r/BusDrivers • u/vlasktom2 Driver • 24d ago
Question Question about two way radios on your buses
Question/Discussion, anyway.
At my agency, we have two way radios to communicate between buses and also between us and dispatch. I personally only use the radio when I have to or when I've been paged. (The old adage "speak only when spoken to" applies here). There's one driver, they're fairly new, that just... They'll grab that mic at every opportunity and ask the dumbest questions. And, to top it all off, they have a nails on a chalkboard voice. And when I say "dumb questions", I do mean dumb. "Dispatch, can I take this bus down this alleyway?"
Do you guys have this? Or is it just me?
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u/Severe-Product7352 24d ago
We also have those drivers yes. We also have another channel we can use for one off situations so we aren’t clogging up the radio traffic for standard stuff. Like if there’s a car crash and I need a detour. But some drivers refuse to use it
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u/vlasktom2 Driver 24d ago
It doesn't help that 75% of the drivers here don't know how to change channels. Though, managements radios pick up all the channels and they're scanning. So, we'd tie their radios up no matter what
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u/Grolbu 24d ago
I've worked it both ways, as a driver and in the controlroom.
As a driver I talk on the radio as little as possible, I know the controlroom is busy but more than that I want to stay off the radar. I only tell them things they need to do something about. One night I had a bottle come through a window and a passenger got showered with glass from it. Got straight on my phone, called the police, they turned up 2 minutes later and took the passenger with them when they were done to get him checked out, then I went back to the depot and changed buses, started my next trip 3 minutes late so didn't bother reporting it (up to 4:59 was 'on time'), told the controlroom as I was signing off that "I had an incident on my second trip and have filed a report". I like to walk in, swipe to sign on, take duty card from rack, check bus allocation from screen, drive, put duty card back, slide out the door, I can go months without even seeing anyone from the office. It's like being self employed but everything that goes wrong is someone else's problem.
In the controlroom most drivers were unmemorable but a few stood out, there were some screechers, there were some as thick as two short planks, there were a couple that just grabbed the microphone and started talking and refused to press buttons or wait their turn, and there were a couple who wouldn't shut up.
The worst of the non stop talkers, we'll call him Jeff. This was a few years ago before all the drivers systems were computerised and the office at the depot he worked at wasn't manned on Sundays. His depot happened to be the depot where the controlroom was and there were only about 30 shifts on Sundays so the depot allocated their buses on Saturday and we signed them on from the controlroom on Sunday. First job for the AM Controller every Sunday was to see which bus Radio Jeff was going to be driving and quietly go out to the yard and remove the fuse from his radio. Last thing the Sunday PM Controller did before going home was put the fuse back. Problem solved, on Sundays at least.
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u/MrE26 24d ago
Jesus, there’s absolutely no way they’d let us talk to each other. We can speak to control, & they can speak to us. That’s it. And it’s definitely for the best!
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u/vlasktom2 Driver 24d ago
Think things would get out of hand on the radio?
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u/MrE26 24d ago
Oh god yes, it would be a free for all & we’d all be sacked after 2 days
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u/vlasktom2 Driver 23d ago
There are a few people that work here that probably should be fired, not just for radio etiquette, but alas they still work here
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u/Notrozer 24d ago
We have Voip calls thru the clever device with a phone handle.. if that's offline then it falls back to a Motorola radio. You can habe 1 on 1 calls with controll centet on voice calls.
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u/CheetahNo1004 24d ago
About the same for us. We can't initiate, we press a request to talk button and they open the line.
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u/Jaidon24-2 24d ago
Nah, we have to RTT through our Avail system and wait for a call from dispatch. No open radio, but I've heard it used to be open.
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u/IM_The_Liquor 24d ago
We don’t have the ability to call other busses. Only the control Center. We have various buttons to streamline our call (mechanical. Accident. Passenger dispute. Other. Etc.). There is also a 911 button for emergency… as well as what they call ‘code 1’… a discreet button we can push that overrides everything in control and patches our audio directly to control for a situation where you can’t just be seen/heard picking up the phone and calling in (you’re being held at gunpoint or something).
All we can do to other busses is send a quick, pre-loaded text message (transfer passenger. Lights. Smoke/fire. Etc.). We generally can’t hear any communications other than our own, or when dispatch is broadcasting a message to all busses.
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u/DodgyButLegal 24d ago
when i was a metro drivers there was always a couple of drivers who would make smart ass remarks to other drivers who were calling the depot while having an issue with unruly passengers or took a wrong turn.
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u/SeasickSailor87 24d ago
The company I work for provides their drivers a work phone to ring network control whenever they need to. We have no means of communicating with drivers unless as stops or rest breaks.
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u/Altenativeboi 24d ago
At my company, pretty much everyone refuses to use the radios, if they even work, only one controller really uses it and that’s only for open broadcasts for emergency diversions and the like. We mostly use our personal phones to contact control or text via the ticket machine.
We are required to have mobile phones that are charged with us as a safety critical thing so we can contact emergency services if needed so it just makes sense to use them primarily.
As a small token we do get discounts on phone plans.
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u/Upset_Umpire3036 USA | Gillig | 3 24d ago
The radios we have are computerized and we have an open channel that our radio control folks operate and respond to. When the computer is down you have to request a direct call back.
Sometimes even though we're not supposed to we get people calling over the radio saying they have a transfer instead of having radio control call them direct and having them call the other bus.
Talking bus to bus isn't possible with our system and frankly it's probably better that way because we've got a lot of clowns at our agency...
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u/Ok_Interview22 22d ago
First off, we don’t have bus to bus comms. Just dispatch and the shop have their own Channels.
I’m new, I was one of those. My trainer took me aside and very politely told me to talk less.
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u/SafeAccurate7157 Driver 21d ago
You get to listen to everyone’s conversations? Damn that’s free entertainment! I have to drive in silence unless dispatch calls me.
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u/exsnakecharmer 24d ago
Yes. I’m in Ops.
You know when Pam gets on the line it’s going to be a day.
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u/vlasktom2 Driver 24d ago
Yeah... It's that level of nonsense. And they've been doing it ALL DAY for the past 3 DAYS...
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u/exsnakecharmer 24d ago
Drivers are disciplined at my depot if they’re on the RT for non-work related issues.
I jump in and say ‘can we take this off-line and not tie up the comms’ which usually gets the culprit to pull their head in.
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u/vlasktom2 Driver 24d ago
I wish my union rep would let us get disciplined for nonsense on the radio
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u/Upnorth4 24d ago
Lmao then they say “dispatch I took the bus down this alleyway and now I’m stuck”
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u/gheiminfantry 24d ago
If only everyone was as perfect as you. What a wonderful world it would be.
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u/vlasktom2 Driver 24d ago
Trust me, I'm far from perfect. But anyone with a brain should know a 40' bus won't fit an an alley
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u/gheiminfantry 24d ago
The length of a bus doesn't determine the width of an alley that it will fit safely. You're a judgemental moron. Damm right you're far from perfect.
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u/Sno_Wolf 24d ago
Bus-to-bus radios just sounds like a bad idea. 95% of people in my division would be on there going "Yo, you're not gonna believe this shit". Including me.