GRT Olympic Team Blog

Training is over. But are we ready? Or are we just prepared to fake it?

Training today began with a 13:30 pickup from the hotels. Some of us jumped in the hot tub before we left. Then we stood around for half an hour in the drizzle waiting for people to get organized. We ended up doubling up with another group for training on route 202 and 203, in Squamish. One of the buses had a destination sign malfunction that had it displaying 911 that couldn’t be cleared. Once the trade-off arrived, we went on our own bus. Then we promptly got lost 5 minutes into the 201 route. We are becoming experts at turning a bus around in a driveway.

Willy and Dan Pope relaxing before work.

At that point our instructor, Paul Teichroeb, made the wise decision to give up and head to Whistler. At least this time he stopped at Tim’s for us.

Why they don’t have local drivers leading the route training is a mystery. At this point Paul got fed up with the lack of documentation on the Squamish routes. The booklet we were given didn’t include the Lefts and Rights. I put my hand up and mentioned that I had all the lefts and rights on my union site. (See http://caw4304.ca/olympics/routes/) I suggested we have the office print them up for us. I agreed, and had me phone the office in Whistler. We ordered the route 1, 2, and 3. Unfortunately, we actually needed the 201, 202 and 203 routes, which we the short turn of the routes we had printed. So we didn’t bother photocopying them all when we finally tracked them down at the garage.

The ride up to Whistler allowed me time to program in the 99 route into my GPS. The guys on the bus started asking where they could buy their own GPS systems. But the problem we have is getting power to them on these new buses. Mine is battery powered, so I have no problems. The rest of our group are really starting to sweat as full service on Monday draws closer.

Once at the Whistler garage, confusion reigned yet again as we stood around waiting for someone to show up to give us some training on the shuttle buses. We ended up getting a lecture in the parking lot of how the payroll works. Then they also told us that they have 50 shifts to cover for Monday. But I don’t want any overtime as I have a trip planned to the West coast of Vancouver Island for Monday through Wednesday. I hope to go whale watching off the coast from. See http://www.weighwest.com/

Then we found our shuttle trainer. The vans hold 24 passengers and have a wheel chair lift at the back. The tie-downs are new and very handy. It was a bit rushed, but I knew most of it from my time in Mobility Plus. One more check mark on the list. At the end of the night we had to sign off on the training. I marked that we had not covered all the runs.

Next it was back to route training. I was up to drive to Pemberton, some 30 miles up the highway. So, out came my GPS and we headed off into the dark. The road was winding almost all the way. I had to use my high beams most of the way as the low beams on these new model Novas isn’t very good. I’m glad I’m working days, as night travel doesn’t allow you to see much. When we arrived at the endpoint, I had to rely on my programming of the GPS, or we would have missed yet another turn. Another operator drive back south, with me becoming the navigator. Actually, I just gave him my GPS, and we had no problems.

Next it was back to the garage for a Q&A with John Palmer. I almost felt sorry for him as three of the drivers really grilled him as to why there wasn’t driver shuttles arranged for us to go to Whistler each morning. As it stand, the expect us to walk about 10 minutes up the road at about 3:30 in the morning to catch the regular line to Whistler. Krys, the lady in our group, said that this wasn’t acceptable to be walking alone in the dark to the bus stop. And then, once in Whistler, we still have to catch another bus to the garage. I say that this hour and a half commute to work each morning is the real down side to this job. I’ll have to find something to keep me occupied.

Next, Fernando and I organized a group photo shoot. We did two shots as the first one we had three stragglers. It was hilarious as two drivers took all our cameras and shot dozens of photos. It was really nice how our group has come together over these past three days.

The "A Team"

We arrived back in Squamish at just after 10. We said goodbye as some of these people we may not see again. Some of the drivers are celebrating graduation with parties in the various rooms. My roommate, Reto, isn’t shaking in his boots. He is hoping for overtime first thing Monday. I wish him well, as it will be a zoo. I’ve booked a cab to Squamish Baptist Church tomorrow.

So, I’m off for the next four days. Bob Arsenealt will be my local guide. We have a local driver giving us a lift to the ferry for 8:30 Monday morning. I can’t wait.

We awoke to the first clear day with snow covered mountains all around us. It is amazing I don’t trip  over something with walking around looking up all the time. What a beautiful place to work!

GRT Group at Mountain Retreat Hotel

Training today started at 11:30. We learned the highway coach controls at WTC, or Whistler Transit Centre. Then on to the most modern bus in the world.

We were trained on the Hydrogen Fuel Cell buses today. The future is here now! These buses cost 2.2 million and come with the world’s largest hydrogen fuelling station in the world. Essentially, these are electric trolley buses without the wires. They are zero emission, and ran almost silently from the outside. There is a small vapour trail out the back where the steam comes out. On acceleration, it feels like you are in a race car. The braking system is all disc brake, and can stop on a dime. In practice, most of the braking is done solely with the engine retarder. When the retarder is activated by coming off the throttle, the electric drive train turns into an electric generator. Inside the bus there is a bit of a whine at high speed from the electric motors. The front side seats hides a huge Lithium Ion battery pack. In fact, if the Ballard fuel cell engine in the back shuts down, the bus can still be driven on battery for quite a distance.

Hydrogen pump

I feel so privileged to be trusted to drive this type of equipment. Their fleet of 20 fuel cell buses is the largest in the world. Having them operational for the Olympics makes it into a showcase for the world of Canada next generation fuel system. They are so safe, that in comparison, diesel buses  shouldn’t be allowed on the road because they are so much less safe.

Next came the Safety lecture. Our classroom was a bus. The instructor was an very enjoyable speaker and we learned a lot. They got another signature out of us for their check list.

Then the fun began. We did route training without a driver on board who has actually driven the routes. For whatever reason, they could only get one veteran driver to help train the 300 new drivers. Our route manuals still had mistakes in them. The worst part is that someone decided we needed experience driving at night before we had driven it the day time. We had to back out of a wrong turn twice and turn around another time. The poor instructor isn’t from Whistler, and so could hardly be expected to know the city. Talk about the blind leading the blind. Tomorrow is even worse, with us starting at 2:00pm.

We missed the evening small bus shuttle orientation due to a scheduling oversight. So we just went back to Squamish. I organized 8 of us to meet for supper at a Chinese restaurant, called Fortune Kitchen. We got off at a different hotel, the Sea and Sky Hotel, and walked over to the restaurant. We all had a wonderful time, after which I caught a cab home.

Supper at the Fortune Kitcher Chinese resturant

I also got a surprise phone call from Allison Blythe, who wanted the copyright to yesterday’s photo of the double decker. I gladly granted it to her and sent it to her by email. Rather nice.

We are all rather amused at some of the logistical issues we are witnessing. But, after all, we are right in the middle of a grand adventure.

A BC Transit bus picked us all up at the hotel at 7:30. We then went to the Squamish bus yards where we were divided into groups of 17. I decided to stay on the double decker bus for the trip up to Whistler.

Trainees: John A, Fernando, Kyrs, Des, Wily

We were given a very thorough briefing on a lot of completely new features of this bus by a former National Rodeo champion, Ron Brown. This fantastic bus is 14 feet high, and will not fit under some bridges. So it only follows specially approved routing. The will have seven of these buses traveling the Squamish to Whistler #98 route. The seat 79 people. The controls are very foreign as it is made by an English firm called Dennis. The Maxi is actually a lever on the dash. The master switch is a switch and a button on the right, with a battery kill switch on the left dash. You can also take the load off of the tag axle with another switch. All double deckers come with studded tires. Plus they have a camera display above the driver. The climate control is permanently set to 68 degrees for the passengers, but the driver wheat can be adjusted.

Double Decker buses, from England, run the 98 route between Squamish & Whistler

When we arrived at the Whistler  garage, we were all photographed for our ID tags. The whole garage looks like it is less than a year old. They have 20 buses that run off of Hydrogen. The two tall Hydrogen tanks out the back were a unique site. Then we were supposed to receive a Safety lecture, but they had a scheduling conflict with the teacher, so that got cancelled and we ended up taking a bus out to start learning the routes.

Allison Blythe, Communication Coordinator at Whistler.

The strange thing was that out instructor was not from Whistler, so he had only just learned his way around as well. When he asked for a volunteer, I pulled out my cell phone with the GPS on it and volunteered to be the first driver. At first he objected, but I had already had it approved by Ron Brown. Once he saw that it was hands free, he was OK with it. I also had another driver standing beside me with a map as the official navigator. We did the #1 Creekside Express south to Tamarisk. It went without a hitch, so I got that out of the way.

Then Wily drove back to Whistler. The crosswalks here are actually speed humps. Next we did the #3 Emerald Estates, which was interesting. The huge houses, condos and hotels around here is astounding.

By this time it was 2:00 pm and we were famished. It was rather strange, but our instructor parked at the garage and had us walk about 3 blocks away to a plaza called Nestor’s for lunch. We get a $30 per day meal allowance. After lunch it was more circle check training. Then on the bus for the hour trip back to Squamish. This commute is the only downside to working here. There is almost no snow here, and it was about six degrees.

Back in Squamish I made a beeline for the pool. I’m in the Mountain Retreat hotel with Reto. The waterslide is two storeys tall. After a steak dinner at the hotel restaurant, it was time to blog. Great day, but tiring.

Great swimming pool at the Mountain Retreat Hotel

Des and I took off from Toronto about 20 minutes  later after a couple of delays. One of the problems was a passenger who was not on our plane, but who did have luggage on our flight. We didn’t take off until they determined that this person had taken an earlier flight.

But before we even got to the gate we both discovered that we had overweight bags. Since I only had one suitcase, they gave me a cardboard box to put the excess in, saving us both $75.

When we arrived they had a greeter with a sign to welcome us. We were given bus tickets on a highway coach to Squamish, which took about two hours. Two of the mechanics, Marc Reilly and Adam Baker were also on our flight.

We were checked into the hotel by the HR lady, Victoria Wood. She was just as nice in person as she had been on the phone. After we got our cell phones, it was 1:00 am Ontario time, so I went straight to bed. It was a good trip.

John A. is now posting live action from Whistler on Twitter, right from his cell phone. You should be able to find photos and brief comments throughout the day, 2 minutes after John takes the shot. Go to www.twitter.com/caw4304 for up to the minute news.