Tour Bus Driver

Oh... "he" well that eliminates me

But I drool every time I see your pic.. Thank you so much for the visual candy!

Damn, now I have to get a mop to clean up the puddle of drool on the floor.

I thought it was a 'he'. Was it a she?

And I too, appreciate your profile pic.

Drove for Trailways and Greyhound for about 4 years. What do you want to know?

I was just exploring the GPS units and wanted some input on how well the RV Unit or the Truck unit worked for Buses. Considering that the top luxury coaches are built on full size motor coaches, I was leaning toward the RV unit. But not sure if they are really any better than a regular unit and common sense.

I used a 765T when I was driving. I have a Dezl 560 now that would work. I have played with the RV setting on it. The low clearance POI is a good one to have. The truck setting would not work very well. Buses go in many "Truck Prohibited" areas. Routing would not be good then. I tried to review the routing the GPS was wanting to use before leaving. Clearance is the big thing. Another thing to watch for is high-centering the bus. There is not a POI for that. I tried to start one but there was no interest. I have two old POI files for layovers in Nashville and New Orleans. I had started building one for DC. I see you are in VA. If you would like to take them over you are welcome to them.

Thanks, that info is helpful. I don't think I'm going to have the time to work on any POI files right now. I think for the near future I'm going to sick to my 2597 and common sense.

Did you get the message I sent you?

Seeing a discussion about a RailRoad poi that had things like warning about the RR tracks being on some grade... One was where the RR tracks were up in a point..

I don't know what happened with that discussion...

I looked for interest in just roads or intersections that may high-center a bus or large RV, especially on non-truck routes. I got no response so I dropped it.

I'm sort of building a personal data base of just the local directions to places that I will go on repeat trips. The actual directions to College pickups and stuff like that. Probably nothing that will translate to a POI file. Mostly just a series of disconnected short local routes.

I would be glad to send you what I have collected the same way. I am not using them anymore. Some are in your area others are areas you might go to like Disney or Universal in Orlando, places in New Orleans, Gettysburg, University of Al, Auburn, UGA, UT, Tenn State, etc. With notes, all in GPX format.

Sure, they may come in very handy. I answered your email. that would be a good address to send to. And Thanks.

I drive charter bus out of Tulsa, Oklahoma. We drive all 48 states. I use a Rand McNally TND 520 gps...it has some very convenient bus tools included in the system. The hours of service feature I don't use...since we already use electronic logs, but, the POI's are great. The TND520 will not route you through a residential area (unless, of course, that is where you are going)...and, accounts for vehicle size for overhead and weight limits. I like it very much.

Ah, Tour Bus Drivers!

Many years ago, my wife and I went on a 28 day coach tour of the Outback in Australia. If we called our coach a "bus" or called the Captain a "driver", we were fined - with all fines going into the beer kitty.

For those who drive the tourists rigs on this side of the pond, check out Ted Egan (an Australian treasure) and his song Our Coach Captain.

I have fond memories of chugging down a 16oz bottle of RC with a bag of Planters salted peanuts poured into the bottle to get me started. The first soda in that big of a bottle I remember. Had to return the bottles to the store or loose my deposit.

My dispatcher referred to us as Part-time International Motorcoach Professionals or PIMPs for short.

Sounds like an inflated sense of importance to me.

It would be good...but, those things change a lot...I would think upkeep would be a mess.

My company drives all Van Hool coaches. Those hummers are so low they high center in large gravel.

You have to listen to the song to understand the term. It takes a special kind of personality to haul 30 people around Australia for four weeks of camping

Now we really mustn't call his coach a bus,
If we did, he'd surely throw the book at us.
And our stupid bloody questions, they're enough to drive him mad,
To see a grown man crying, It's really very sad.
So if you see him drinking Bundy Rum, be very bloody glad,
That you've met, the greatest gent, our coach captain!

Our coach captain is a very nice bloke to know,
Our coach captain runs the outback travelling show.
And he certainly isn't a driver, No, He's a captain for sure,
And we're very bloody lucky that he's taking us on his tour.
And the funny thing about it is, we'll all be back for more,
Of the same travelling gang, with our coach captain!

He may have driven road trains years ago,
And gave it up to join the travelling show,
But I bet he sometimes wishes, that he had a cattle prod,
He'd get us all aboard his coach, he'd scarcely need to nod.
Come to think of it, he looks just a little bit like God.
But he's a ripper, that's our skipper, our coach captain!

Our coach captain is a very nice bloke to know,
Our coach captain runs the outback travelling show.
And he certainly isn't a driver, No, He's a captain for sure,
And we're very bloody lucky that he's taking us on his tour.
And the funny thing about it is, we'll all be back for more,
Of the same travelling gang, with our coach captain!

His critics think that he's a randy brute,
But the ladies all agree, he's rather cute.
The fellas all respect him, 'cos he certainly is a wag,
And as he drives us round Australia, he never lets our spirits sag.
If you're female over sixteen years, he'll let you share his swag,
One Two Three, Our C-C, Our coach captain!

Our coach captain is a very nice bloke to know,
Our coach captain runs the outback travelling show.
And he certainly isn't a driver, No, He's a captain for sure,
And we're very bloody lucky that he's taking us on his tour.
And the funny thing about it is, we'll all be back for more,
Of the same travelling gang, with our coach captain!

He's a singer, He's a dancer, He's a dasher, He's a prancer,
He's a lover, He's your brother, He's your fairy bloody godmother!
And in this whole wide bloody world, there isn't any other,
None so fair, none compare, to our coach captain.

Our coach captain is a very nice bloke to know,
Our coach captain runs the outback travelling show.
And he certainly isn't a driver, No, He's a captain for sure,
And we're very bloody lucky that he's taking us on his tour.
And the funny thing about it is, we'll all be back for more,
Of the same travelling gang, with our coach captain!

LMAO