I like the interesting drivers room debate from last week. Could be a great source for discussions on here. I am mainly here for bus content I suppose but love the variety. I also enjoyed the walk you did while on holiday. Keep up the great content. Been a lot of thought provoking content lately

9.5 hours isnt long. Go be a truck driver thats long hours

Capital punishment is a terrible idea, you never teach people not to do wrong by doing wrong to them

Government sponsored murder is not acceptable.

They can keep building houses they can build more prisons

Happy birthday 🎂

Coffee?? Should be champers on your 50th. :) 1:11 1:16

Routines are a very complicated one personally, until 6 years ago I used to go into anger when plans were suddenly changed. However, this has happened many times so luckily, I've got used to it but it wasn't easy. Ever year I had to see the same people at the same time otherwise I couldn't cope but it changed thank god.

I saw you driving on the number 5 bus service

Just had to Google Neurodivergent .. You've always been a good human that's all that matters to me

I've struggled with heaps of diagnoses, PTSD insomnia, to name a few and theres only one way out of all of this pain. Have you tried Jesus Christ? He delivered me from all of my mental health issues. Hes reall and he wants a relationship with you because he loves you. He lives you so much he made me send this message to you. Look I know that people say hes not for me or I've tried religion and didnt like it but please believe me when I say if you ask him to take away your pain he will. Please just forget religion forget church and tey Jesus Christ. Please I honestly wouldnt be alive today if it wasnt for him. Please consider it I wouldnt write this to you if I didnt think it was true. Please just dont knock it before you try it. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you might have on how to go forward❤☦

Yeah stagecoach tried to prevent it… I didn’t realise they tried for the whole of the country though, I was under the impression it was for greater Manchester as the Mayor had been pushing for this for years. What it’s meant now is that Metroline with no knowledge of Manchester and the surrounding areas have come in and will run around 40% of greater Manchesters bus network.

U seem ok to me.try not to overthink things . N theres a women out there for u 100 percent will happen for u .

sadly there is no evidence of neurodivergent or typical - these are attempts to reframe DSM disorders that lack all scientific validity and reliability - so many resources to mention but see psychiatrist Sami Timimi's book Insane Medicine -free version over at mad in America 'masking' is completely normal and most everyone does it and we often have comfort zones. Neurobabble.

I recommend wearing sunglasses more, you rock them and can make social situations easier.

Darren, Blunt, Honesty, speaking out aloud can be a good thing, but the way the people are today, Truth often hurts, Don't change who you are.

I'm so pleased you're honest with this mine are/were: hair rubbing on my neck (like tags), crowds (used to be), mushy food, sticky or messy hands, touch used to be an issue but train noises too for some reason. You're examples are very similar 😭 so thanks for uploading this.

Thats interesting mate. But i am sure not everyone within the ASD spectrum has the same issue with tardiness. They may be more bothered by other people being late rather than themselves, or not at all. The constant watching of the clock could be interpreted more on the OCD or anxiety side of things.

Ok, so here's my share of senses working overtime: Above all I HATE the Messenger notification sound. That bell drills into my right ear. Which is a bit odd: we have a bell sound before every bus stop announcement and I don't give an F about it, or my grandparents have an old clock and I enjoy the reverb when it strikes the hours. That Messenger sound must have some weird frequency I guess. I also highly dislike when people talk loudly, constantly or with a monotonous voice. Same thing with sounds coming from their phones, whether it's music, videos or voices - not only are they tiring and distracting, sometimes I mistake them for a problem with a bus. Most people cooperate when I ask them to be quieter, but some begin to act like it was you who was making the problems and not them. Had a passenger like that just yesterday... Not to mention whistling drive belts, faulty AC blowers, hissing seat suspension, rattling cabs, slamming doors, same error repeating every few seconds, boots on wet floor, falling bags etc. I feel a bit nervous when there's a person standing next to the cab, unless it's a fellow bus driver or a kid fascinated with the drive. But what makes me feel really weird is when there's someone standing near the front wheels and staring in my direction (or so I think). I don't like when my hands catch the smell of cigarretes from the steering wheel and I don't like touching the dashboard cleaned with Plak or similar liquids. Black pen makes me feel a bit dizzy. As a kid I didn't like formal clothes, but luckily it has changed. I'm a picky eater in general and in particular I'm at war with coconut, it takes me a lot of effort to eat a tomato and I don't fancy combining fish with potato (gonna starve if I ever visit the UK xD).

Olá. Tudo bem? Também sou motorista de ônibus e neurodivergente. Grande abraço desde Portugal!

I'm exactly the same, can't stand being late if I'm running dead to depot after my trip or its not my hand over trip I don't mind being late the minute I've got to hand over I get this anxiety and I start feeling stress as I don't want to make that driver late, I worry if they're going to be annoyed and I even go to the extent of fearing I'll be known as a "late driver" (not that this matters, we're all there to do the same job and we all experience different issues on trips). I haven't found a way to cope with this yet and it's draining... But I like the job thats what keeps me going I guess.

Great update 👍, if you start at 5am you must be up 3.30am or 4am, bed by 8pm ish, you're a professional in your uniform that flicks a different switch helps you cope 💪you're not weard, you care that's all what you like when in work late or not doing your route at all, take care Drive 👍

Good for you mate. You are doing what is right for you and that is what matters.

Looks a far ole commute too work ? But am sure easier with ya car? My commute to bus depot approx 12m each way about 30/40m ish each way but maybe staying same company but swapping to nearer depot

Do you put the tachograph unit to "OUT" out of scope when operating the bus on GB or NI domestic hours

From a fellow person with autism - who also likes transport, I think it would be great to hear about neurodiversity from your perspective. I was diagnosed at age 8, so to hear from someone diagnosed later would be interesting. Did you always suspect? What made you look into it? Is your career and neurodiversity related? I know a lot of this will be personal. Please keep up the great work and your day by day event updates. :-)

Great update was there passengers on over heating bus 😉and contacts how do you find them, then the sun glasses prescribed or regular normal lense 🤓, how will the autism affect your bus licence 🤔remember be careful out there 👍

are there going to be new buses coming to the Brighton & Hove buses routes

Great start to a shift😂 you were right to call the fire brigade because at one if my local depots 3 E400 hybrids caught fire within a year. Those 800 series buses have replaced the 6's Volvos - awful things those streetdecks. You should definitely do content on neurodiversity imo, 8 years ago I got diagnosed with high functioning asd so it's nice to see someone open up👍

what a fantastic explanation I have been trying for many years to explain just what the bus drivers intuition or sixth sense is and how it works and you my friend have nailed it flat, it also grows with experience and saved me many times from no end of (misshapenness,) is this really a word! well it fits so Im going with it, I once did service work for stagecoach in south wales but now got out of the rat race and only do school contracts for a local company, stay safe my friend and keep these vlogs coming Im a big fan,

Hey Darren, Before I clicked on the video, I looked at views, it said 22, yet when video came on, only said 10 views, lol

Hi Darren. Here in West Yorkshire, all of our Bus services will come back under control of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority from 2027. At the moment, we have a varied number of operators, with the big 3 been Arriva, First & Transdev, along with a few smaller independent operators. From 2027, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority will take ownership of all large depots, and operators will have to bid in batches to operate routes from those depots. The authority will decide where the routes serve, responsibility for timetables and will also decide future fleet specifications and other things such as maintenance and cleaning standards. It’s highly possible we may see new operators such as Stagecoach or Go-Ahead bidding to operate some of the routes meaning First and Arriva’s current monopoly will likely be reduced. All the buses will also be painted into one standard colour with one brand name (a pink livery is rumoured but not confirmed). Out network is currently in a poor state, and Arriva in particular have let the standards slip over the past few years. Long term I think the new franchising will be a good thing for our area, as the West Yorkshire zone covers a large area which is in need of improvement. I wonder if Sussex would follow a similar model in future with a generic brand perhaps covering East and West Sussex, and operators such as Go-Ahead and Stagecoach bidding to operate depots such as Conway Street or Eastbourne etc.

Councils up and down the country are in a terrible state because of one thing and one thing only. FOURTEEN YEARS of tory govts. They decimated the councils budgets to fund tax breaks for the millionaires. Want to know why so many councils have had to stop 'paying for searts on the privatised buses'... ask your local tory councillor

The state cannot run anything. And running a bus service is the last thing they are capable of. Does anyone remember when it took 3-6 months for the GPO to install a phone line?

Its very interesting on hearing your views; Now I am an Ex Bus person; Working during the tenure of the NBC National Bus Company in the 1970s & 80s; It was state owned and Nationalised; Back in the day many many towns and cities had their own local run services; Many councils operated their own services' There were many many small independent services which operated a few services, but on the whole things seemed to run pretty well; Now almost 40 years since deregulation in 1986; Things are dire; There are many areas without any Buses at all; I live in the N E England; There are several towns that have lost their link to the regions largest city; For many years Hartlepool & Darlington had regular services to Newcastle; But for several years now they have been without that link; In and around Stockton & Middlesbrough local villages within 6 -10 mile of these two towns don't even have a bus service; There is a good network in the larger towns and cities; But the smaller towns and many seaside towns have little or no service after 6pm; That isn't in the public interest because these places still need services in the evening and night; And this dire state of bus services is replicated throughout the UK; Where the railway does not run the Bus MUST; And we need many Limited Stop inter town services; Much more " Village link services; And most important; Bus services serving local Hospitals; Labour might well redeem themselves if they left the concessionary Bus passes alone; And worked on improving Transport;

If starmer anything to do with it there won't be no buses is already taken away the elderly's winter fuel payment he is now going to take away their bus passes and I was going to get rid of the buses phone they can't get out of their own town what evil bastard is he next shall we stopping the pensions and sending 93 year old people back to work

Here in Leicester city, the clowncil subsidies a handful of services. Nothing wrong with renationalising the buses, or reregulating them, there is a bus every 7 minutes during the day here, Sunday evening it is one an hour.

I'm not sure why KZbin recommended your video to me. I'm in North America. You are very wise and appreciated your analysis (although I had no background on UK busses). You engaged my attention for close to 25 mins on a subject I had no background, and in a country I haven't visited close to 10 years.

For me in the Cotswolds, I would do the 78 from Winson into Cirencester, its an unbelievably quiet run and it only operates on Wednesdays and Fridays. Mainly country roads but its just so picturesque and scenic. Not many passengers either but its always the same friendly faces, they always like to have a natter whilst I take them into town

Where I live in Devon the majority of our bus services are also run by Stagecoach, who have 4 depots - Barnstaple, Exeter, Torquay and Plymouth. Stagecoach recently announced that following the legislation you speak of, in Devon they are actually planning to expand its network across the county, investing in new buses and drivers, and that could well be replicated in most if not all areas of the country that they operate in. Stagecoach Devon also has several routes that are shared by depots, like route 2 from Exeter to Newton Abbot (Exeter and Torquay depots), route 5B from Exeter to Barnstaple (Exeter and Barnstaple depots) and route Gold from Paignton to Plymouth (Torquay and Plymouth depots). This may well be (at least partly) because Devon is England’s 2nd biggest county after North Yorkshire, but also because of the high passenger uptake on Devon’s buses. I also think that as more people nationally become more environmentally conscious, we will start to use public transport more often rather than drive resulting in the need for more buses, trains etc, to provide a frequent link between cities, towns and villages.

Looking well Darren, must be time off that place, lol

Same in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿, Transport for Wales, very quiet at the moment, from what I understand is wanting to take back control of buses, what may happen is driver's will be laid off and offered new jobs or no job's under new terms and conditions 🤔, I've noticed most routes are now 1 an hour, we used to have 5 an hour, my dad was a fitter on the buses, took redundancy in 83/84 🤷, take care out there 🤞, nice area to think 🤔

I may have issues with Labour from the last few decades however, nationalising transport is long overdue so good on them for that.

Hi Darren, hope all's well! I was really interested to hear your take on this, especially that B&H would eventually go into public hands. I thought B&H would be one of the few that would remain privately-run given the quality of the service is exceptionally good outside London, I reckon the council would see taking control as unnecessary because virtually all of the city has a 'turn up and go' service within 10 minutes or walk less - I'd consider this to be a wait of less than 10 minutes more than half of the time. Most of the buses here are reasonably modern and well-specced (some very) and the ticketing system is simple and I think very good value for money, particularly for students and children. It also helps that you can get on the Compass and Big Lemon routes within city limits with normal citysavers, as in many other places you'll be cut off from massive parts of town because you live in 'Arriva territory' and that area is served by First for example. This makes using Brighton & Hove's bus network virtually seemless like London, if you don't require a specialised ticket you can not understand the fare system at all, look at Google Maps to find the right stop/bus and just tap and go. I'd say 90% of the time during the day there will be a route to go where you need and a bus coming within a reasonable amount of time. Perhaps the only benefit we could get from council control is more subsidy for night routes as these are really useful for a small number of people and therefore mostly unprofitable - I would love to see the N21 back! I used to live in Leicester until recently, and you can really see where they're coming from there and in other cities, many services stop at 6pm on the weekends and 'regular' routes are usually half hourly which is nobody's 'turn up and go' really. Lots of the buses were tired 2000s plates until very recently when the council actually announced its own initiative to modernise, tickets were complicated and operator-specific and bus stops were neglected so didn't provide clear route/time information. It felt like the private operators weren't really invested in the city and just did whatever turned the biggest profit, and I think B&H being part of Go-Ahead is a plus, because their services tend to be better - there are two particular big operators (not Go) that I really feel never seem to care about service quality who I won't name, but one of them did recently create what I see as very unhelpful competition to B&H recently if that gives a clue! That's also the case across much of the UK and rural/small town bus travel really isn't in a fit state, so I see where the government were coming from. Still as you say, besides the legislation we'll have to wait on the specifics!

if someone did that at Brighton & Hove buses they would be sacked for that

I hope everyone was ok, there seems to be accidents everyday. What do you think of a garage swap temporarily? One route/s I think you'd love to drive are the Coaster routes 12/12A/12X

Hope you were OK

Good video bro,live in lancing

You were very lucky to miss 2 demonstrations! 🤪