%20of%20100_2201.gif)
|
|
Welcome to about me!
|
    
|
I started working on the buses as a cleaner with Ruttys Bus Service Wollongong in 1963 I cleaned till the day I turned 21 and have been a bus driver ever since, My first shift was a afternoon shift and I drove old mo6123 a 680 Leyland forward control unit with a commonwealth engineering body I have worked for Ruttys~Wollongong, Ansett-Pioneer Express~Sydney and Dubbo, V.I.P Express~Sydney, Bosnjaks/Westbus~Penrith, S.T.A Sydney Buses~Willoughby depot and now back with Westbus~Seven Hills A look back at some of the things I should or shouldn't have done over the years. Ruttys: I started working on the buses at Rutty's Bus Service Wollongong in 1963 as cleaner and as a driver on my 21st birthday on a afternoon shift driving a Leyland bus number mo6123 One day a freshly painted bus mo6133 was parked in the back yard waiting it's final touches, I backed a old school bus mo6297 into the front of it, The panel shop was not happy with me Another day when I was fuelling and put diesoline into the only petrol bus Rutty had mo6141 a Bedford, still went o/k School holidays was a good time to wash out the buses with the hose but one day it went wrong, Water in the main power box started a small fire in mo6116 (just a short circuit) We still did the spring cleaning with the hose in the holidays Ansett - Pioneer: yes I did the odd thing there too. Like leaving the bin boor open from Orange to Bathurst only lost 1 bag, it was to get off at Bathurst anyway. Reported it to police they told the radio, who told everyone, and the bag was found soon after. (a happy ending) One morning after our breakfast stop at Cobar in west N.S.W I depart for Broken Hill, about 20 km. out a chap came up to let me know that his wife was not in the rest room like he thought, Just as I was about to turn around a old ute pull up with driver 2 dogs and the man's wife. (another happy ending) she was not very happy with her husband but. V.I.P Express: My time with V.I.P Express was uneventful but a experience Bosnjak's Penrith / Westbus Penrith: The good old day's the day of the Leyland Vikings, Cubs, Leopards, the odd Bedford and the new Volvo's B10M mo7000 to mo7005 Every thing in Penrith hinged on "The Herring" the fast train from the city due 6.19pm but never on time and most buses had to wait for it. The last bus to the Warragamber dam was the one all the drivers hated as if you broke down and I did you had to find your own way back to the depot (hitch a ride, taxi and pay for it out the bag or walk) and the bus stayed where it was till the next day unless it could not be moved to the side of the road out of the way. Sydney Buses: I was doing a 233 (my first trip on this route) and missed the turn to Musgrave street wharf and had to turn the bus around in a park as there was no other place owing to the narrow road I was on another night I miss read the roster and ended up doing a 286 Denistone East instead of a 291 Epping was in trouble for that one, With the opening of the Gorehill freeway we had a lot of services that would go via the freeway instead of the Pacific Highway and then you had the odd time when you would go via the freeway when you should have gone the Pacific Highway and it is not that essayist to get off and back on route but it could be done as I had to did it. Like most driver on the north side of the harbour I have lost my share of mirrors on the harbour bridge and had the odd accident but nothing to mention Over the 13 years I enjoyed driving the older buses Mk.2 Mk.3 & Mk.4 Mercedes, The favourite one was the Mk.4 The low floor Scania was good on a hot day with the a/c but they had more rattles and bangs that the old girls had and will never last the same time that they have Finally I must say that over 13 years with UTA / STA / Sydney Buses I did enjoy my time there and seen a number of changers like-out with the block tickets and in with ticket machines-out with the old metro 10 and in with the new travel 10 and out with the revenue room and staff and in with the new money counting machines that never told you the true amount but how do you disagree with a computer and at the depot level a lot of changers in Management at Willoughby Depot Westbus August 2002 I start work with NEG-Westbus Northmead but not much has changed it's still like it was when I left Penrith 13 year ago some of the same old buses are still doing the rounds and that happens most school holidays buses are moved from depot to depot just for something to do but told it is to help with the fleet age at depots and this was going on also in the Bosnjak's era. Must admit that there are a good number of newer buses than when I left like the 0405 Mercedes, MAN 12.220 midi and the Volvo B10BLE a big improvement on the old Volvo B10M I transferred to Seven Hills depot owing to the trouble I was having at Northmead with getting buses fixed and the new shifts witch would have meant getting the dredges of the shifts owing to being one of the newer drivers. But I have a good set of shifts and buses to go with it at Seven Hills and just to top it off we have a great boss as well. July 2004 I changed from driving to the p.m. yard man and love doing it. It means that I have to fuel all of the Seven Hills buses daily along with parking up the depot of a night so that all the early start buses are in order of their shift for the next day also washing the fleet October 2006 saw me move back to the Northmead depot as a driver owing to a few problems I was having in the depot at Seven Hill still enjoy working for Hillsbus CDC and hope that it is the last job I have before I start working for the Federal Government about the year 2019 |
This site was last updated 05/03/08