Driving Spain's EMT

Spain's EMT Bus-Right on Time!

They are so numerous that they are invisible. I'm talking about Spain's city buses, red in colour, very comfortable, and they squeeze in the most impossible spaces. For the passengers the sight of something big and red is welcomed. The system apparently works extremely well and is sent by God himself to deliver those who need to get from A to B within the city.

Here in Valencia the buses were the last thing for me to master. Moving into a new location is always confusing, and for me buses simply appeared from parts unknown, and they went onto places mysterious. However, there are clues to help the passenger. Each bus has a number, and they have two names, one shows the bus starting point and the other it's destination. I'm sure that if I look I will find that there is a complete route map for every bus. I have never made that search, instead I find the bus I need by observing which ones pass by the place I am, and deciding next time I will come by the number 49 bus, instead of making life so difficult.

Being the driver of such buses seems to assure him of continuous employment. They seem to made their work appear stress-free, but I'm certain that nothing could be farther from the truth. Firstly, they have bus lanes at their disposal, but bloody drivers of all sorts of vehicles insist on parking in their lanes, "just for a minute." I am under the impression that each bus carries a video camera and recorder that is turned over to the police who send out tickets to such offending vehicles for illegal parking.

The driver has to collect the fares, which is the easy part, then comes the hard part of navigating a very large vehicle through city traffic without crashing into anything, and without having to make sudden stops that would result in throwing his passengers around. He does all that while maintaining a courteous attitude and staying on schedule.

In my own country I have known some really great people who drove the bus, people who got joy from their routine by interacting with the passengers, even to the extent of stopping at people's homes or gates for them. For me, I would have to be one of those drivers, because otherwise the humdrum of crisscrossing the city day after day would drive me crazy.

I am a very infrequent passenger on Valencia's buses but I don't take the driver for granted because it is easy to see the stress that he copes with on behalf of we passengers. I for one appreciate it, and deem the bus drivers of Valencia as our unsung heroes.

Copyright (c) 2012   Eugene Carmichael