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
