TriMet bus driver Dan Christensen – BikePortland

Final week, somebody I observe on-line shared a narrative about one thing that occurred on the bus and it made me notice how a lot I needed to sit down down and have a dialog with them. That individual was Dan Christensen, who you may know as Bus Driver Dan on Twitter.

Dan is an actual gem. I’ve identified of him since 2008 when he garnered some controversial BikePortland headlines for what I’ll simply say have been some overly candid private campaigns associated to bike security. His relationship with our group began off very rocky, however these have been early days and other people change, and all of that’s now water below the bridge. I’ve adopted Dan on-line since then and his Twitter updates and basic outlook on life in our metropolis all the time makes me really feel higher.

Should you’re hoping for a technical dialog about transit coverage or infrastructure initiatives, you is perhaps upset with this episode. That’s not why I needed to speak to Dan. I invited him to the Shed as a result of I needed to listen to what driving a bus means to him, what he’s seen whereas “watching Portland on the large display” (his description of the view from his windshield) for the previous 16 years, whether or not TriMet’s unhealthy rap has gotten to him these previous few years, his evaluation of how folks journey bikes round his bus, and plenty extra.

He ended up sharing some nice tales; like how his favourite a part of taking the bus to Kennedy Faculty as a child (sure, that Kennedy Faculty) was when his bus driver (whose identify he nonetheless remembers) would take them on bumpy gravel roads, the bus driver who impressed him to go away a former job he hated, how he makes use of his energy of remark and perception in nonviolence to do his job higher, and far more.

And for these of you who all the time thank your bus driver earlier than getting off, you’ll positively wish to hear all the way in which to the top to see in the event you cross Dan’s “backdoor take a look at”.

Take heed to the episode within the participant above or wherever you get your podcasts. I’ve shared an edited model of the interview under and you’ll learn a full transcript as a PDF right here.

Did you’re taking the bus to high school? Or what was your first expertise taking the bus?

I went to Kennedy grade college… The Kennedy Faculty that’s now a bar and theater and all the pieces. Actually, in the event you go within the again in direction of the car parking zone, there on the wall is a category image. I’m within the decrease proper hand aspect with the large head. I feel my head was the identical measurement in third grade.

I needed to take a bus there. And I even know my bus driver was Mrs. Yost, everybody within the neighborhood is aware of that bus driver! She was incredible! And in the event you have been actually good all week, she would flip off of Killingsworth two blocks early to go down the gravel roads and throw us all around the bus. We’d bounce round and it was nice.

Listening to that, it’s no too shocking that you simply had a superb impression of what it will be prefer to be a bus driver. How did you find yourself working at TriMet?

I labored at an enormous financial institution that was outstanding within the issues of 2006 to 2008. And in order that was driving me nuts. After which I observed that each night time once I acquired off at Willow Creek to take the practice dwelling, there was a bus driver, and she or he was juggling these glow-in-the darkish balls and simply stress-free on her break and laughing. All people was interacting together with her. All people was having enjoyable. And I went, ‘I’m need that job. I desire a job the place on my breaks I stroll out and it’s accomplished.’

And that bus driver simply retired at 47 years. I even gave her an enormous hug the opposite day. And yeah, simply completely superb. She simply represents all the pieces good about bus driving,

How has being a bus driver modified you?

Properly to begin with, I discovered extra concerning the metropolis than I ever thought I knew. You study much more about Portland than you ever thought you’d know… In order that’s been one of many enjoyable issues is abruptly, I do know all these little nooks and crannies of town that I didn’t have a clue existed earlier than. Even after the couple years after I first talked with you, I used to be nonetheless studying. And that hasn’t stopped. I’m all the time studying. And that’s type of the enjoyable a part of being a bus driver.

And also you’re open to it. It’s one thing that you simply embrace? You would simply shut it out and simply do your job.

I feel that there are drivers who do this to outlive. However my coping mechanism is partaking. That’s how I really feel higher.

So to you, the job is to embrace it to not shut it out?

Yeah.

Do you thoughts if I learn just a little factor you wrote the opposite day on Twitter? I really like the little tales you inform. Right here it’s:

“Assembly folks the place they’re. It’s not only a rising buzz phrase. It’s an important instrument. A rider in tears admitted she missed the hospital cease as a result of her father was in his final hours, and she or he was afraid. A woman on the bus I known as Ms. Flower came to visit and embraced her, then requested, ‘Is it okay, if we are saying a prayer for you?’ On the far finish of my run, with time to spare, I secured the bus and joined the others crowding round. Ms. Flowers stated an exquisite prayer. She empowered others with what she discovered firsthand about grief.

Ms. Flowers held her hand till we returned to the hospital, after which gave her a hug earlier than she acquired off the bus. She thanked everybody.

Understanding what folks want and doing all your greatest to satisfy them there. That makes you a greater driver.”

You see the the hero there may be Ms. Flowers. That was not about me. It was what I noticed. And you recognize, I used to say, I’m a superb storyteller. However I’m actually an observer. So that is one thing I noticed in the one who stepped out of her consolation zone to return over and say, ‘Hey, do you want assist? Can I say a prayer for you?’ That individual was reaching out to her. I supported that. However she was the hero of that story. To try this, for one more individual you didn’t even know. That was my hero.

How do you are feeling like your position as a bus driver impacted that scenario?

I feel folks have been shocked. I feel quite a lot of bus drivers attempt to preserve that emotional distance, and I don’t fault them. That could be a defensive mechanism. However you recognize, I discovered from folks like this Ms. Flowers, that you simply acquired to have the braveness to step out. You gotta say, even when it’s a mistake, even when it’s fallacious, you recognize, there’s been occasions once I noticed somebody on the aspect of the road, and I ended the bus and checked on them they usually screamed at me. One via a half-eaten can of beans at me! However I’m nonetheless going to do it. , if I see any individual in want, I’m nonetheless going to do one thing.

However [in that story] she made the trouble. And I felt my job was supporting her. Once I acquired out of my seat, the opposite of the bus joined in. And the one man says, ‘I’m an atheist,’ and he was crying as a lot as the remainder of us have been. As a result of it wasn’t about us, it was about their second. And what it meant to that woman was phenomenal.

You additionally kind of imagine that there’s one thing concerning the bus itself and the act of taking transit, that connects folks? You wrote one thing that actually stood out to me once you wrote, “Transit is all of us.” Are you able to join the dots between that story and this concept that someway transit itself — and the shared house of the bus — is essential?

Lots of people will say, ‘Properly, you recognize, transit is barely like 10% of the inhabitants,’ or no matter quantity they throw out. However what that doesn’t inform the story. As a result of it’s 10% now; however of younger folks, it’s like 90%. I don’t know anyone who grew up in Portland that didn’t take the bus at one time frequently. And quite a lot of it’s older individuals who can’t drive anymore, or who’ve epilepsy or who’ve some kind of incapacity. To them, 90% is the bus.

You’re passing via the bus at totally different occasions at totally different speeds in your life. And it’s totally different for everybody, but it surely touches everybody. Even in the event you by no means rode a bus, there’s any individual driving a bus to your job. So it’s this micro-community within the larger group. And it has its personal guidelines. It has its personal means. Like issues folks do on the bus, they don’t do exactly sit standing on the road or strolling by one another.

I ponder, although if it weighs on you that how some folks act on the bus has modified. Lots of people listening to this are considering it is perhaps much less constructive than the story you shared. You actually know that the fame of transit has not been good these previous few years. Does that matter to you? Does it weigh on you in any respect?

That doesn’t matter to me in any respect. I attempt one of the best I can. I’ve been assaulted. I’ve had issues. However there’s a lot to unpack there. As a result of it’s it’s a easy and simple query to ask. However there’s quite a lot of layers to it. As a result of to begin with, people are negatively biased. We’re constructed with that. , ‘Airplane lands safely. Information at 11,’ you by no means hear that, proper? That’s an previous joke. , the individual that stated there’s no lions between right here and the waterhole, they acquired eaten!

Nobody asks the actual query, which is, ‘How violent is our society?’ And, you recognize, the bus has a slice of society on it. So if there’s violence in society, there’ll be violence in transit. So is transit harmful? Properly, in comparison with what? Is it in comparison with simply strolling down the road? You’re round 300 folks on the bus. Are you safer than round 300 random folks, you recognize, standing round a 7/11 at night time?

It’s onerous to extract what’s actually happening. It’s straightforward to seize a headline. And it’s very easy in the event you’re one of many folks on the web going, ‘Oh, that is all the time occurring on a regular basis!’ However I speak to drivers who’re assaulted and, and nobody likes that. Nobody needs that. Everybody needs to cease that. But it surely’s not the defining high quality of transit, and of individuals on transit.

Is that half why you share what you do on-line? To attempt to and infuse the narrative with one thing extra stunning or extra constructive than what persons are often listening to?

I’d say this: I’ve a reputation for the adverse folks on Twitter, I name them ‘hose pipes’. They only blow out of a hose, like, anytime one thing adverse occurs, they’re prepared to leap on board… I observe this adverse factor occurring, however you’ve acquired to noticed these in half: remark and answer. No metropolis has ever been made higher purchase folks withdrawing. So it will get to a degree the place you’re simply reiterating this avalanche of negativity and that’s by no means going to repair a metropolis.

Do you suppose a few of your driver colleagues have withdrawn or stopped driving due to a few of this negativity?

I don’t know many individuals which have left simply due to that. There could possibly be… I discover that individuals who’ve been disconnected from driving for perhaps a decade are much more adverse about what’s happening than the drivers I do know who’re really doing it now.

OK, switching gears a bit, are there issues that bike riders do this make your job tougher? Simpler?

Properly let’s begin with 15 years in the past, when biking was simply booming. I noticed a rift between what I name skilled commuters — they paid consideration, they’d lights, they’d helmets, they took defensive motion, they weren’t apprehensive about who has the right-of-way as they have been about simply doing what was protected. After which there was a complete bunch of recent individuals who have been simply beginning on that path. So if there have been issues, it wasn’t like, it is a downside of all cyclists, it was an issue of those persons are beginning on this path… they took extra dangers. And what it did is it kind of put the hazard on onto another person’s plate. Whenever you aren’t driving defensively, you’re mainly handing another person the the gun pointed at your head. And in order that was irritating to quite a lot of business drivers as a result of our autos aren’t any joke.

I all the time joke that the issue is with buses is that they named them fallacious. They named him too properly. “Bus” sounds good. If they’d have known as it the “crush you kill you” folks would deal with it just a little bit totally different… It’s no joke. It’s no joke. And other people usually — not simply cyclists however folks strolling, folks in vehicles — take extra dangers round heavy buses, as a result of they anticipate that drivers are going to account for that.

What about Pedalpalooza? What occurs in the summertime with these huge group rides when there are 500 bike riders rolling by?

Yeah, they’re a distinct animal. They behave otherwise and generally wrongly, however you recognize it doesn’t final lengthy. You don’t get Pedalpalooza all day, day by day. So I don’t thoughts ready.

Between drivers and other people on bikes, is there one which makes your job tougher or simpler? Which, which one is extra irritating to you to drive round?

Properly, I’m just a little biased now. As a result of the route I’m on has valuable few bikes. The few folks which might be common commuters on the market, I do know and have nicknames for them. I acquired “yellow high” and “speedo”, and all types of them. I’ve type of acquired used to the handful of standard riders.

To maintain my head within the sport, I fake everyone’s on the lower-end and worse. That means, I’m driving defensively. I’m anticipating, I’m leaving house for everybody. I assume that it’s this individual’s first day on the street or the primary time they’ve been on a motorcycle. And I’m pleasantly shocked when that’s not the case. I are likely to get not get into grouping [road users together]. As a result of you then’re decreasing your guard proper? And also you shouldn’t do this it is best to all the time say, ‘I’m right here. I’m targeted. These folks I’m going to imagine they don’t know,’ proper? And once they do, I’m the primary one to wave or at a lightweight cease and say thanks. I find it irresistible.

If there’s one thing you might inform bike riders on the market to, you recognize, do a greater job at or simply take into accout or is there something you need them to listen to?

I’d say the key is that all of us get dwelling protected. Not legal guidelines, not guidelines, that you simply get dwelling protected. That’s above all. I feel quite a lot of cyclists have that feeling like, ‘Oh, in fact I do this, I’m probably the most in danger.’ However you bought to drive like that. You bought to journey like that. You bought to stroll like that. You’ve acquired to be defensive always. And simply make it possible for it’s not a matter of pace. It’s a matter of life. That’s the one factor I give attention to is life and security on the bus… And that’s what actually issues.

… It’s life. That’s very valuable. And get out to it. , we’re moving into the summer season occasions the place folks actually get out and revel in Portland. That’s nice. Yeah, knock your self out!

Okay, final query: Do you care if folks say ‘thanks’ once they get off?

Sure and no. After they say ‘thanks,’ I all the time say, ‘thanks, my pleasure.’ That’s my tagline. However there’s a take a look at. And this has a horrible identify. It’s known as the backdoor take a look at. We as social beings don’t like to attract consideration to ourselves. Folks will stroll by me and go ‘thanks’ upfront, proper? That’s advantageous. It’s quiet. Nobody hears it.

The individual leaving from the again door that yells ‘thanks driver!’ and breaks all of the social limitations and says it loud sufficient for everybody to listen to — that individual is sending a distinct message. That’s what I depend. I depend the backdoor thank-yous. I like all thank-yous in fact. It’s nice. It’s stunning. However that backdoor thank-you, once you get the identical quantity of males thanking you as ladies, the identical quantity of Asian folks, Russian folks, Black folks, white folks, everyone’s saying ‘thanks’ from the backdoor, you’re doing one thing proper. They’re breaking that taboo and being outspoken in public in entrance of individuals they don’t know, to thank the motive force as they depart. I actually have counts of these. It’s like, I do know I’m doing effectively, when these counts are excessive. Then I’m impacting folks, as a result of they’re breaking these limitations to say thanks.

This was a really edited model of our dialog. Take heed to all the interview within the participant above or wherever you get your podcasts.

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