Thursday, September 14, 2006
Bus, Taxi or Truck?
As I was driving to work this morning, I passed by a few big rigs and thought, “What is that like? To be the biggest thing on the road, but also the slowest?” This thought then morphed into, “What must it be like to drive for a living?” I can’t imagine putting up with big-city traffic day in and day out. Maybe it would depend on what you are driving.
Truck drivers (I’m talking freight trucks, not UPS) are able to set their own schedules, so long as they meet their destination deadlines. They can wait until traffic dies down before hitting the road. They can stop whenever they need to.
Conversely, bus drivers are stuck with their route schedule. Same route, same time, every day. You can’t go to the bathroom whenever you need to, you have to wait until the scheduled break time. You have to deal with lots of weirdos too, along with people with dumb questions and no exact change. The only positive I can see about driving a bus for a living verses other professional drivers is you have a regular schedule.
Taxi drivers get to see the whole city. They know where everything is (or at least they should). But they also get robbed a lot, stiffed for cab fare, and have their fair share of weirdos and dumb questions. Then there’s all the waiting. I can’t stand waiting and doing nothing. If I ever end up being a cab driver I’m definitely investing in a PSP or some kind of portable gaming device with a car charger.
In the end, which is more desireable? I think the freedom of driving a truck appeals quite a bit. I like the 9 to 5 of a set schedule, but compared to the crap you’d have to put up with in a bus or taxi, I’d rather stick to the solitary nature of truck-driving.
Which one would YOU drive for a living?
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Categories: • Thinking aloud