Richard Bastedo

For 16&1/2 years (1977 through 1993) yr fthfl srvnt drove transit bus for Regional Transit Service (RTS), supplier of transit-bus service in Rochester, NY and environs.
RTS is a public company, supposedly nonprofit, funded by the taxpayer.
My stroke ended it. I recovered fairly well, but retired on disability.
The job was supposed to be temporary, but paid pretty well, so I stayed with it.
Part of my joy was getting so I could safely operate large vehicles.
Over time I made many friends, and all were class acts.
Even those who weren’t had to be somewhat class. To keep your job at Transit you had to —1) show up, —2) not hit anything, and —3) keep your hands outta the farebox.
That second rule was hard to maintain. The road is full of grannies and NASCAR wannabees. “Oh Dora, look. A bus. PULL OUT! PULL OUT!”
The first rule was up against our clientele, who could be rancorous and cantankerous. We bus-drivers had a fourth rule, secret from management: “Don’t get shot!”
I made it a point to pick rural Park-and-Rides to minimize exposure to thugs.
One of my friends was bus-driver Richard Bastedo.
I Google-imaged him hoping to get a hit; he won the national Bus-Roadeo once.
What I got were 89 bazilyun hits for Alexandra Bastedo, a British movie-star and sexpot, who apparently loved to bare most of her chest.
23 years after retiring, I still have bus-dreams.
This morning’s had me following 832-bus onto University Ave. at Winton Road toward the city.

A fishbowl; called that because its giant windshield looked like a fishbowl. (Not RTS.)

A Flxible-flyer (not RTS, and not a city-bus; it has air-conditioning).

832 was an ancient soft-seater fishbowl, one of our first Park-and-Ride buses. It was white, and “832” is not correct — ours were 1000s.
It was in excellent shape, well maintained, probably with a new motor and tranny.
I pulled out to pass, and Bastedo was driving.
Many of our buses were junk.
“Why are they sending this thing out into the boonies? Cross your fingers, people; hope we don’t cripple.”
I once rode a bus as a passenger, and it sounded like the transmission was gonna come through the floor!
I knew it was a dream, because Bastedo died not loo long ago.
My stroke was somewhat fortunate, as I was tiring of the job.
Same-old, same-old. Especially the clientele.

A General Motors RTS-model bus (not Transit).

A Regional Transit M.A.N. articulated — it bends in the middle. (Photo by BobbaLew.)

And post-stroke I joined the Messenger newspaper in Canandaigua, best job I ever had.
The fishbowls are long-gone too, as are the Flxible-flyers, the buses I started with.
Even the last buses I drove, the 7s, 8s, and 9s, the “starships,” GM’s RTS-model, are gone — as are the buses I enjoyed driving most, our first artics, the 300s.
#309 is the bus I actually drove that morning, 2105-block, a Park-and-Ride on the 2100 line in from Fairport.
The starships were the best styling GM ever did.

• “Park-and-Rides” were trips from suburban or rural end-points, usually through Park-and-Ride parking-lots, where passengers would park their cars, for a bus-ride to work in Rochester.
• “Tranny” is the transmission on a motor-vehicle.