Red For Danger

I would give this bus stop an award for the most stupidly placed ever. Obviously whoever thought of this at Fife Council was having a laugh and all thoughts of health and safety went out the window. You will find this stop in Dunnikeir Road in Kirkcaldy and is served by our 32,33 and 34 routes.

As you can see in the pictures, not only is this stop located right on the junction but infact requires you to stop right on the zig-zag markings for the pedestrian crossing. When you are stopped at this stop you are blocking any view of the crossing for following drivers and pedestrians are unable to see approaching traffic. You would have thought any following drivers would refrain from overtaking the bus here but we all know in the real world its not like this.

I have lost count of the number of near misses witnessed on this crossing with drivers going through red lights. Surely its only a matter of time before time before a pedestrian is hit.


Still its a good job this crossing is right outside the Victoria Hospital.

Passing me by.

Many a driver will tell you countless tales and moan about the hoards of OAPs with their free passes. I have to say I have no problem with them. Give me a bus full of grannies over a bus full of kids anytime. We have to remember Cowdenbeath is a small depot in a quiet area. Without the OAPs and their passes we would be running empty buses during the day which Mr Souter doesn't like. So in the end there would be no off-peak buses and less drivers needed.

However, can I please make an appeal to our freebie passengers. Yes, you do need to get your pass out and place it onto our nice sparkly new ticket machine. You don't need to place it onto the screen or slide it into the gap where the ticket appears from or even drop it down the demister vent. Its simple, honest, you just place it on top of the machine where the BLOODY GREAT BIG YELLOW STICKER SHOWS YOU!! Is that too difficult?

Oh and by the way, the machines may be clever but they are not telepathic. You need to tell the one holding the steering wheel your destination.

Stairway to heaven

The Volvo B10m with Plaxton Interurban body work is getting on a bit now but it is still a fanatstic bus?, coach? to drive. That is assuming it has been well maintained by our highly trained professional mechanics. On express limited stop services it really is a fine vehicle but on stop start multi stop town routes, to be honest its a complete pain in the neck, which is exactly what happened to me today.

The said route is the 79, which takes in the grand delights of Kelty, Dunfermline, Inverkeithing including the ever exciting Fraser Avenue and finally Dalgety Bay. One major convenience of this route is the fact it links all these areas with the town's main hospital, the Queen Margaret. As a result we carry a lot of elderly folk and the infirm, a prime candidate you might think for an easy access low floor bus.

Well no not according to Stagecoach. Lets use a high floor coach instead. As exciting as it is watching those less fortunate and on crutches negotiating this tortuous climb I have to say it does get a bit tiresome when you have a timetable to keep to. Mind you if only I had £1 for every passenger who told me what high steps the bus it would have made the day a bit more bearable, even more profitable. Hell, I might even be able to retire.

Oh yes before I forget, to the elderly gentlemen who got on at Rosyth Cross and went to Dunfermline, you made me five minutes late after eventually climbing aboard. It was like watching Sir Edmund Hilary ascending the torturous climb on Mount Everest. It was just a shame I didn't have a bottle of oxygen waiting for you at the top, you certainly looked like you needed it. Mind you, you may have done it in half the time if you had put more effort into climbing and less into moaning about the steps. If you had listened to me and got on the nice new low floor bus behind it would have taken you the exact same route into town and dropped you nearer the shops but what do I know, I'm only a bus driver you obviously knew best.

P.S. Don't get too excited, the nice new bus behind me was from Dunfermline depot, I don't want to start any rumours of new buses at Cowdenbeath.

Nineteen NNNN Nineteen

The 19 route, Ballingry-Dunfermline-Rosyth, is our depots busiest, infact our biggest money earner. As a result it is not too popular with our more senior drivers.

Why you may ask? Could it be the fact you have to stop pick passengers up and do some work.

Rumour has it infact Mr Souter isn't happy and thinks this route should be making him more money. How can we do this? I know lets split the route, run the 19 from Ballingry to Dunfermline only. Then we can force lots of angry passengers off the bus at Dunfermline and make them pay another fare to carry on their journey on a different bus to Rosyth. Genius, a real step foward in encouraging the public onto a truly integrated public transport system.

Mind you with all the extra money flooding in, the share holders will be happy. We might even get a new bus, NOT.

Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow

Well it absolutely tipped down today, or what ever snow does. Shame its only a week too late for Christmas. Severe weather warnings were issued two days ago warning of severe snow. Obviously Fife Council must have missed these as their gritting lorries only came out once the roads were already like ice rinks. Still I suppose I should be thankful as it ment I was unable to complete all my route due to the dangerous road conditions.

It always amazes me, even in Scotland, where you think people might be used to a bit of snow there seems to be an inability to cope with the weather and the inevitable result is total gridlock. What would usually take me five minutes to drive took me nearer forty five today. Oh well, timetable out the window boys. Of course you get the usual "why are you so late driver?".





Have you seen one of these in Fife?


P.S. You get the "why are you late" comment from the Supervisors as well as the public. F*****g idiots!

Big Brothers watching.

Well here they are. After countless promises and waiting over two years they're here at last. Yes, our new ticket machines. Here you you can see it in all its glory. Admire how our professional engineering department have made use of a well fitted wooden plinth to mount the latest technology on.

Yes they are all singing, all dancing, including a card reader and GPS tracker. For those of you not technically minded this means in theory the traffic office can track the location of the buses fitted with these machines. What a shame it doesn't work yet.

I have to say after a bit of teathing trouble and many a late bus they are not too bad.

Hello & Welcome.

Welcome to my blog. I am a bus driver with Stagecoach in Fife based at the Cowdenbeath bus depot. I thought to myself what better way to let off steam than write about my job and let you all share in my thoughts about being a bus driver, hopefully they won't all be negative but you never know I may have something good to say.

Well here goes.....

Just like about every other bus company in the land we are desperate for drivers. I wonder why? Could it be anything to do with the low wages, long shifts, short breaks, abuse from the passengers, attitude of management and crap vehicles?

I can wholeheartedly recommend Cowdenbeath if you enjoy all of the above. So why not give them a call. Just look at this testimonial.

"I love it here. If you want to drive vintage buses for up to twelve hours a day its brill. I'm not bothered about only getting paid for eight hours, where else would I get to drive museum pieces all day long?" Mr A.Norak, Cowdenbeath

Don't be fooled by the nice shiny new Stagecoach buses you see elsewhere. At Cowdenbeath you'll be lucky to find any new buses. I would suggest any new drivers bring on their first day a working heater, Can of WD40 and an ice pick to remove your feet from the pedals after 5 1/2 hours behind the wheel sat in the cold.

So Mr Souter, if you are reading this maybe you could send some of the 580 new buses you have ordered this year to us at Cowdenbeath. I think I'm fooling myself, this just means there will be 580 old clapped out buses that can be sent on to us, like the one below. Stagecoach East must have had some new buses so we now have our latest "New Bus" to unveil to the fare paying public of Cowdenbeath.

I must be a masochist, between you and me I quite like my job really.

Happy New Year to you all.