BusTalk

[Dieseljim]

The shenanigans of a Greyhound driver (from Hell) I rode with from Scranton,PA to Batavia,NY are not the only driver shenanigans I have been eyewitness to nor were they confined to commercial buses of any kind. In fact, when I was attending elementary school, the driver of our bus, No.24, a 1953 Dodge with a straight six, and a 27 foot long Carpenter body, was also owner of a liquor store in Perry,NY and was a real speed demon at times, too. When one got on his bus he/she could not tell if the driver had been drinking or not without getting a smell of his breath, a definite no no in those days on the part of the riders. He would have the bus up to 70 mph on East Lake Road and the red light on the tachometer would come on when the bus reached a certain speed between stops. How this guy managed to get away with it for as long as he did really astonishes me. He quit driving bus in the early 1970s, whether by choice or not is debatable. But to have a few for the road then transport a bus load of kids home from school?!!! Just try that today and chances are the driver c aught tryiing such shenanigans will not only get caught but get the book thrown at him. That was in the days when air brakes on school buses,save for that GM TGH3101 the local bus company had for school use, were virtually unheard of. Back then, all the school buses relied on hydraulic brakes. That I got home from school in one piece was something of the matter of a roll of the dice with this guy in the driver's seat.