There's always one.

[wu56Shoozz]

Genuine question, how do you pronounce that?

Velcro...

 

[E55BOF]

Genuine question, how do you pronounce that?

Rice Fur Shluss System

Ish...

 

[MercedesDriver]

rice fur shluss system ish...

lol

 

[Alex225]

Drive a bus Alex... then you'll know all about it, trust me it takes masses of O2 gulping in and "Sighing" at these w4nkers that "bully" their way in, in front of you.. trust me I know.. and "Driver Beware" new buses are now fitted with CCTV and can be used to prosecute.. Believe me ask me how I know??

How do you know mate? haha

I can imagine driving for a living in any capacity, you must see some incredibly dimwitted and aggressive driving.

Having said that I've witnessed some interesting driving from professional drivers. I take a bus to the train station each morning and the driver was shocking. Anchors on hard for every stop but what got me was when we came to a t-junction with a left lane for going left and right for, you guessed it, going right. He decided as the left lane was empty, I'd go past the cars queuing and without even pausing, just roll out into the traffic forcing cars to stop.

Quite a contrast as I admire how a lot of the drivers get their way round some tricky obstacles.

Rice Fur Shluss System

Ish...

I can tell you're one of the natives haha

 

[mat8n]

6 of 1 half a dozen of the other I'd say.

 

[wu56Shoozz]

How do you know mate? haha

I can imagine driving for a living in any capacity, you must see some incredibly dimwitted and aggressive driving.

Having said that I've witnessed some interesting driving from professional drivers. I take a bus to the train station each morning and the driver was shocking. Anchors on hard for every stop but what got me was when we came to a t-junction with a left lane for going left and right for, you guessed it, going right. He decided as the left lane was empty, I'd go past the cars queuing and without even pausing, just roll out into the traffic forcing cars to stop.

Quite a contrast as I admire how a lot of the drivers get their way round some tricky obstacles.

Let me explain that one if I can:

1/ Many drivers won't let a bus pull out and believe it or not it is part of the highway code, not mandatory, but advisory, and of course their slow lumbering beasts that Jezebel or Aryton can't stand whilst texting or applying make up (I'll leave you to figure that one out) and I've seen both!!

2/ A 40ft bus doesn't bend in the middle its a rigid platform that houses 56 eggheads (one bump and they crack and make a claim hence "Eggheads") So how do you negotiate a tight roundabout or right turn? Answer: use both lanes, its what way we are taught at the driving school - safety of the passenger and all that ******.. and usually there the location of the bus stop that comes into play, its badly located and can interfere with the flow of the traffic, so we do try to stay out of the way.. but if we waited until all the traffic had passed then I'd still be out there just now..

3/ Now, I'm a mechanical engineer to trade, worked on some monstrous pieces of equipment in my time, stuff as large as buildings.. so I'd like to think I have a good grasp of the mechanical nature of the beast.. so to buses, the bus is an unwieldy piece of equipment, with more that a million miles on its clock, think about it, its out there every day trundling back and forth ferrying passengers from A To B. Its fitted with air brakes that come with a retarder, the retarder is designed to "Feather" the brake as not to disturb "The Eggheads" but as usual everything is done on a budget massively, to the point there is no pride in their work to service and repair the bus anymore.. So back to your problem of jerkiness (Not You - THE BUS) and first off the retarder is incorrectly adjusted and cuts out at 30mph or less so all of a sudden you need to be Arnie Schwatz to push the "wall" of a pedal safely and evenly to bring it to a halt.. then theres the gearboxes, again poor maintenance and.. Yup, more Jerkiness and can throw you easily down the aisle, trust me I know I had a bad back after driving one the other night that had this symptom thumping into second gear real badly, then of course theres the servicing and repair of both suspension - what servicing I hear you ask.. well, there's the cursory glance and "Oh you're imagining it.." no I'm freakin' well not.. I've looked and watched them service a bus and it would frighten you what they do.. including cheap sh1tty parts in in the bus game too.. so the driver gets the blame as he won't take a crappy bus out..I care about my passenger and their safety but you're bullied into taking one out with NFF again I know - in my short space of time with my new employer I've already had it out with them - they won't even top up to the correct level the engine oil, or change a "Farting " Wiper so 8 hours of that and "yer heid is burstin'" topped off with "Yer Late Driver" all makes for a great day..

Speaking of dimwits and funny things.. so "Methadone Mick" an his "Burd" get on the bus, "ooot their skulls" like.. they get on and go away up the back of the bus. I get moving and the journey is going as normal and Mick starts getting of with Burd..I can see this on the CCTV footage (not that I want to mind) next thing I know and Jezebel has her hand down his shell suit spanking the Gerkin.. and she slides down the chair as not to be seen and he starts to "poke the fireplace" and "raise the heat".. so yes you do get some sights on a bus..

P.S Did you know that the bus is governed to 45mph tops! Bet you didn't..so it costs them more to have the engines rebuilt than actually to run as normal. So Leyland back in the day got wind of this and visited the depot as there had been a lot of complaints about the National 2's and the lack of brakes etc. So a new engine was fitted with the threat of prosecution if it was touched within a set time period. Man O' man could this thing fly, 70mph easily where allowed, brakes that could stop perfectly and didn't burn a drop of oil.. she was great, the the bus company got wind of it and...SCRAP! no brakes, poor running, and.. wouldn't pull you out of bed.. PANTS! So yes, they know what they are doing.. risking the passenger at a cost of servicing properly.

 

[Tuercas viejas]

Bus companies world wide run on a limited budget.
I ran or provided technical support for many fleets, like Tehran UBC Leyland Atlanteans) Fleet 1500.units
Baghdad Passenger transport RKab Baghdad Atlanteans and Olympians Fleet strength 1000 unit.

PTSC Trinidad & Tobago Port of Spain WI
Leyland Nationals MK1 & 2's

CA Metro de Caracas
750 Leyland National MK1's

Grayline Tours
San Francisco in those United States .
Leyland Atlanteans & 12 six wheel Olympian specials with Cummins L10 engine and Voith DiWA gearbox.

Cutsca Montevideo Uruguay
Mixed bag of Leylands

Of all of them, (except for Grayline being private ) was Iraq being the best run and best organized under Pres Saddam Hussain.
I liked Iraqis very kind, and caring folk and quite poor, but many were well trained & capable engineers in the old Soviet Russia'
A variable budget always available to run the fleet for 16 hours per day!

Full workshop depot for big overhauls (a la London Transport) and areas of the city by satellite depots for service and maintenance. I ran two depot garages for 8 years. City centre and Al Mansour district.

Every bus serviced and repaired every 21 days.
As for passengers well they were always ram jam packed full, and a few sheep were allowed onto the top deck for sale in the streets for conversion to roadside Kabob vendor stands.

A well disciplined system with mostly Egyptian & Bangala drivers. Egyptian & Iraqi mechanics.
My tech crew were factory seconded Brits, & local contracted Algerians & Moroccans all French trained.
Fond memories of putting buses into the streets at 4,30 am as the muezzin fired up for morning prayers. Reminded me of a Cecil B DeMiln silent movie of The Thief of Baghdad all going out of the Bop Sharki (eastern gate ).
Mentally thinking of a catlick benediction:Spectacles Testacles, Wallet & Watch!
Oh happy days & even got presented with an AK 47 a zastava model with wood furniture --what an honour!
Tuercas Viejas

 

[wu56Shoozz]

Some of you asked "What is good driving?"

Here's part of the answer:

Smith System - Five Principles of Safe Driving | Platinum Drivers Inc.


Its used by both police and yes... Bus Drivers.

Every driver has to pass this before being let out on the road, you have to provide a running commentary on what you see and what is going on around you, its then taped and played back at the school for analysis and improvement on..

The biggest thing to good driving is Anticipation - reading the road, many of you think you read the road but on read the car in front or next to you etc.. in a bus however the game changes toy have to be aware of what Ayrton next to you on one side is going to do along with Jezebel on the other, the theres the Taxi 500 - 1000 yards out, he's going to pull out on you because your slower, and even further ahead is old Mrs Smith waiting to board - but she's just taken a text from her daughter to get X message when shes out and now not looking at the bus coming..

https://speconthejob.com/smith-system-driving-rules/

Keep Looking and be aware, drive safely...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pIkkzDagsY

 

[MisterMicawber]

Some of you asked "What is good driving?"

Here's part of the answer:

Smith System - Five Principles of Safe Driving | Platinum Drivers Inc.


Its used by both police and yes... Bus Drivers.

Interesting to read this Smith System, apparently aimed at American drivers. Point two says: "Having the whole picture means that you are doing your part to keep your vehicle as safe as possible while moving 1000ft a second." That seems like good advice.

But of course the driving environment in America is apparently very different from the UK. You don't see many trucks going 1000 ft per second in the UK. (To save you working it out, that's 681 mph.)

 

[wu56Shoozz]

No, but it is a system that the Police and Bus Drivers/Truck drivers use to this day...

 

[219]

The police , along with Fire , Ambulance services , and others , use 'The System of Car Control' as developed originally by the Earl of Cottenham for the London Met , then subsequently developed and rolled out , not only nationally , but worldwide .

It is too much to go into in one post , but is defined in Roadcraft ( the police driver's manual - which must be accompanied by qualified instruction ) and is summarised as ' A system , or drill , each feature of which must be considered by the driver , in sequence , on the approach to any hazard ' .

It is also used as the basis of driving as taught by civilian organisations such as the Institute of Advanced Motorists and Rospa .

 

[Alex225]

(To save you working it out, that's 681 mph.)

Rest assured if they could go that fast, you'd still come up behind one lorry overtaking the other at 682mph

 

[Tuercas viejas]

Rest assured if they could go that fast, you'd still come up behind one lorry overtaking the other at 682mph

Well Alex take the "2" off the quoted figure and i can relate.
Northbound on the M6 climbing the grade at Keele ,.Trucks:- Artics , Leyland Buffalo and (versus) Spanish Barreiros, both with about the same HP but the Leyland had better torque and a range change box for the 32 tonnes GVW I was running against his Spanish Cummins 555 triple nickle .
Truckers will always battle it out its part of the game!
In the US (as mentioned) you can use any lane and I suppose these days I have a soft spot for the Kenworth W900 with WX Cummins and Spicer box for a conventional but cab over it has to be the MB Actros. Very nice to drive! Tried one out (LHD Euro spec) on the M5 near Tewkesbury as bob tail!.)
Tuercas Viejas

 

[clk320x]

Well after watching the video a few times I have come to a conclusion

The next MB I buy is going to have a stand up bonnet star lol

The one thing I wish mine had.

I thought they were easy to retrofit?

 

[markjay]

I thought they were easy to retrofit?

Yes, but to do it tight you also need to change the grille to the type that came with the bonnet star.

A bonnet star AND a large star at the centre of the grille looks odd and cheap.

 

[Tuercas viejas]

Yes, but to do it tight you also need to change the grille to the type that came with the bonnet star.

A bonnet star AND a large star at the centre of the grille looks odd and cheap.

Alex as a quick reply to a fellow UK & USA HGV and Passenger licence holder take a look a this !
And the LARGE MB badge is commensurate with the Acros' size. BIG!
For me this is a real Mercedes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-eBUZP0FJ0

And if they don't get it right then this can be the result!!
Nearly "mashed de car maan!"--just the thing for a Monday morning shunt on the south circular to spoil someone's day!!
Taking the shine off an overpaid attorney's E class maybe!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnVXigqnp44

Here's the US equivalent.
Freightliner Argosy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaBVW9W_FHg
Tuercas Viejas