Driving a para transit bus is a mixed bag.
It has been my experience that...
Sometimes there are clients who are unpredictable, demanding and challenging. We are given minimal information about them. Our manifests state whether or not the client is ambulatory or uses a device such as a cane, walker or wheelchair. It also lists whether they are non-verbal, hearing or visually impaired.The other thing that may be listed is whether or not they are hand-to-hand, which means they must be picked up from a caregiver or guardian and delivered to same. There are any number of other things that might be challenging the client that we are not given information on. I have learned about these clients from experience. For instance there is a client who wets his pants if he is on the bus longer that 30 minutes.Two clients scream the whole way home. Another client is often ill after his appointment and vomits. One client is afraid to get on or off the bus and requires 15 minutes or more of coaxing. Some clients are prone to seizures. Dialysis clients are weak, tired and cold (even in the dead of summer). The list goes on and on.
Sometimes the buses experience minor mechanical failures, the lift can cease to work, the MDT(computerized manifest and GPS system) can quit, the speedometer,air conditioning, passenger door can break or any number of other things can occur that make the vehicle un-drivable and or unsafe. This requires a mechanic to show up with another bus and can take up to an hour or more.There was a bus that actually caught on fire this year; luckily there weren't any clients on board, the driver was fine and not in error.
Traffic is always a problem. Seattle is growing by leaps and bounds. Single family dwellings are being torn down and replaced by multiple townhouses. Where one or two cars existed before there might be as many as eight now. Roads are closed due to construction.There are a number of people here who learned to drive in other countries and have radically different driving styles. Many are seeing signal lights as merely suggestions. Every day that I am on route I see near or actual accidents. As drivers we are to keep to a schedule of pick up and drop off times (even when we are given an insert that is clear across town and we are supposed to be there in 10 minutes), find addresses, secure wheelchairs properly, record our mileage and times, be safe at all times and ready for the unexpected. Sometimes we are honked and yelled at when loading or unloading clients by other drivers whose paths we have had to block.
For the most part I do this job because of the clients. Many are grateful for the service and loads of fun to be around. I have learned so much from them about the human spirit and the nature of how we are as people. It's the small interactions that mean the most to me. I have enough stories to fill a book.
So my job continues for a while more, then the other 2 companies who have contracts with Metro will be hiring. For now I am gazing at new horizons.
