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Post by VPL630 on Jan 13, 2016 0:31:26 GMT
So Monday morning I got a phone call from Leyton asking if I wanted to go to NS for the day to help them out on the 86, seeing as I had nothing planned I thought I might as well take the opportunity to drive a few TA's for the day seeing as I've been almost deprived of them at Leyton for the last few weeks. I had the option of picking around what time I wanted to start so took the latest job on offer signing on around 1640 and was just praying TFL rail wouldn't fall apart which unfortunately it did, after making my way from the garage to Romford station to pick up my bus it became apparent there was some late running going on and the bus I was due to takeover turned up around 10 mins after I should have departed! Quick call to iBus to inform them to hear the words "Carry on" to which I did. 17835 was my first bus and very soon it was apparent that someone had messed with the gearbox settings as it seemed to be in a super eco mode and upshifting around 1900-2000rpm with kickdown engaged, not too much of a problem but was a bit disappointing considering 17836 at Leyton is a rocket, 835 still had some power which was evident while running light on the A12, the brakes were also very smooth and cab heating beyond excellent, I was half tempted to keep this bus for my second half as it was really nice and smooth but after arriving back at the garage for my break there seemed to be an issue with the rear brakes so the bus ended up going straight on the pits but it can't have been that much of an issue as the bus is already back out in service. After my break I had the choice of 18201 or 17775, I'm not really a fan of the 04reg ex BW buses as some of them are complete slugs so /17775 it was, there was also an MMC, 10304 on the stand but I don't think the GS would have been too happy me taking it out. Anyway 775 has the more common standard gearbox set up where it will rev to 2200 rpm with kickdown and if you really mash the throttle at the right time anything up to 2500rpm can be achieved for a short while, it was a much faster bus but the cab heat and passenger heating was pretty much non existent, I was asked on 2 different occasions if I could turn the heating on to which I could only apologise as drivers have no control over the climate control other than in the cab  The 86 route is a very simple easy route, with the only time you need to turn the steering wheel being Ilford and on the many roundabouts of Romford, There is loads of time during the day but as soon as you start picking people up you find yourself getting late somehow, on my first trip after leaving late I made Stratford for an 'on time' departure but due to a 25 messing about I actually ended up departing 10 late with very high loadings, not long after leaving I got a call from iBus and was curtailed to Ilford where I would run light back to the garage for my break, most of the jobs have short breaks during the day so it's easy to come off late and end up being late meal relief, The second half was dead quiet, just how I like, could happily drive at 25-30 MPH on wide open clear roads, got to have been the most enjoyable stress free days I've ever had, pretty much no contact from iBus all day, a leader who wasn't messing about and a bus beyond decent, such a world away from Leyton routes even the 179/275. 86's really seem to empty out around Woodgrange Park/Manor Park and at Ilford, but then you do pick up quite a few people from Ilford and Seven Kings and then it's just the odd few all way to Romford, Leaving Startford at 0001 and still picking up around 40/50 people is something I do find a bit strange but other than that I really enjoyed the route, as far as I know I'm back on it Saturday, well either an 86 or a 498  Stagecoach London 17775 LX03 BVL Route 86 by David McKay, on Flickr |
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Post by capitalomnibus on Jan 13, 2016 11:15:58 GMT
So Monday morning I got a phone call from Leyton asking if I wanted to go to NS for the day to help them out on the 86, seeing as I had nothing planned I thought I might as well take the opportunity to drive a few TA's for the day seeing as I've been almost deprived of them at Leyton for the last few weeks. I had the option of picking around what time I wanted to start so took the latest job on offer signing on around 1640 and was just praying TFL rail wouldn't fall apart which unfortunately it did, after making my way from the garage to Romford station to pick up my bus it became apparent there was some late running going on and the bus I was due to takeover turned up around 10 mins after I should have departed! Quick call to iBus to inform them to hear the words "Carry on" to which I did. 17835 was my first bus and very soon it was apparent that someone had messed with the gearbox settings as it seemed to be in a super eco mode and upshifting around 1900-2000rpm with kickdown engaged, not too much of a problem but was a bit disappointing considering 17836 at Leyton is a rocket, 835 still had some power which was evident while running light on the A12, the brakes were also very smooth and cab heating beyond excellent, I was half tempted to keep this bus for my second half as it was really nice and smooth but after arriving back at the garage for my break there seemed to be an issue with the rear brakes so the bus ended up going straight on the pits but it can't have been that much of an issue as the bus is already back out in service. After my break I had the choice of 18201 or 17775, I'm not really a fan of the 04reg ex BW buses as some of them are complete slugs so /17775 it was, there was also an MMC, 10304 on the stand but I don't think the GS would have been too happy me taking it out. Anyway 775 has the more common standard gearbox set up where it will rev to 2200 rpm with kickdown and if you really mash the throttle at the right time anything up to 2500rpm can be achieved for a short while, it was a much faster bus but the cab heat and passenger heating was pretty much non existent, I was asked on 2 different occasions if I could turn the heating on to which I could only apologise as drivers have no control over the climate control other than in the cab The 86 route is a very simple easy route, with the only time you need to turn the steering wheel being Ilford and on the many roundabouts of Romford, There is loads of time during the day but as soon as you start picking people up you find yourself getting late somehow, on my first trip after leaving late I made Stratford for an 'on time' departure but due to a 25 messing about I actually ended up departing 10 late with very high loadings, not long after leaving I got a call from iBus and was curtailed to Ilford where I would run light back to the garage for my break, most of the jobs have short breaks during the day so it's easy to come off late and end up being late meal relief, The second half was dead quiet, just how I like, could happily drive at 25-30 MPH on wide open clear roads, got to have been the most enjoyable stress free days I've ever had, pretty much no contact from iBus all day, a leader who wasn't messing about and a bus beyond decent, such a world away from Leyton routes even the 179/275. 86's really seem to empty out around Woodgrange Park/Manor Park and at Ilford, but then you do pick up quite a few people from Ilford and Seven Kings and then it's just the odd few all way to Romford, Leaving Startford at 0001 and still picking up around 40/50 people is something I do find a bit strange but other than that I really enjoyed the route, as far as I know I'm back on it Saturday, well either an 86 or a 498 Stagecoach London 17775 LX03 BVL Route 86 by David McKay, on Flickr How do you know what revs the bus is doing. Have you got something plugged into the obd. As these never had rev counters. |
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Post by VPL630 on Jan 15, 2016 12:02:16 GMT
So Monday morning I got a phone call from Leyton asking if I wanted to go to NS for the day to help them out on the 86, seeing as I had nothing planned I thought I might as well take the opportunity to drive a few TA's for the day seeing as I've been almost deprived of them at Leyton for the last few weeks. I had the option of picking around what time I wanted to start so took the latest job on offer signing on around 1640 and was just praying TFL rail wouldn't fall apart which unfortunately it did, after making my way from the garage to Romford station to pick up my bus it became apparent there was some late running going on and the bus I was due to takeover turned up around 10 mins after I should have departed! Quick call to iBus to inform them to hear the words "Carry on" to which I did. 17835 was my first bus and very soon it was apparent that someone had messed with the gearbox settings as it seemed to be in a super eco mode and upshifting around 1900-2000rpm with kickdown engaged, not too much of a problem but was a bit disappointing considering 17836 at Leyton is a rocket, 835 still had some power which was evident while running light on the A12, the brakes were also very smooth and cab heating beyond excellent, I was half tempted to keep this bus for my second half as it was really nice and smooth but after arriving back at the garage for my break there seemed to be an issue with the rear brakes so the bus ended up going straight on the pits but it can't have been that much of an issue as the bus is already back out in service. After my break I had the choice of 18201 or 17775, I'm not really a fan of the 04reg ex BW buses as some of them are complete slugs so /17775 it was, there was also an MMC, 10304 on the stand but I don't think the GS would have been too happy me taking it out. Anyway 775 has the more common standard gearbox set up where it will rev to 2200 rpm with kickdown and if you really mash the throttle at the right time anything up to 2500rpm can be achieved for a short while, it was a much faster bus but the cab heat and passenger heating was pretty much non existent, I was asked on 2 different occasions if I could turn the heating on to which I could only apologise as drivers have no control over the climate control other than in the cab The 86 route is a very simple easy route, with the only time you need to turn the steering wheel being Ilford and on the many roundabouts of Romford, There is loads of time during the day but as soon as you start picking people up you find yourself getting late somehow, on my first trip after leaving late I made Stratford for an 'on time' departure but due to a 25 messing about I actually ended up departing 10 late with very high loadings, not long after leaving I got a call from iBus and was curtailed to Ilford where I would run light back to the garage for my break, most of the jobs have short breaks during the day so it's easy to come off late and end up being late meal relief, The second half was dead quiet, just how I like, could happily drive at 25-30 MPH on wide open clear roads, got to have been the most enjoyable stress free days I've ever had, pretty much no contact from iBus all day, a leader who wasn't messing about and a bus beyond decent, such a world away from Leyton routes even the 179/275. 86's really seem to empty out around Woodgrange Park/Manor Park and at Ilford, but then you do pick up quite a few people from Ilford and Seven Kings and then it's just the odd few all way to Romford, Leaving Startford at 0001 and still picking up around 40/50 people is something I do find a bit strange but other than that I really enjoyed the route, as far as I know I'm back on it Saturday, well either an 86 or a 498 Stagecoach London 17775 LX03 BVL Route 86 by David McKay, on Flickr How do you know what revs the bus is doing. Have you got something plugged into the obd. As these never had rev counters. Just a rough guess, the upshift point with kickdown enabled in most buses is around the 2200 mark, 2000 in later ZF examples with eco mode enabled |
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Post by Alex on Jan 18, 2016 0:44:15 GMT
Well, you've certainly answered the question about getting the NS routes in - and a bit more! Sounds as you enjoyed the day on the 86, guessing as have a transfer to NS that the journey to and from home was a good deal easier too, so plus points all round  I do enjoy using the 86, the drivers on there are noticeably more friendly and helpful than those on the 25 - mind you, the 25 being such a hard route to work on, I am not sure if this does the 25 drivers the most justice. 86 still carries very heavy loads though and the people I've met on there are very professional. There seems an air of the 'old school proud' bus attitude on there - I read somewhere (EDIT - here: www.ukbusawards.org.uk/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=871&Itemid=539) that the average service at NS is around 15 years, so this would make sense. Anyhow, hope you get to NS sooner rather than later, the Havering buses (as I said somewhere on here) seem a nicer part of the network than most of London |
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Jan 18, 2016 21:14:46 GMT
Well, you've certainly answered the question about getting the NS routes in - and a bit more! Sounds as you enjoyed the day on the 86, guessing as have a transfer to NS that the journey to and from home was a good deal easier too, so plus points all round I do enjoy using the 86, the drivers on there are noticeably more friendly and helpful than those on the 25 - mind you, the 25 being such a hard route to work on, I am not sure if this does the 25 drivers the most justice. 86 still carries very heavy loads though and the people I've met on there are very professional. There seems an air of the 'old school proud' bus attitude on there - I read somewhere (EDIT - here: www.ukbusawards.org.uk/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=871&Itemid=539) that the average service at NS is around 15 years, so this would make sense. Anyhow, hope you get to NS sooner rather than later, the Havering buses (as I said somewhere on here) seem a nicer part of the network than most of London The service on the 86 is atrocious from my experience. It's like every other day I'm filing out a complaint about a member of staff on the bus. Today one 86 thought it was perfectly acceptable to completely miss a stop as one 86 was already there despite the fact people were waving it down. Another time a driver decided to only let 10 people on his bus despite the bus was completely empty and could have taken well above 30 people. I don't see how you can only chose to let 10 people on the bus and nobody else, what did the extra people ever do to the driver? One of the more interesting cases I saw was when a teacher at a school was supervising students onto buses and the driver decided to have a huge argument with the teacher who was trying to help him out. He said something about school children taking up unnecessary space on the bus when people could be getting to work (at 3pm  ) In terms of customer service I would say the best garages in the area are BK and DX, they noth operate routes which can be full of different types of people yet the drivers (generally) do their job very well. I do often try to make note of drivers that always smile when people get on a bus and I send off a thank you to them via the TfL website. |
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Post by Alex on Jan 18, 2016 22:29:20 GMT
The service on the 86 is atrocious from my experience. It's like every other day I'm filing out a complaint about a member of staff on the bus. Today one 86 thought it was perfectly acceptable to completely miss a stop as one 86 was already there despite the fact people were waving it down. Another time a driver decided to only let 10 people on his bus despite the bus was completely empty and could have taken well above 30 people. I don't see how you can only chose to let 10 people on the bus and nobody else, what did the extra people ever do to the driver? One of the more interesting cases I saw was when a teacher at a school was supervising students onto buses and the driver decided to have a huge argument with the teacher who was trying to help him out. He said something about school children taking up unnecessary space on the bus when people could be getting to work (at 3pm ) In terms of customer service I would say the best garages in the area are BK and DX, they noth operate routes which can be full of different types of people yet the drivers (generally) do their job very well. I do often try to make note of drivers that always smile when people get on a bus and I send off a thank you to them via the TfL website. Crikey - those episodes sound terrible, sorry to hear you experienced those events and I'll admit I'm glad I haven't seen that side of the 86. Whenever I've used it the staff have been really polite - may be that I've been lucky. For general manners and friendliness, the worst garage for me by far is WH. Worst for messing things up (not stopping at bus stops etc) is PD. Only the other day a 122 drove straight past me at Sydenham despite the fact I had my arm out for ages before. Fortunately I was able to jog up the road and catch it up, but sadly was out of breath to ask the driver for an explanation. Another time was a 53 that shot straight past me at Trinity Church, the driver of the Volvo actually looking at me as he passed the stop with the cab light on. The worrying thing is that the next time I saw this individual he was wearing a hi viz with 'Mentor' on it, if the training staff can't even get it right themselves then no wonder things are a mess. Then there was the person who had loads of time before the stop when the bell was rung, then decided to go straight past it with no acknowledgement of the subsequent bell rings that happened afterwards, and no apology when I eventually got off. It really feels like there are some twisted spiteful individuals driving buses and they do this on purpose - it's such an infuriating experience but then there is scope that it's a genuine mistake. Because of this I'm loath to write in and complain, I'd like to complain about the genuine bad drivers, but don't want to stitch up a decent driver who is ok 99.9% of the time and I see them on a bad day....... The one I should have reported was the inexcusable behaviour of a 330 driver (WH again) last May Bank Holiday. He was a very nasty individual and his attitude not suited to his role. |
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Jan 19, 2016 17:34:23 GMT
The service on the 86 is atrocious from my experience. It's like every other day I'm filing out a complaint about a member of staff on the bus. Today one 86 thought it was perfectly acceptable to completely miss a stop as one 86 was already there despite the fact people were waving it down. Another time a driver decided to only let 10 people on his bus despite the bus was completely empty and could have taken well above 30 people. I don't see how you can only chose to let 10 people on the bus and nobody else, what did the extra people ever do to the driver? One of the more interesting cases I saw was when a teacher at a school was supervising students onto buses and the driver decided to have a huge argument with the teacher who was trying to help him out. He said something about school children taking up unnecessary space on the bus when people could be getting to work (at 3pm ) In terms of customer service I would say the best garages in the area are BK and DX, they noth operate routes which can be full of different types of people yet the drivers (generally) do their job very well. I do often try to make note of drivers that always smile when people get on a bus and I send off a thank you to them via the TfL website. Crikey - those episodes sound terrible, sorry to hear you experienced those events and I'll admit I'm glad I haven't seen that side of the 86. Whenever I've used it the staff have been really polite - may be that I've been lucky. For general manners and friendliness, the worst garage for me by far is WH. Worst for messing things up (not stopping at bus stops etc) is PD. Only the other day a 122 drove straight past me at Sydenham despite the fact I had my arm out for ages before. Fortunately I was able to jog up the road and catch it up, but sadly was out of breath to ask the driver for an explanation. Another time was a 53 that shot straight past me at Trinity Church, the driver of the Volvo actually looking at me as he passed the stop with the cab light on. The worrying thing is that the next time I saw this individual he was wearing a hi viz with 'Mentor' on it, if the training staff can't even get it right themselves then no wonder things are a mess. Then there was the person who had loads of time before the stop when the bell was rung, then decided to go straight past it with no acknowledgement of the subsequent bell rings that happened afterwards, and no apology when I eventually got off. It really feels like there are some twisted spiteful individuals driving buses and they do this on purpose - it's such an infuriating experience but then there is scope that it's a genuine mistake. Because of this I'm loath to write in and complain, I'd like to complain about the genuine bad drivers, but don't want to stitch up a decent driver who is ok 99.9% of the time and I see them on a bad day....... The one I should have reported was the inexcusable behaviour of a 330 driver (WH again) last May Bank Holiday. He was a very nasty individual and his attitude not suited to his role. I agree that WH aren't the best with customer service either, the only route I haven't had problems with there is the 238. Other routes generally don't have good staff conduct or good service operation. |
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Post by Alex on Jan 19, 2016 23:38:42 GMT
I agree that WH aren't the best with customer service either, the only route I haven't had problems with there is the 238. Other routes generally don't have good staff conduct or good service operation I know that the WH routes aren't exactly the most glamorous in London (and the passenger profile matches), but there's other depots out there with the same sort of routes and the difference in staff is quite noticeable. I don't normally say such things (in my earlier post) about the staff, as I know they do a very important job in harsh circumstances these days. I also know that it's only the minority that do stuff that is out of order. Thing is, each time a bus drives past you, or drives past the stop, or won't let people on when they could do, there's always that doubt in the back of your mind......are they making a genuine mistake or being nasty? It's the latter bit that upsets me, as the chance of someone, that doesn't even know me, wants to upset me for nothing really is a kick in the teeth. When I think of the episodes I have had, I kind of imagine it's 90% probably a mistake, or 10% malicious. It's the 10% that gets me, and it was with that 10% I wrote my last post. I felt a bit harsh towards the mentor chap, in fact I've just seen him with a trainee on the 177  , I'm sure he's probably ok really, of course I remember the good drivers too - as said on route 86 I'd had good experiences, and less so on the WH routes. I know how trying the public are as well, so it's not an easy situation with a 'one size fits all' method for every event. Sorry to divert (!) Mr. 10301, just I felt a bit harsh over last post so thought I'd explain I don't think it's all bad, I am impressed with the job the vast majority of the staff do, but sometimes the minority spoil it (same as any profession really)  |
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Post by VPL630 on Jan 23, 2016 19:07:41 GMT
Well, you've certainly answered the question about getting the NS routes in - and a bit more! Sounds as you enjoyed the day on the 86, guessing as have a transfer to NS that the journey to and from home was a good deal easier too, so plus points all round I do enjoy using the 86, the drivers on there are noticeably more friendly and helpful than those on the 25 - mind you, the 25 being such a hard route to work on, I am not sure if this does the 25 drivers the most justice. 86 still carries very heavy loads though and the people I've met on there are very professional. There seems an air of the 'old school proud' bus attitude on there - I read somewhere (EDIT - here: www.ukbusawards.org.uk/content/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=871&Itemid=539) that the average service at NS is around 15 years, so this would make sense. Anyhow, hope you get to NS sooner rather than later, the Havering buses (as I said somewhere on here) seem a nicer part of the network than most of London I did enjoy myself, so much so I've been back twice since I last replied to the this thread, I've been really busy with other things lately hence lack of posts, being a bus drivers really means you have no social life or you just end up mega tired all the time or both  Still enjoying it so I won't complain. The routes at NS are just great, almost idiot free as well  the majority of drivers at NS are nice and friendly, willing to help and don't seem top bothered by anything  I'll go back any time they want (Y) The route like pretty much all of NS's routes has next to no running time throughout the entire day, the smallest hiccup and you have literally had it, They are more bothered about mileage operated than headway it seems but then again there aren't many places on Romford Road that you can sit without blocking the road, the last time I did the route, within 6 stops I caught up my leader so waited 2 mins to give him a chance, Look in my mirror and there is another 86 catching me up so didn't bother holding after that unless instructed too, was a nice game of cat and mouse all the way back to Romford The other route I've done is the 247 which if you don't think about the 5/6/7 rounder jobs, isn't too bad, I have asked for a 498 but they never seem to have any jobs open on the route so far, I'm trying to avoid driving a 496 as I'm not too keen on driving E400's when I'm literally in Trident land but wouldn't mind doing a 296 which would be even better if I got to drive an E200MMC as the 499 seems like a complicated route and that's before hail and ride comes into it |
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Post by VPL630 on Jan 23, 2016 19:15:07 GMT
I did also get the chance to drive a few TAS's first being 17978 which was an absolute riot and a great performer but after driving another 2 short ones they do feel like they could topple over when loaded and if you were going at some speed into a corner, just thankful I only had it for a rounder when it was quite as theses are anything but suited to a route with loading like the 86  Stagecoach London 17978 LX53 KAE Route 86 by David McKay, on Flickr and another batch of TA's ticked off are the 55 reg which are great, they have very minor differences in the cab to earlier models but other than that a bog standard TA  Stagecoach London 18475 LX55 ERY by David McKay, on Flickr Something I hope would happen |
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Post by VPL630 on Jan 23, 2016 19:30:44 GMT
The 247 is a route that I don't think I could get bored off, it can be so busy at times, bendy buses would be idea yet others you can carry thin air for most of the journey, There is a big hill and a fast section, a route with a view well compared to most other TFL bus routes, the running time is great even better that it works off headway when you have a quick leader and last but not least I get to drive a TA, well a TAS in the case when I did the route, the only disappointment is the traffic in Collier row in the mornings but unlike in places like Clapton pond people have common sense in not blocking the roundabout and fighting for every little inch, The passengers all seemed like nice people as well and lots of "Thank you's" from people getting off  Stagecoach London 17994 LX53 KCC Route 247 by David McKay, on Flickr |
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Post by Alex on Jan 27, 2016 1:24:51 GMT
Glad to hear you're enjoying NS - and the post about the short wheelbase TA's is very interesting (as are all on this thread). Keep 'em coming Mr 10301 and happy driving!
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Post by capitalomnibus on Feb 9, 2016 9:58:41 GMT
See someone with LT316 yesterday trying to outrun a E400H City, lol. LT's not as fast as the HA's
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Post by Nathan on Feb 9, 2016 12:02:13 GMT
See someone with LT316 yesterday trying to outrun a E400H City, lol. LT's not as fast as the HA's How do LTs compare to other conventional buses in terms of speed? Does it hold enough power to carry it's elephant-like body faster than a Gemini/B5LH? |
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Post by vjaska on Feb 9, 2016 14:30:18 GMT
See someone with LT316 yesterday trying to outrun a E400H City, lol. LT's not as fast as the HA's How do LTs compare to other conventional buses in terms of speed? Does it hold enough power to carry it's elephant-like body faster than a Gemini/B5LH? It's not as fast as a hybrid MMC - I was on a LT and the MMC's acceleration was superior. I'd reckon it would beat a B5LH off the line because the Volvo B5LH but it depends on what mode the Volvo starts off in. |
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) 
, I'm sure he's probably ok really, of course I remember the good drivers too - as said on route 86 I'd had good experiences, and less so on the WH routes. I know how trying the public are as well, so it's not an easy situation with a 'one size fits all' method for every event. 
Still enjoying it so I won't complain.
the majority of drivers at NS are nice and friendly, willing to help and don't seem top bothered by anything 
I'll go back any time they want (Y)
