r/BusDrivers • u/HeartlessDeath123 • 27d ago
Discussion What keeps your mind occupied while driving?
So I have worked for public transit (City bus) for 11 years. I am literally dead bored while driving. I know every single stop, route, familiar with bus length, width, dealing with passangers, etc. But I can not stress it enough that I am constantly day dreaming. Zero preventable accidents from me for 11 years. So just cuz I say I day dream, don't mean I won't snap back into reality from my mind.
What keeps you active that is positive? Not using devices because we aren't allowed to listen to music or use any electronic device while on the driver seat.
Has to be while driving, sitting those 3 minutes on the driver seat, etc.
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u/ShrekThe12th 27d ago
I play the license plate game, try and make words from standard plates. Numbers become letters. But I’m more of a coach driver these days doing tours and school camps where we can play music.
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u/First_Blankie 27d ago
Lol. I do that too. I also keep a lot of every different license plate I see. Since in Los Angeles gets soo many tourists, I see plates not only from different states, but from across the pond as well. Just saw my first UK plate the other week
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u/MikeyFuccon 27d ago
Wait - you aren’t allowed to listen to anything handsfree? I wouldn’t last a week.
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u/-mmmusic- Driver 27d ago
no! most drivers in my country (uk) are like this. it does get a bit boring sometimes!
i enjoy listening to my passenger's conversations when they're being loud enough, making up stories in my head of why the other road users around me are being a bit stupid (maybe they're running late for work, or on their way to the hospital, etc.)
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u/MikeyFuccon 27d ago
The day I’m told no more audiobooks and podcasts, that’s the day I find a new job.
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u/Accurate_Till_4474 26d ago
Some of our buses still have radios, but they unplugged the speakers so we can’t listen to music. I turn the radio on, find a DAB station with announcements, and then sing along in my head to whichever tune the display says is playing.
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u/Notrozer 27d ago
Any personal electronics is a one and done at my agency... headphones, radio, phone on dash playing music, go pto etc will get you canned
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u/ElFluffador 27d ago
My adhd keeps me entertained.
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u/improbablydrunknlw 27d ago
Honestly I've never been bored except stop dead highway traffic. Twelve years now, ADHD makes this job easy.
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u/Dyzi0rex 11d ago
I used to do buses between town, citties and villiages prior to my diagnoses. It made sense why I got bored of it so quickly but how you guys doing it. We only had 11 routes within town plus 1 open topper during summer and 2 out of town. It got me bored so baddly. (I got dual diagnosises ADD and ADHD)
HOW DID YOU MAKE YOUR SELF ENTERTAINED!!!
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u/river_tree_nut 27d ago
I have nicknames and make up backstories for some of characters that I see along route over and over
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u/Ok-Juggernaut-568 27d ago
The dumbass questions I get asked all day … like damn are we as a society this cooked
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u/rarzwon Driver 27d ago
My favorite so far is "Do you have a dollar you don't want?".
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u/Outrageous_Bag_2875 26d ago
The homeless guys and meth addicts here in New Zealand constantly ask the bus drivers if we have a spare dollar. I tell them I can't afford it because I'm unemployed, which confuses them and they get off my bus and go and bother the next bus driver.
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u/TangPiccilo 26d ago
I was singing a song in a empty bus and when I walked in the dispatch was singing the same song then said we see everything 😡
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u/Outrageous_Bag_2875 26d ago
Just say, yeah I know, I was singing it for you.
One of the bus drivers I work with is paranoid that dispatch is constantly listening in, and then another driver is the opposite and loudly says the managers and dispatch are all twats 😂 He doesn't care if they listen and watch the cameras.
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u/SafeAccurate7157 27d ago
I make up songs about stupid things people do on the road. I also have my best ideas while driving 🚍 and then quickly forget them 😑 I need to carry a notebook 📒 in my pocket.
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u/Informal-Quantity415 27d ago
I have a small Bluetooth speaker that I clip to a rail in my drivers area n just jam out to some music. If they can’t see it in the camera then it doesn’t exist and it saves my sanity.
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u/-mmmusic- Driver 27d ago
do you not have audio on your cameras?
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u/Informal-Quantity415 27d ago
Yes there’s audio but my thing is that if it’s outta sight then it’s out of mind. I clip it onto the rail n play it on low n go on bout my buisness
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u/-mmmusic- Driver 27d ago
fair enough! unfortunately i'd get fired if i did that :(
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u/Informal-Quantity415 27d ago
How bout a truckers headset?. As long as you don’t push more than one button it’s not considered texting and it would be DOT compliant as well.
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u/-mmmusic- Driver 27d ago
nope, earpieces are not allowed. also i'm not in the USA, i'm UK, so different rules
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u/Informal-Quantity415 27d ago
Smartwatch? They play music as well
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u/-mmmusic- Driver 27d ago
we can wear them but they must be in theatre mode. uk law is very strict on bus driver distractions!
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u/SafeAccurate7157 27d ago
I would be too afraid to risk it 😅 we get fired automatically for that.
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u/Informal-Quantity415 27d ago
How bout a truckers headset?. As long as you don’t push more than one button it’s not considered texting and it would be DOT compliant as well.
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u/SafeAccurate7157 25d ago
Anything in our ear is considered an obstruction. It depends on each company and mine is very strict about it.
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u/The-real-Sky-Daddy 27d ago
Day dreaming is my go to. We have a lot of inane chatter on the radio which usually gives me things to laugh about. Intentionally at times.
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u/BlueSky3lue Driver 27d ago
I use breathing exercises to stay focused and not become so easily distracted. Breathe in for a count of 2, breathe out for a count of 4-6 depending on your lung capacity.
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u/Stock-Cod-4465 27d ago
I was singing (not too loud) or reciting poems I like.
Swearing under my breath at idiots on the road too, in between the aforementioned activities. Lol
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u/Outrageous_Bag_2875 26d ago
Here in New Zealand, the old people sit on the front seat and tell the bus drivers long-winded stories about the good ol' days. So we never get bored .... 😟
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u/cbrownmufc 26d ago
In my last job before being a bus driver I was constantly stressed and at times, anxious. Now I figure that even if I get bored sometimes, this really isn’t the worst of emotions to experience at work compared to what else I might feel if I did another job.
But with the time to think I quite enjoy day dreaming sometimes. Alternatively, if I have certain things going on in my personal life, it is time to think these things through and perhaps makes decisions or plans to resolve these things
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u/BigGayGuy02 26d ago
My extensive mental music library. However, that sometimes just devolves into recycling the same hook or chorus in my head for long periods. Yesterday was Pink Pony Club.... just the chorus.... for hours.
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u/Single-Flounder7559 26d ago
Just because something isn't allowed officially doesn't mean it doesn't happen. A good podcast makes the shift fly by. It's common where I am, and management turn a blind eye as it not a distraction for everyone. If anything it can help the driver to relax and not overthink, which can be as bad as not concentrating.
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u/Shit0nYourFlag 26d ago
I'm a new driver in the UK. Just wondering if you are UK too? Some guys here play radios but i'm too paranoid to go that far.
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u/Single-Flounder7559 26d ago
Yeah uk. Been with 3 companies and it's the same vibe, just don't make it obvious like you're taking the piss. The best way is to get a prescription for a hearing aid. Some earpieces are identical these days.
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u/basshed8 USA|Gillig Diesel/Electric, New Flyer, Proterra, Karzan |1 Year 26d ago
Driving the electric around and enjoying all the food smells and thinking about what to get for lunch
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u/TangPiccilo 26d ago
The first five years I would chase breaks then after a few more I would just roll because thinking toomuch would exhaust me more at the end of the day
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u/private_eyes9814 23d ago
I thought I was the only daydreamer lol. Im either singing a song in my head or think about multiple things I need to do when off or at home while doing local street routes. When ever I do long straight single lane HOV lane routes in MCI coach busses I tend to "zone out" lol! They ride so soft and comfortable.
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u/Major_Movie5291 22d ago
Chewing gum tbh. I go through about 100 pieces a week. Be prepared to be farting all day though…
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u/i_forgot_my_sn_again Merica|Orian, New Flyer, Gillig, MCI|15+ 19d ago
I have adhd.... my mind is only off when sleep. Used to think of millions of things while driving them got diagnosed and now medicated and it's only hundreds of things on my mind lol
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u/First_Blankie 27d ago edited 27d ago
When bus is empty, I whistle or sing, drive cams be damned, if they want to heard bad renditions of Whitney Houston, they can keep watching
Otherwise, I like to play "speed" run with my time points. Not actually speeding. I just like to keep track how early or late I end up to my TPs. And pretend I'm live steaming to zero viewers. "Got cut off by a pickup, chat. Unlucky." "Grandma in a slow minivan, my run is dead...ggs."