Originally posted by Woody13
It sounds bad to me.
I am going to throw this out there and hope that people understand rather than fly off the handle.
The standing guideline for a bus driver, not jsut at Disney but in most municipalities too, is that once you begin to move away from a stop you do not stop again to load passengers.
The number one reason for this is safety both for the people on the bus and the ones about to walk into the street to get on board.
Its a liability factor. If my bus is safely pulled into a bus stop and you get hurt why walking up or whatever, I am not responsible for the injury or contributing to it. However, If I am pulled out of a stop 10, 15, or 20 feet etc and then stop so that you can walk/run out to get on the bus, the liability for the injury then shifts to me, if not in full, then at least partially. However if I keep moving, again the person running into the street is fully responsible for their situation and actions.
The other side to the safety issue is the vehicle blocking traffic. If I am in a bus stop, I am not blocking traffic. If a car hits me, I cannot be determined to be at fault provided I did an adequate job of pulling into the stop area. However, If I stop in the middle of the street or partially out of the bus stop and get hit by another vehicle, part of the blame shifts to myself.
One thing that is particularly annoying to every bus driver is people who beat on the side of the bus after it starts moving. This activity pretty much guarantess you wont be getting on the bus you are beating on. The action alarms the bus driver more than you can imagine. The first thought that runs through our mind is what just hit the bus or what did the bus just hit.
Many people seem to think the bus driver has a 360 degree unobstucted view of the area around the bus. Unfortunatley this couldnt be further from the truth. Assuming that it is daylight, we have a little more than a 180 degree field of vision that still has obstructions like parts of the bus or structures outside that block out portions of the area. From the rear-view mirrors, we can see out about 30 degrees of the side of the bus and straight back and just like your car, there are blind spots. Given this, if you are walking in the right place at just the right time while we are checking the area before pulling out, the chances are good you will not be seen. Once you add darkness to this equation and artificial lighting that creates shadows, there is even more opportunity to not see you.
Its a crazy world out there these days folks, I personally would love to drop everyone off right at their car or building. For logistical reasons, thats not possible. It also becomes a guest service issue because thats a lot of stops someone has to sit through and some of the resorts have enough of those already. Finally it creates situations of preferential treatment etc. You would think at Disney people would not make these kinds of claims but in reality its probably even more common than in other workplaces.
Have a good one! I think we'll have to agree to disagree.
