Ever Wondered Why Tall Men Drive Buses?

Tall bus drivers are an anomaly.

Handy in the quiet times for cleaning the buses. They can reach the top deck of double deckers with ease. Useful on the road for aggressive passengers or difficult situations as people tend to back down when you get up from your seat and they see the size of you.

There are two oversized drivers in the company I work for. I am the shorter of the two, standing at 6' 6 1/2". The other driver is 6' 8". He has been driving for many years and has seen practically everything.

"A happy bus is an empty bus," he extols as his motto. If there is a problem he acts swiftly and diffuses ugly situations by his size, stature and sense of humour. The difficulty arises when smaller drivers come to drive a bus which has been driven by a tall driver. He has to spend several minutes adjusting the seat, the mirrors and other controls.

But you have to remember why tall people like to drive buses. It's because no tall person in their right mind would want to sit on a bus as a passenger. Like the low cost airlines and the trains, it is nigh on impossible to squeeze into the seats. The only guaranteed seat in the bus with guaranteed legroom is the driver's seat.

It's first class travel.