Shut That Door

Doors on buses are often awkward things. They all have their quirks, and when you drive different buses every day, it is a case of trying to remember which doors do what.

Some open quickly, some slowly. Some open outwards, some inwards. Some are noisy, some silent.

It sounds like teaching granny to suck eggs, but the odd pensioner has been known to be sent flying, head first down a bank, because a particular door has opened the wrong way. It is also interesting when you find yourself close, up against a tree and find that the door opens not in the way you expected or hoped.

Therefore it was comforting to see that other bus drivers have the same problem. The other day I spotted this door of a bus (pictured above) which must have been particularly troublesome and caused for the extra instructions to be handwritten above the 'what to do in an emergency' instructions. This bus was of similar appearance to some of the buses I drive; the ones which  are dual purpose, school runs and service buses which get some very heavy use.

As Victor Hugo said: 'He who opens a school door, closes a prison.' If he'd been writing today, he might well have inserted the word, 'bus' between 'school' and 'door'. No doubt the door on this bus had been used by unruly schoolchildren at some stage in its life.