Crushed cones, a near miss and a big surprise: my crash course in double-decker bus driving
I vigorously turn the wheel of the 12,000 kg bus. “Left! Left!” says Instructor Frank O’Donnell. But we both know I won’t make it.
Hadunk! I hit the brakes. “Next time, try going around the cones, not over them,” he advises patiently. I’m behind the wheel of a huge Dublin double-decker bus at Broadstone Bus Depot.
This Saturday Dublin Bus is launching its biggest jobs promotion in 30 years, encouraging those interested to stop by and take one of their fleet for a spin. They hope to hire 450 drivers and 50 mechanics and engineers.
That’s why I’m here – to take a test drive and navigate an obstacle course. I’m a bit nervous when I arrive at the depot. I don’t own a car and haven’t driven in years. The buses also appear significantly larger when steering.
Oh dear, what if I sprint out of the depot, cut a corner, flip the bus upside down and smash it to pieces and get banned from public transport for life?
But Frank, who has worked with Dublin Bus for 40 years, is very reassuring. “Don’t worry. I’m right next to you and they’re all automatic,” he says.
Frank is a second generation employee of Dublin Bus. His father worked for the company for 33 years and his brother Declan and sister Kathleen also work here.
Jobs at Dublin Bus have an average salary of €42,000, paid maternity and paternity leave and free bus travel.
Frank started out as a conductor before becoming a driving instructor.
We start our class slowly, sneaking around the property. I can also do fun things like test the horn and tannoy system and press the open door button. It feels a bit like little kids being put in the cockpit of an airplane. I have a sudden urge to flip every switch that’s on display, just as Dougal flips the big red button father ted.
I’m also beginning to imagine ordering disruptive and rowdy passengers to “get off the bus,” Peggy Mitchell-style. It dawns on me that I would be a bad bus driver.
Kirsty pulls out a traffic cone. Photo: Gerry Mooney
But Frank is an absolute professional and gives a lot of helpful tips, e.g. B. when to stop spinning the wheel and to pay attention to the speed bump I’m speeding toward.
There are many things to consider when riding a bus, most notably the sheer size of the machine that sits over and behind your back.
“How on earth did anyone drive the twisty buses?” I ask Frank as I turn a corner. “That must have been a nightmare!”
Frank is like a walking encyclopedia when it comes to the history of Dublin Bus and immediately tells me the length of the curvy bus (18 metres) and when they started phasing it out (2005).
And there’s a rich past here – if you grew up in Dublin, the changing shapes and sizes of bus fleets and their different liveries are entangled in the background of personal memories.
This may explain why you suddenly become nostalgic when you remember the cream and blue bus stripes of the 1990s or the mud brown buses of the 80s.
Kirsty feels the pre-flight nervousness. Photo: Gerry Mooney
“Is the ghost bus still going? What happened to the City Imp Service?” I wonder. “And who came up with that name?”
Aside from accidentally knocking out a few traffic cones and almost running over a parked bus, I’m happy to report that driving a double decker is surprisingly easy.
The bus is heavy and wide – you have to swing your head from side to side to make sure your mirrors are clear, but it’s manageable.
It takes six weeks to become a fully qualified Dublin Bus Instructor (four weeks on the road and two weeks in the classroom).
“Now you get the hang of it. Can you start Monday?” he jokes.
Dublin Bus was formed in 1986 when CIÉ was split into three operating companies. It hired its first female recruit, Joan Doran, in 1980. She was the first woman to have a scheduled run in over 40 years and the first to be employed by CIÉ.
“I think [I am a trailblazer]’ she said at the time. “Well, I hope so, otherwise my labor would be in vain.”
Over the years there have been several initiatives to recruit more women. In 2016 the company had its first all-female class of graduate bus drivers and in 2019 motorsport legend Rosemary Smith encouraged women to enroll.
Instructor Frank O’Connell guides Kirsty through the course. Photo: Gerry Mooney
Despite this, it still remains a male-dominated industry – there are only 152 total female riders in the 2,700 squad.
Mom-of-four Angela O’Callaghan decided to sign on in 2019. She was standing in her kitchen looking out the window when she heard a TV ad encouraging women to go to an open house.
Angela had been a housewife for 16 years. “I knew I wanted to go back to work, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,” she says. “I heard the ad and thought I’d give it a try. I drove around the yard and it was like a bug I got. I absolutely loved it.”
From there, Angela says, her application process and education was like a stone rolling down a hill — it only picked up momentum until the next thing she knew, she was fully qualified.
Becoming a bus driver gave Angela a sense of ownership and identity. Like many mothers, she spent a large part of her life caring for and supporting others, and that meant she occasionally overlooked herself.
“I got to a point where I was doing everything for everyone else and nothing for myself,” she says.
Kirsty with Angela O’Callaghan. Photo: Gerry Mooney
Despite being a male-dominated industry, she takes great pride in driving the bus, especially when older female passengers board.
“Sometimes I pinch myself when I see the bus and I’m like, ‘wow, I can drive that’… I have a lot of older women who come up and say, ‘You know we had to quit our jobs when we got married?’
“They love to see female riders. An elderly lady got in and said, ‘God, it’s great to see the girls behind the wheel.’ I wish I had done it years ago. I jump out of bed every morning.”
Meeting new people and having a roving office window are some of the best parts of the job.
“What I like best is the social interaction with people… You see all areas of life on the bus,” says Angela. “Other than the people you meet on the bus, the people you actually work with are such a diverse group.”
What is the most challenging part of the job?
“Give the bus back,” she laughs.
Dublin Bus is holding a Recruitment Day at its Technical Training School, Broadstone Depot, Dublin 7 on Saturday 2nd April.
https://www.independent.ie/life/crushed-cones-a-near-miss-and-a-big-surprise-my-crash-course-in-driving-a-double-decker-bus-41505374.html Crushed cones, a near miss and a big surprise: my crash course in double-decker bus driving