Memory Lane

ONE YEAR AGO ...

Mr S had just graduated. Even so, he showed no sign of senioritis working with us before moving to PA at the end of June 2008.

81, a rather new employee at the time, proved himself a fun-loving and adventurous person to work with.

TWO YEARS AGO ...

Mr J was confirming that the Van Advanced Skillz Trail was no problem.

The University acquired a top-notch technician, Mr J, who was and still remains vital to our operations. We continue to be amazed at his mechanical abilities and are very grateful to have him with us!

The person who runs the show, Driver 50, allows herself a moment of levity while shopping for the July 4th Parade.

May flowers in June

Driving off into the sunset

The big news, the sad news, is that we are losing two hard-working and faithful employees from our group.

81 and his wonderful wife, 81A, will be making a new home for themselves in upstate New York.

We will miss them very much, and wish them the absolute best on their new adventures and exploits.

A farewell picnic is Saturday, 13 June, at 1:00 pm at the Lake Mary picnic area. We hope everyone can make it! Use the free parking area, not the pay lot.

May fortune smile on you both, 81 and 81A!

3 candidates receive CDLs

Three of our drivers recently completed their training and successfully tested for their Commercial Driver's license.

The first was 84, who comes to us with many years' experience as an over-the-road truck driver. Nice job, 84!

Next, 91 passed the test, showing extensive knowledge of all portions during the exam. Perhaps the experience as a heavy-vehicle driver will prove helpful to him in his future aspirations as a civil engineer, especially as it pertains to traffic and transit. Good job, 91!

And just today, 98 was found qualified by the State to be given a CDL after completing his test. Congratulations, 98!

To all those who had a hand in helping to train these drivers, we want to thank you for a job well done. For our new CDL drivers, we wish you safe driving, remember to get that physical every 2 years (even if you're not employed as a commercial driver when it comes time to renew, because a CDL can be very useful in a tight economic market) and your license renewed every 5 years.

WAY TO GO!

CDL Manual 2.14 Seeing Hazards

When someone learns to drive, they must learn the importance of Seeing Hazards.

The bible of student Commercial Vehicle drivers, The CDL Manual, section 2 paragraph 14 (1997), teaches that "You will have more time to act if you see hazards before they become emergencies....

"There are often clues that will help you see hazards. The more you drive, the better you can get at seeing hazards."

This is a good lesson for new drivers, for those who have not done much driving. Seeing Hazards is something we can all do well to remember. Isn't that right, 83?

News Flash! Sun shines in the morning!

After actually getting to work on time recently, 78 was heard to remark, "Wow! The sun does shine in the morning!"

A little more of this

83 seems to have a thing for Route 1.

84 and 78 began the process of testing and cleaning the wheelchair lifts.

98 and 91 unearthed, just outside the barn, the decomposed clothes our soon-to-be corpsed skeletons will wear for their moment in the ... um, full moon. (You had to be there.)

Mirror dots were painted to aid drivers in setting mirrors properly. Then the wet paint had to dry. The job of guarding the wet paint from errant community drivers, who seemed to think this was some kind of serendipitous slalom, fell to 99, 91 and farther back 78.78 guarded the other end of the roadway as well.

91 works a tough technical portion of VAST (the Van Advanced Skillz Trail).

Then 84 takes a go at it.

Finally, we had a real nice surprise visit from old-timer 65, her sister and friend. Thanks for stopping by! It was great to see and meet you!

A little of this (a little of that)

We saw the arrival of a newbie of a different sort on Friday -- a Bluebird with the world's shortest wheelbase! Turns on a dime. Takes out any obstacle in its way with a simple flick of its massive tail. Don't mess with this bird!

It is interesting that this bus does not have air brakes, yet it uses compressed air for the driver's seat and the entrance door. It combines in its suspension both leaf springs and air bags. It has been given the resplendent name of 505, a more "prodigitous" moniker than any jitney we've had in quite awhile. We'll call him '5', for short.

Thanks to everyone involved in making this acquisition a reality for MCT!

(Click on any picture to enlarge)

79 reposes in a training wheelchair ...

... and grimaces at a math riddle by 87. It was Friday, after all.

91's installation of a door jamb gets instructional encouragement from 81A and 80.

98 checks to make sure his burger doesn't burn to a crisp.

We had a very nice visit Friday from T., who's company was enjoyed by 78.

A highlight of the Friday BBQ was the visit of 84's daughter A. She was delightful and quite adept at outrunning 99 during dizzy races!

Happily for 82, there was still plenty of good food when she finished her driving shift.

New entry opens

It is now possible for northbound traffic on Knoles to drive directly in to the lot across from Cline Library without having to use McCreary (in front of the Library front entrance).

Though there was apparently no fanfare for the Grand Opening of this driveway, it may in effect offer significant improvements in the transport of our customers due in large part to the siphoning effect it will have. There will be fewer vehicles our buses will have to contend with on the northbound run there.

We thank NAU Project Manager David Hook and all who took part in the planning, design and construction of this little big improvement.

(Click on pic to enlarge)

Route 2 detour

ROUTE 2 DETOUR

There is construction going on along a portion of Route 2 on north campus. Because of the restriction/closure, we will be detouring as explained in the diagram following the pictures in this post. In this way we will still be able to maintain service to all our bus stops without having to relocate them.

The closure is along Beaver southbound between DuPont and Ellery and also along DuPont between Beaver and Humphreys.

(Click on pictures & diagram to enlarge)

TIME SLIPS

Time slips are due in to 50 no later than 10:00 am on Thursday, 11 June.

More to come ... stay tuned ...