Flat-out through the flyover

—Perhaps five-six years into my 16&1/2 year career driving transit bus I had a morning Park-and-Ride out toward Avon.
Not all the way to Avon. Just short of it. I turned around in a plaza parking-lot at the intersection of Routes 15 and 5&20, the “White Horse.”
A full-scale statue of a white horse stood at the intersection.
It was early ‘80s, before we got our “bendables,” which had more passenger capacity.
I guess I was just an additional bus. A Park-and-Ride came in from Avon slightly before me.
He like me was driving a 400 series — less passengers than a bendable.
8-71 unturbocharged diesel V8 motor, with a three-speed over-the-road auto-tranny.
I guess they were pretty quick when we got ‘em, but they were starting to get woozy. The 400s arrived before I started bus-driving.
So I was taking some of the load off that first Avon Park-and-Ride.
I wasn’t in the timetable going out — he probably was.
What I did was deadhead out to the White Horse — no passengers — then pick up coming back toward Rochester.
As soon as I left “The Barns,” I would zoom down East Main Street to get onto the expressway toward Avon.
I-590, then I-390, then out 390 all the way to the Avon exit.
I-590 and I-390 have a massive interchange just south of Rochester. 390 goes to the west side of Rochester, and 590 to the east.
390 comes up from the south, and would go directly into Rochester, except Rochester residents in that area refused.
That interchange was massive. 590 to 390-south involves a high flyover over two levels of traffic: 390-north to 390-west, and also 390-west to 590.
From 590 I needed 390-south. Atop everything was that flyover.
I’d be driving in the dark. Up the flyover ramp from 590, then see if I could drive that flyover flat out: pedal-to-the-metal!
I always was tentative about it. It was the man’s equipment.
In the back of my head was Jack Garrity, Transit manager at that time, exhorting me to drive safe.
NO WAY am I takin’ the man’s equipment off that flyover.
Nine tons of steel crashing two levels below.
Sometimes it was icy, so I had to drive to gingerly.
Most of our 400s were weak by then, so with most I could do hammer-down.
But not 436.
That thing was a rocket.
I used to tell the bus-placer 436 was the one I’d steal. “By the time you guys noticed 436 was missing I’d be in North Carolina.”
No way was I drivin’ 436 flat-out through the flyover. We’da arced right off that flyover!
With passengers I wouldna tried flat-out even with our sickly 4s.
A 400 on the expressway was fun. Hammer-down, except that flyover was debatable.

• “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 or from work in Rochester.
• “5&20” is the main east-west road (a two-lane highway) through my area; State Route 5 and U.S. Route 20, both on the same road. 5&20 is just south of where I live. It used to be the main road across Western New York before the Thruway.
• “The Barns” are at 1372 East Main Street in Rochester, large sheds for storing buses inside. An operations-administration building was attached. We bus-drivers always said we were working out of “the Barns.”
• “Transit” is Regional Transit Service (RTS), the public transit-bus operator in Rochester, NY, where I drove bus 16&1/2 years (1977-1993).