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Pax Pleasing B/O's

 
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Q65A



Age: 66
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 1764
Location: Central NJ

PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2015 7:27 pm    Post subject: Pax Pleasing B/O's Reply with quote

From this month's edition of FYI by MCI:
http://www.mcicoach.com/fyiFromMci/feature/0515.htm
Clearly, as demanding as operating a large vehicle can be inside a big city,
having the right people skills is really the key to success as a B/O. Hats off to our world class B/O's at DOB!!!
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JimmiB



Age: 81
Joined: 19 Apr 2011
Posts: 516
Location: Lebanon, PA

PostPosted: Tue May 19, 2015 8:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Couldn't agree more.
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traildriver




Joined: 26 Mar 2011
Posts: 2452
Location: South Florida

PostPosted: Sun May 24, 2015 10:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

An excellent article...thanks for providing the link.

Everything said in it is valid. The only problem is that recruiting really good operator's in today's economy is difficult...especially for privately owned companies that are forced to compete with government funded operator's in markets like New York City. Difficult, but not impossible...

The comment on hiring people primarily for their personality, and then teaching them the skills needed to perform their occupation, was the strategy mentioned by Herb Kelleher, the successful founder of Southwest Airlines, in his book about them. He said you could teach almost anyone the job skills, but could not teach them to be a "people person".
Many other companies have emulated similar recruiting policies.

The emphasis on training new driver's to drive smoothly is very good. The anecdotes related of the coffee cup on the dashboard "training aid", brought a smile to my face as I read it.
Way back in the '60's, TNE had a driver instructor that had a square wooden open top box, with a wooden cylinder standing up inside. He called it "Boxster". When taking a class of four trainee's on the road, each student could drive until he knocked over the standing cylinder. Then he had to stop, and let the next student drive.
A "rival" instructor from ABL, upon hearing this, scoffed and said "that's nothing....I flip down the sun visor to a horizontal position, and place a cup of coffee upon it..."

Speaking of ABL, the smoothest driver I have ever had the privilege of riding with was the late Bob Clark. He began his career with Pacific Greyhound running commuter's between San Francisco and Novato, and eventually settled in Pittsburgh, Pa, for American Buslines (Continental Trailways). He ran the midnight trip from Pittsburgn to New York each way. Eastbound was the Golden Eagle Five Star Luxury Service.
Bob was incredibly smooth. He "spiralled" every curve so that it was imperceptible. On the stretch from Exit 4 into Philly, he timed the traffic lights so that he rarely had to come to a full stop...riding his coach was like riding in a "Pullman"...he was a true artist...

One other observation on the subject...while being smooth is very nice; if driving daily in and out of places like the Lincoln Tunnel, it is very hard to not succumb to the pressure's of maintaining a schedule to satisfy commuter passenger's anxious to get where they're going on time...one has to drive a 'bit more aggressively' in that harsh reality...it is not the same as driving tours around the country....
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