning, so she kept fumbling for a half second before he repeated his statement and she disappeared down the back.

This hurrying of passengers to embark and disembark was encouraged at all the remaining stops, and we arrived at about 12:55PM to my stop. I was impressed! I thanked the driver for his effort and went on my merry way.

So, not all bus drivers suck.