Today was another good, fun day. Right away, we drove over to the bus lot and traded our usual training bus for one of the transit coaches. We somehow managed to pick a bus from the lot with the dirtiest windows in the world and mirrors that were stuck. We spent about 5 minutes washing the windows on the outside before we realized that it was the inside that was truly dirty. I don’t know how someone drives that bus on a daily basis. It was nasty.

It also rode horribly on the road. Granted, the transit coaches that I’ve driven before had air-ride seats and air suspensions. This bus had neither. The driver’s seat was fixed-height (yuck), and it had a traditional leaf spring/shock absorber suspension. I did, however, get to take the bus by McDonald’s and park it in the lot so we could go grab breakfast. I sure do love buying food while driving in large vehicles.

After that, we drove over to the bus lot, then switched over to the other trainee driving. She drove around for a couple of hours, then we headed back to the bus lot to swap the transit coach out for yet another bus. This time, we got what my instructor calls the “Cadillac buses”. It was a Thomas/Freightliner bus, and it was by far the best bus I’ve driven so far. I was still getting situated in the seat, and my instructor had already started making fun of me. “Mike’s having fun with this bus.”

And I was. It had the nicest air-ride seat of any of the school buses I’ve driven so far. And it just rode so pleasantly on the road. The driver’s platform was elevated a few inches, and that made me happier. Plus, the instrument panel was just so much nicer. There was even a panel dimmer, which I haven’t seen on any of the other buses so far. It even had a cigarette lighter socket, which just amused the hell out of me. And the pedal feel was nothing short of divine. If it hadn’t been for the horrendous front-end shimmy that it had, I would have been in heaven. I would say that the “Cadillac bus” designation is well-deserved.