Fright of the Navigator
On Wednesday I ran a route I felt quite confident about. I had had a good trainer on that particular route and truly felt I had it grasped quite well. So I got in my bus, headed to the transit mall downtown to pick up passengers and begin my route.
Things went well until I arrived at the place were I was supposed to make my first turn and... well... kept going past it. Having been distracted by a bus stop another 50 yards or so past the turn which was being occupied by more waiting riders than normal. Of course, they didn't want me because the sign on my bus definitely wasn't indicating that I was going in their direction. So when I pulled over to load them up, they all looked at me like I was crazy.
Now, of course at this point I had still not realized that I had missed my turn. And contrary to what I've been told time and time again by other drivers... none of my passengers panicked and shouted "you're going the wrong way". No no. The seven people on my bus just sat there, probably confused, but silent.
Until about another three blocks down the road when a little voice in the rear spoke up.
"Hey lady, I think you missed your turn back there."
He was an adorable 7'ish year old boy who was riding with dear old mom and dad who were deep in conversation. So much so, in fact, that they then looked up and said "oh yeah, you were supposed to turn back there at the drug store".
Oops. I radioed into dispatch and told them of my situation, was directed to loop back to get back on track. No big deal. I then joked with my passengers that under this dark haired exterior was the heart of a blonde. They laughed, I blushed and we managed to get back to where we were supposed to be.
Of course, the little boy was afraid I wasn't gonna get him home. So he moved forward and found a seat right behind me. He helped me navigate the rest of the route with "turn left miss bus driver" or "turn right here please". He was adorable. And while I was still a bit embarrassed, I was abundantly thankful for his help!
Things went well until I arrived at the place were I was supposed to make my first turn and... well... kept going past it. Having been distracted by a bus stop another 50 yards or so past the turn which was being occupied by more waiting riders than normal. Of course, they didn't want me because the sign on my bus definitely wasn't indicating that I was going in their direction. So when I pulled over to load them up, they all looked at me like I was crazy.
Now, of course at this point I had still not realized that I had missed my turn. And contrary to what I've been told time and time again by other drivers... none of my passengers panicked and shouted "you're going the wrong way". No no. The seven people on my bus just sat there, probably confused, but silent.
Until about another three blocks down the road when a little voice in the rear spoke up.
"Hey lady, I think you missed your turn back there."
He was an adorable 7'ish year old boy who was riding with dear old mom and dad who were deep in conversation. So much so, in fact, that they then looked up and said "oh yeah, you were supposed to turn back there at the drug store".
Oops. I radioed into dispatch and told them of my situation, was directed to loop back to get back on track. No big deal. I then joked with my passengers that under this dark haired exterior was the heart of a blonde. They laughed, I blushed and we managed to get back to where we were supposed to be.
Of course, the little boy was afraid I wasn't gonna get him home. So he moved forward and found a seat right behind me. He helped me navigate the rest of the route with "turn left miss bus driver" or "turn right here please". He was adorable. And while I was still a bit embarrassed, I was abundantly thankful for his help!
Comments