"Are you going to be able to handle a $250,000, 35-feet-long, eight-feet-wide, 13-ton-vehicle? Can you deal with people who are going to yell at you?" Affirmative answers to questions such as these are merely the beginning of what is an intense preparation to become a University Transit Service driver such as second-year College student David Rogge.
Students rarely question the training and safety precautions of UTS drivers as they ride buses to class each day. Students can be confident, however, in their drivers' qualifications. Training is a multi-step process requiring experience and testing.
Recruitment begins the initial phases of training -- but recruitment's only half the battle, said David Kloss, assistant director of transit operations.
UTS tries to recruit between 18 and 21 volunteers each training session, Kloss said. Recruits, evaluated on their recent driving records and a drug-test, among other qualifications, begin training soon after recruitment.
To begin the process, drivers must register with the Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain a Commercial Driver's License, Rogge explained.
Drivers take a computer test questioning their knowledge of topics ranging from regulations regarding vehicle size to procedures involving traffic laws.
Drivers then are eligible to train with UTS, Rogge said. Training sessions are available after finals in December, after graduation in May and in August before fall classes begin.
Melissa Bollbach, UTS driver and training coordinator for the Jan. 2003 training session said training requires two intense weeks of daylong driving and classes.
During classroom instruction, Bollbach said she emphasized specific UTS policies and routes. Trainees were required to memorize an 80-page manual detailing these subjects. Trainees also were tested throughout training on other topics such as defensive driving, turning theory and backing theory.
Kloss said he supplements the classroom material, stressing UTS's history of serving the University community since 1972. Kloss also emphasized what he called the "three D's" to safe bus driving.
"Dependable, decisive and defensive," Kloss said, "defensive is the big thing."
These classroom lessons complement trainees' actual driving experience. Each potential driver is assigned to a trainer who may have as many as three trainees during a single training session, Kloss said.
Trainers, who are chosen based on their high levels of experience, must have performed at least 2000 hours of safe driving to qualify to be a trainer, he added.
Drivers begin their vehicle training by practicing their skills in 16-person vans, gradually moving up to full-sized buses. Before actually driving the buses, however, trainees are instructed in how to inspect them as a safety precaution.
This skill will be necessary later as every morning driver serving the first UTS shift must perform a 45-minute inspection on all buses, Kloss said. Relief drivers also are expected to conduct quick visual checks before beginning their shifts.
According to Rogge, drivers then gradually progress from driving in parking lots to real roads. Nighttime driving training also is included. Drivers generally are practicing on the road in buses within the first week.
At the end of training, drivers must pass two written tests -- one from UTS and another CDL test from the DMV. Re-testing is unusual but allowed, Rogge said.
After passing their tests, new drivers spend a week doing "senior driving" in which a licensed driver evaluates their performance at all times, Rogge said.
Satisfactory completion of this week marks the end of driver training. If trainees haven't possessed their CDL permits for an entire 30 days, however, senior drivers must continue to accompany new drivers until the 30-day period is complete.
The training is a "very draining course," Kloss said, "but we feel they are very proficient when they pass."
Throughout their careers, drivers may accumulate bars below their UTS patches. Each bar represents 350 hours of safe driving. Rogge explained that if a driver were involved in an avoidable accident, he or she would lose all hours earned toward his or her next bar.
According to Bollbach, if a driver is involved in an accident, he must decide whether the accident was preventable. If the driver could have avoided the accident, safety bars can be lost -- even if the driver was not at fault. If the driver claims the accident was not preventable, however, it is investigated and evaluated by a safety committee consisting of eight other drivers.
The training course is generally successful -- of the approximately 18 potential drivers, 12 to 15 of them generally graduate from the program, Bollbach said. "We go into training with the idea that everyone can be a driver," she said. One reason for failing, however, is not passing necessary drug tests.
According to Kloss, though, random monthly drug tests continue throughout a driver's service -- and during his time with UTS, no driver has ever tested positive.
Such precautions greatly contribute to the infrequency of accidents experienced by UTS. Despite driving for more than two years, Bollbach said she has never gotten into an accident, earning eight safety bars. More impressive than her clean record, however, is the fact that any of her trainees' accidents go on her safety record.
"We have to report any unscheduled contact with anything," Bollbach said. She did admit that this cautiousness can be frustrating to passengers who may regard a slight collision as unimportant.
Passengers may also have been frustrated by cancelled services for inclement weather.
According to Bollbach, information about snow and ice was discussed in the training classes, and e-mails are sent out in the beginning of the winter to remind drivers of winter safety. In her opinion, she said, driving a bus in winter weather is similar to driving a car.
Kloss added that weekly newsletters are among several other ways drivers remain informed about safety.
"Every opportunity that I get to talk about safety, I do so," he said, "whether it be day to day conversations, talking to new drivers, class, e-mail or drivers' meetings."
Despite the stress and hassle of training, Rogge, Bollbach and Kloss all said they are glad they drive for UTS. "Being a bus driver is a lifetime skill," Rogge said. "People always need bus drivers." He also cited the paid training, subsequent good pay and the sense of community shared by the drivers as incentives to continue working for UTS.
Bollbach, who conceded she is not making enough money as a full-time driver to be driving for financial reasons, said she drives because she enjoys it.
She cited rude passengers as the primary reason driving can become unpleasant.
"I wish people would respect that I'm trying to do a good job," Bollbach said, adding that it especially irritates her when passengers try to board her bus when she is not at a stop or when she is already pulling away since it is rude to other passengers.
Riders should be considerate of other passengers and their driver, she said.
"Bus drivers like to be treated as people and not part of the bus."
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