Bus driver goes to the ATM

[strictures]

Last Friday, the 5th, I was on a NB 151. When the bus got to Devon/Broadway.Sheridan, the driver stopped the bus just east of Broadway, went into the Bank of America ATM, did something there for about 4-5 minutes & then came back to the bus & continued to the end at Clark/Arthur, as if that was normal.

She was also late at Foster/Sheridan as the relief driver.

Another gem of a CTA hire!

[BusHunter]

38 minutes ago, strictures said:

Last Friday, the 5th, I was on a NB 151. When the bus got to Devon/Broadway.Sheridan, the driver stopped the bus just east of Broadway, went into the Bank of America ATM, did something there for about 4-5 minutes & then came back to the bus & continued to the end at Clark/Arthur, as if that was normal.

She was also late at Foster/Sheridan as the relief driver.

Another gem of a CTA hire!

Maybe she was taking a personal. Last week, I had a woman driver make this turn at Addison/OakPark hit the pole and keep going. I don't know why they have the drivers turning there. That road is not wide. She just scraped it, but her mistake was she tried to turn straight into the one lane and not use the left turn lane on Oak Park. Maybe she thought she didn't have body damage, but if she did she would have to explain that one. Hopefully no relief got stuck with it. One lane turns don't work with buses. The guy who scraped the wall at Cicero/Kennedy Expwy could vouch for that!!

[Pace831]

I had a Pace operator tell me "I'm going in the Burger King, come in and let me know when you're ready to go". This was at the normal layover location where drivers are allowed to use the restroom in the adjacent 7-Eleven. I wouldn't think they are allowed to go anywhere else during the layover. We ended up leaving 6 minutes late. I had actually sent Pace a complaint about her a few months before this, where I heard her say "I don't care about being on time", among other things. I don't ride her bus often but every time I have, she has done something she probably isn't supposed to.

[Busjack]

18 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

I had a Pace operator tell me "I'm going in the Burger King, come in and let me know when you're ready to go".

Drivers from North Division on 272 used to park the bus in front of Dunkin Donuts and Hardee's in Prospect Heights, but they can't do the latter because it is now closed. That seems to be an about 4-1/2 hour interline, though.

[sw4400]

2 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Maybe she was taking a personal. Last week, I had a woman driver make this turn at Addison/OakPark hit the pole and keep going. I don't know why they have the drivers turning there. That road is not wide. She just scraped it, but her mistake was she tried to turn straight into the one lane and not use the left turn lane on Oak Park. Maybe she thought she didn't have body damage, but if she did she would have to explain that one. Hopefully no relief got stuck with it. One lane turns don't work with buses. The guy who scraped the wall at Cicero/Kennedy Expwy could vouch for that!!

You got to know when it's a personal break, and when it's just a "I'm taking a minute to get a bite/beverage" break. Case in point.....

I'm heading WB on Addison and see a Nova stopped at Lincoln/Addison & Ravenswood EB right by the Dunkin' Donuts just idling there. I at first think "Did the bus breakdown?", but then I seen people sitting in the bus. The bus continued to idle for a couple more minutes before the Bus Operator comes out the Dunkin' Donuts with a coffee in hand(maybe a brown Dunkin' Donuts bag with some food item(s) as well). He gets back on board, releases the parking brake, puts the bus back into "D" and takes off EB on Addison.

If it was a urgent 10-100 or 10-200 break, I could see.... but a food/beverage break while on route might not be something that is allowable by CTA rules.

[Busjack]

26 minutes ago, sw4400 said:

If it was a urgent 10-100 or 10-200 break, I could see.... but a food/beverage break while on route might not be something that is allowable by CTA rules.

Did he use the coupons and get a free Caramel Macchiato?

[BusHunter]

You don't know the particulars though. Maybe this operator was so late he missed his fallback. I can understand a personal then, but usually they'll try to short turn an operator especially if it's involved in a relief. The operators are allowed a personal here and there as long as it's not excessive and it can't be for more than 5, 10 minutes tops. If it's something that requires more time like diarrhea, then an operator is supposed to call in the control center as unable to continue. I've heard on the radio once an operator say he was in a passenger dispute and couldn't continue because he felt his blood pressure was too high. This was on the #57 but it was years ago.

Yesterday I heard a po'ed supervisor tell a #54 that a bus was 40 minutes late going sb and was supposed to tell his relief to shorturn and he never sent over the message to his relief. This happened at belmont nb, she took that bus out of service and shorturned it right there putting his passengers on my bus.

 

[strictures]

4 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Maybe she was taking a personal. Last week, I had a woman driver make this turn at Addison/OakPark hit the pole and keep going. I don't know why they have the drivers turning there. That road is not wide. She just scraped it, but her mistake was she tried to turn straight into the one lane and not use the left turn lane on Oak Park. Maybe she thought she didn't have body damage, but if she did she would have to explain that one. Hopefully no relief got stuck with it. One lane turns don't work with buses. The guy who scraped the wall at Cicero/Kennedy Expwy could vouch for that!!

No, she wasn't taking a personal, as I watched her use her card to enter the ATM lobby & wait in line for one of the two ATMs there. As I go to that ATM on occasion, I know it well!

[artthouwill]

I don't know how CTA works,  but depending on circumstances,  I can see how and why a driver might take advantage of a situation that might not otherwise avail itself.   Certain neighborhoods don't have BOA ATMs so if you are on a route with one,  why not?   Some Relief POINTS and layovers may lack restaurants so if the possibility of getting food midroute presents itself,  I can't blame the driver.   These are people,  not machines. 

[Pace831]

6 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

I don't know how CTA works,  but depending on circumstances,  I can see how and why a driver might take advantage of a situation that might not otherwise avail itself.   Certain neighborhoods don't have BOA ATMs so if you are on a route with one,  why not?   Some Relief POINTS and layovers may lack restaurants so if the possibility of getting food midroute presents itself,  I can't blame the driver.   These are people,  not machines. 

If there is no food available at the relief point, there's nothing stopping them from bringing their own food so they don't have to make the bus late, since keeping on schedule is one of their responsibilities. Even if they do have the opportunity to get food, there is still the possibility that something could go wrong that throws off the schedule and doesn't allow the driver to take a break when and where they planned to. Are there vending machines at garages that drivers could get a snack from, to keep them going just in case some unforeseen circumstances happen? In the ATM situation, I can't think of any good reason to hold up the bus for that.

[Busjack]

16 minutes ago, Pace831 said:

Are there vending machines at garages that drivers could get a snack from, to keep them going just in case some unforeseen circumstances happen?

Even if there are, you are assuming that a driver will buy a sandwich to eat it cold at one of the several turnarounds at Cumberland, for instance. Street relief, they may have to drag something from 77th to 43rd,

[Pace831]

2 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Even if there are, you are assuming that a driver will buy a sandwich to eat it cold at one of the several turnarounds at Cumberland, for instance. Street relief, they may have to drag something from 77th to 43rd,

Would there be anything wrong with that? What and where you eat is an individual decision. CTA's only concern is that drivers have a break sometime in the middle of their shift when they can eat. Whether CTA bus drivers are allowed to make a unscheduled food stop is unanswered, but there's no reason they need to be. Plenty of people have to bring their own food to work so why can't they? A small amount of food is by no means difficult to carry and there is space to store it on the bus. In case their bus never catches up with the schedule, the driver could take a short break at a terminal to eat if necessary before turning back. This works better because passengers aren't forced to wait through an unexpected stop which gives a bad impression of both the driver and CTA.

[artthouwill]

1 minute ago, Pace831 said:

Would there be anything wrong with that? What and where you eat is an individual decision. CTA's only concern is that drivers have a break sometime in the middle of their shift when they can eat. Whether CTA bus drivers are allowed to make a unscheduled food stop is unanswered, but there's no reason they need to be. Plenty of people have to bring their own food to work so why can't they? A small amount of food is by no means difficult to carry and there is space to store it on the bus. In case their bus never catches up with the schedule, the driver could take a short break at a terminal to eat if necessary before turning back. This works better because passengers aren't forced to wait through an unexpected stop which gives a bad impression of both the driver and CTA.

I understand that from a passenger point of view.   There may be circumstances where the driver was unable to stop before work and/or not able to stop after work so he/she stops when the opportunity presents itself.   Some places don't accept plastic so cash is the only option.   I also would rather have a driver stop for food midroute if he's taking medication rather than possibly face a medical emergency because he was unable to get food in a timely manner. 

[Pace831]

50 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

I understand that from a passenger point of view.   There may be circumstances where the driver was unable to stop before work and/or not able to stop after work so he/she stops when the opportunity presents itself.   Some places don't accept plastic so cash is the only option.   I also would rather have a driver stop for food midroute if he's taking medication rather than possibly face a medical emergency because he was unable to get food in a timely manner. 

Medical necessity is certainly a good reason to make sure someone gets food when they need it. But someone with such a medical condition is surely aware of when they need to eat, and are no less capable of packing their own lunch and planning meal stops. Therefore it is up to them to plan ahead and have "emergency food" nearby just in case it is needed. Then if something happens where they have no choice other than stop mid-route they can stay on the bus while eating. This takes less time than waiting in line to get food, and if any passengers complain, the driver is there to give a reason. They don't even have to disclose they have a medical condition, just say something vague like "my supervisor ordered me to wait here for 10 minutes". You'll still get some passengers complaining, but the driver staying on the bus makes the delay seem more legitimate.

[sw4400]

3 hours ago, Pace831 said:

Would there be anything wrong with that? What and where you eat is an individual decision. CTA's only concern is that drivers have a break sometime in the middle of their shift when they can eat. Whether CTA bus drivers are allowed to make a unscheduled food stop is unanswered, but there's no reason they need to be. Plenty of people have to bring their own food to work so why can't they? A small amount of food is by no means difficult to carry and there is space to store it on the bus. In case their bus never catches up with the schedule, the driver could take a short break at a terminal to eat if necessary before turning back. This works better because passengers aren't forced to wait through an unexpected stop which gives a bad impression of both the driver and CTA.

Agreed, and what if at the Dunkin' Donuts, there's a line of 3-4 people ahead and the one at the counter is either

• Arguing with the clerk about an order he/she placed and won't leave until he/she is satisfied(I know all about this working in retail with public)
• Taking forever to place their order(s). Looking over the menu for a long time, studying it like you would a test while the line continues to back up. I had this happen at a Burger King where the wait was well over 5 minutes before the customer moved on.

In the meantime, you have a Bus Operator waiting for his/her turn to order food/beverage and a busload of passengers waiting in an idling bus outside. The bus does auto shut down after so long of idling, and may log a shutdown due to inactivity in the computers(who knows what the computer may log). If a Supervisor pulls the computer records and looks at the Bus Tracker for Supervisors, they may question the Bus Operator as to why they sat at Lincoln/Addison/Ravenswood for such a long period of time and why the engine shut off due to inactivity. The Operator should take something like this into consideration when planning a quick food stop. You never really know what you're walking into until you get inside.

[artthouwill]

Would definitely agree with planning ahead of time.   However,  sometimes things happen that throw wrenches into the best made plans.   Life has a great way of throwing surprises.  I'd expect these stops to be exceptions and not t he rule.

[Juniorz]

Ok, why are we "snitching" on our operators? They are humans just like us! Regardless of what was done, they didn't put anyone in harms way. Couple of passengers inconvenienced by an operator delay, I'll take that over the unthinkable. 

[jajuan]

Well I would take the occasional stop for food over the considerate genius who made me stand in dangerous subzero temps for 10 mins at the Clark/ Southport layover for the #9 Ashland locals. I've run into that before on occasion in warmer weather and never really made a big deal of it since I don't know the full procedure for operators on layover. But this time around what aggravated me was this guy  stared at me for a couple mins through the bus doors before even finally deciding to acknowledge me. When he did he tried giving me a bs statement that I'm supposed to wait at Southport/Belle Plaine, bs because the bus was pulled up enough to show Irving Park and Southport on the announcement screen meaning he knew the stop was eliminated weeks prior which I did tell him that's not a stop anymore. So he tells me well you still got to wait by that white sign (the layover sign CTA put up near the light). So I'm like OK fine. And I'm noticing he has this smug look on his face like he was taking joy in pulling this stunt on me in bad weather. Plus I think by him not having a badge number clipped or sewn on his uniform he thought I couldn't or wouldn't report it since I'd have no way to report him. Big mistake on his part. I emailed CTA that same night giving route, time of incident, vehicle number as well as the run number, all of which I knew could identify him. CTA emailed me back the following afternoon apologizing and informing me that they passed the info on to "the appropriate managers at the garage for appropriate retraining/disciplinary action". And when that particular night of off the week rolled around again that particular operator was gone from that run. And he actually was a replacement to a different operator who always had his girlfriend on the bus with him who always stood right in the front doorway to gab at him as the bus moved along the route and leaving little room for passengers to board. I think some other passenger got tired of that situation and finally reported that prior operator.

[BusHunter]

Well you could have had the problem I had. I don't know why but when a bus is in a terminal the bus tracker doesn't always seem to work. i notice this out at Belmont/Cumberland. I looked and around 10PM the bus going east said 28 minutes and his leader was at Pulaski. I know that's not right, so i stuck around freezing, but I must have waited 10 minutes on him. I was looking at the buses and they seemed 20 minutes apart, i know around 11 or 12 PM they go to a half hour. So i was trying to figure up the schedule in my head. Now all of a sudden the bus jumps to coming in 3 minutes and changes buses. I guess the tracker gets fouled up when buses are coming in/out of the garage, but if I knew when it was coming maybe I could have seek shelter somewhere warm until it was due.

[strictures]

10 hours ago, jajuan said:

Well I would take the occasional stop for food over the considerate genius who made me stand in dangerous subzero temps for 10 mins at the Clark/ Southport layover for the #9 Ashland locals. I've run into that before on occasion in warmer weather and never really made a big deal of it since I don't know the full procedure for operators on layover. But this time around what aggravated me was this guy  stared at me for a couple mins through the bus doors before even finally deciding to acknowledge me. When he did he tried giving me a bs statement that I'm supposed to wait at Southport/Belle Plaine, bs because the bus was pulled up enough to show Irving Park and Southport on the announcement screen meaning he knew the stop was eliminated weeks prior which I did tell him that's not a stop anymore. So he tells me well you still got to wait by that white sign (the layover sign CTA put up near the light). So I'm like OK fine. And I'm noticing he has this smug look on his face like he was taking joy in pulling this stunt on me in bad weather. Plus I think by him not having a badge number clipped or sewn on his uniform he thought I couldn't or wouldn't report it since I'd have no way to report him. Big mistake on his part. I emailed CTA that same night giving route, time of incident, vehicle number as well as the run number, all of which I knew could identify him. CTA emailed me back the following afternoon apologizing and informing me that they passed the info on to "the appropriate managers at the garage for appropriate retraining/disciplinary action". And when that particular night of off the week rolled around again that particular operator was gone from that run. And he actually was a replacement to a different operator who always had his girlfriend on the bus with him who always stood right in the front doorway to gab at him as the bus moved along the route and leaving little room for passengers to board. I think some other passenger got tired of that situation and finally reported that prior operator.

I haven't seen a #9 driver pull up to that layover sign in over a year.

When there was still a stop at Belle Plaine/Clark, I used to get off SB Clark & walk the short distance to Belle Plaine/Southport to catch the 9, because you never know which 9 sitting on Clark is going out first.

You'd think the CTA would do something to force the drivers to pull up to the layover sign, but they don't!

[jajuan]

3 hours ago, strictures said:

I haven't seen a #9 driver pull up to that layover sign in over a year.

When there was still a stop at Belle Plaine/Clark, I used to get off SB Clark & walk the short distance to Belle Plaine/Southport to catch the 9, because you never know which 9 sitting on Clark is going out first.

You'd think the CTA would do something to force the drivers to pull up to the layover sign, but they don't!

Exactly as is the case whenever I usually transfer from a #22 to that route. I even made that case to CTA in my email that more often than not the buses don't pull up to that layover sign and that they need to change that setup to cut out the confusion of how or where to board the #9 at that point. I do that very same thing that you do, leave the #22 and walk up to whichever bus is positioned in front of the pack sitting there. Most of the time for me that does end up being the bus set to leave first heading back SB. But in those occasions that it's not, most of the time that operator is polite enough to say "Well this one sitting back a little bit behind me/in bus #xxxx is actually leaving first but you are welcome to still get on mine if you're not in a hurry. Or if you do need the actual next bus leaving I'll flag him for you and make sure he picks you up before making that turn." But they did respond to me rather quickly, and they just may have identified that operator from the run number and other info I was able to give them because I haven't seen him back on that run for that night of the week since. It was a Sunday night run by the way.