Driving Out of Control: A Look of the Effects of Stressors on Urban Bus Drivers of the Rochester Transit

System

Introduction

General Information

• Municipal Bus stands 11’ 6” high, 8’ wide & 40’long

• Weights 11 tons• Transports nearly 50 people at one time• Utilize the rear view mirrors• Drivers drive 5 days per week, 8 hours per day• Most do not make it to retirement• Most leave for health reasons or due to

demands of the job

Psychosocial Effects: Isolation and Lack of Social Support

• “Interaction is minimal, not even a hello or a smile sometimes”

• “When I have an opportunity to talk to other drivers, I race to get there to do this. It makes the driving experience much easier. But these opportunities are few and far between”

• “This is not a job that is conducive to a family lifestyle. If your family wants you there, it just isn’t going to be.”

Scheduling and Time Demands

• The schedule is “realistic only if the conditions are ideal, otherwise, it’s impossible to maintain the route schedule that RTS gives us.

• It’s better if you work 4 – 4 ½ hours, have an hour or so off and then go back and drive another 3 1/2 – 4 hours. That’s ideal. It would relieve a lot of stress”.

• “I live 40 minutes away, I don’t have time to go home during my spread time. I just eat something and then sleep in my car in the parking lot”

Distractions

• “If the fare box is not working and the driver cannot collect fares then no fare will be collected until it (the fare box) is repaired at the RTS station.”

• “Most conversations with the riders is having to do with scheduling, when the next bus comes, where to catch a bus, holiday schedules”

• “the way the seats are set up allows the riders to see better than I do. They sometimes get angry, hostile or even make racial comments because I can’t see what they can see.

Physical Stressors

• “Every driver I know complains of health problems.”

• “I’m not alone in having gastrointestinal problems. The changing and demanding scheduling, the lack of facilities, having to hold it, it’s really hard.”

• “I know many drivers who are going out on leave with rotator cuff problems, carpel tunnel, knee and back problems. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t complain of pain all of the time.”

Mental Distresses

• “By the time I get home at 6:30, I have time to take a sleeping pill, eat, get my things together for the next day and get to bed.”

• “I know of 3 people who committed suicide at RTS.”

• “How many drivers drink or use drugs? It would be a much smaller number to name those who don’t.”

Conclusion

• Scheduling• Managerial

support/more control• Ergonomics• Driving demands• Mental breaks and

human interaction