An early start for me this morning due to death by inbox/meeting request. The gorgeous Flying Paua Shell rocked up to take us down the hill. I was excited to use snapper for the first time (without a hitch). Got a seat. All going swimmingly well.
And then the wheels fell off. Well not the wheels but the lines. There was a walloping crash and then silence. The bus driver, bless him, zipped around the back of the bus, performed some magic, within minutes he was back in his seat and with a ‘sorry about that folks’ we were moving again. We got to the Northern Motorway/Willis Street intersection and everything went quiet as the bus conked out. But again the driver managed to get the bus moving again.
I am very grateful for our drivers skill and efficiency, but this was a brand new bus (and on a day where I just needed to get to the office swiftly) I don’t understand why either of these things occurred.
Comments
All my friends and colleagues hold me personally responsible for every late bus. Feel free to join them.The other week, one of my work colleagues complained that she had been run off the road while driving to work by a bus, number 284 she said it was. I told her there was no such bus in Wellington, and she was even madder with me.Then she had her car stolen from her $16 a day all-day carpark and had to catch the bus for a few days at $5.60 a day. You can imagine the string of complaints I got about that!
heh.you said busty v.
<>did you notice there is a plasma screen thingy up the front? It was showing a map of the city but there are endless possibilities: NZ short films, tourist info. Bus TV…<>…Commercials for Lion Red and One News.The Snapper equipment works off GPS, so the screens in the Flying Paua Shell and the Flying Fern Frond can show a map of the city with where the bus is superimposed on it, like some airlines do on long-distance flights.There’s a camera on the ceiling and the screen also shows the passengers… to discurage grafitti apparently though I’ve only seen it turned on once. An outside camera works as an additional rear-view mirror for the driver as there is a screen on the dashboard.The French-built Citadis tram (used in lots of cities, closest is Melbourne) has a rear view camera/screen and no mirrors at all. That would take some getting used to.
Ha! I will admit, as we sat there stranded with no power, that I thought Poneke will need to be informed of this! I need answers…The Paua Shell is a fabulous bus though – and did you notice there is a plasma screen thingy up the front? It was showing a map of the city but there are endless possibilities: NZ short films, tourist info. Bus TV. Imagine that…