I knew I was in trouble this morning when I looked at my onboard computer and saw a whole bunch of kids booked for the afternoon from Victor Elementary. This is part of my on demand service at 1500 prior to the long time established pickup at the Victor Community school right down the street at 1505. I always run the risk that too many kids get on at the Elem, and I have no seats at the Com. They all go to Driggs to either gymnastics at the Community Center or a general drop off at Barrels and Bins.
Today I was overwhelmed. I felt like one of those yellow buses as kids rushed from the front steps of Victor Elementry armed with baggies of quarters and TRPTA punch cards and came flooding onto my bus. Most of the kids had booked rides, some did not, and during the chaos I could not discern the difference and how could I deny them rides?
This started out a couple of years ago as a convenience stop for parents needing to get their kids to Driggs along with the Community School kids. It has now become a ride all it’s own. I have a twelve passenger bus and after strapping two sets of small kids into one belt I headed down the road to the Community School with 14 kids on board, two of which were getting off there for after school activities.
When I pulled up, the two kids get off, and a teacher came walking my way with a passel of more kids in tow. It was an awkward moment that I’ve long dreaded as I said I only had two seats to accommodate her seven kids on an already over capacitated bus.
Fortunately, my co-worker Karen had her Driggs Elementary run cancel, and she came to my rescue, otherwise I would have had to leave 5 kids behind…
There was also a funny moment when I called dispatch and declared to my dispatcher, with English as a second language, that I had a full bus, and she asked what I meant…
I had a sort of moment like that last week, while it was well into the 100 degrees here. A lady at my exercise class commented that we were having such extremely hot strange weather and I replied that it was due to global warming. She asked me, “What’s global warming?”… Besides that, we’re burning down over here. So much gone, Harbin Hot Springs, Middletown. Then there’s the fire between Angels Camp and Jackson, etc., etc. – we just had rain today. Thank goodness. Hope it rains for a few more.