July 2, 2009

I am going to try to describe what a day as a coach driver would be like. Realize that every day is different, so it really is not possible to give an example of what a typical day is like, simply because there is no such thing. I was looking through old log books, and found one particularly interesting day, when we had no ship in port. It was July 2, just over two months ago.

Here is what my schedule looked like:

James O. AMEX(35W) AM Portage d17:00(2W) a17:09(21A)

So, what does that translate to? It is quite simple really. AMEX means AM McKinley Explorer, or morning rail. The 35W after it means I will be picking up 35 people at the Westmark Hotel, who will be getting on the train.

AM Portage is the name of a tour. We run a Portage Lake Cruise Tour every day, with departures at 9:00am and noon. The 9:00am departure is known as AM Portage. It is about a seven hour tour, so I would have known I would be back at or just after 4:00pm.

d17:00(2W) might not be so obvious. It means I have an airport shuttle, which departs at 5:00pm, with two passengers boarding at the Westmark.

a17:09(21A) actually has to do with the airport as well. It means there is a plane arriving at 5:09pm, with 21 of our passengers on board, which are going to all of the downtown hotels. I would meet these people at the airport, and run them to their hotels downtown. Once I complete this assignment, I would be finished with the assignments dispatched to me, and I would be expected to radio into dispatch to see if they had anything else for me to do.

Here is how the day actually went:

6:00am, Anchorage, AK

Arrive at the coach yard on Interstate Circle, begin the pretrip inspection.

6:30am

Depart the coach yard, head downtown and stage on railroad hill, E St., until the Westmark is ready to have me pull up to the curb and begin loading.

6:45am

Arrive at railroad hill, begin staging.

7:15am

Westmark calls me to their curb. Depart railroad hill and head over there. It takes just a couple minutes to get there even if every light is red. Once there I get in position on their curb and begin boarding passengers. Once they are all aboard, I depart the Westmark by 7:30am.

7:30am

Arrive at the Alaska Railroad depot. I check in with 924, Miss Ellie, our rail dispatcher to find out where in the train the rail car is, and if there is space available for me to pull up. She gives me information via the radio, and I pull up to the rail car as soon as possible. I disembark my 35 passengers, and they board the train to go to Denali. Miss Ellie is our morning dispatcher, and always does rail. She is 86 years old but she has more energy than a lot of the drivers. Everybody loves her.

8:00am

Once everyone is off the coach, I do a check and cleanup of the interior. This gets my coach ready for the next group, and lets me find any lost items which I can put on the train immediatly. If they get on the train, the chances of the owner getting them back is high. I take a few minutes to do this, putting foot rests and seat backs up, and arm rests down. I also pick up trash, which that early in the morning is about 85% coffee cups. I check the overhead luggage bins for jackets, hats, or possibly bags left behind. Once I have finished this sweep of the coach, I leave the rail yard and go back to railroad hill to stage for my Portage Tour.

8:15am

I left my coach on the hill and I went to a nearby cafe to get myself some breakfast.

8:45am

I returned to the coach and pulled it around to the Hilton curb to pick up the passengers for the Portage Glacier Tour. I also had a few to pick up at the Westmark.

9:00am

I departed from the Westmark after picking up guests there too, and then I headed out of Anchorage. I began driving south on the Seward Highway, along Turnagain Arm.

10:30am, Portage, AK

Arrive in Portage, at the terminal for the M/V Ptarmigan, where we board the boat and go on the glacier cruise. I parked the coach and shut it down for this, so I could join my seven passengers on the boat.

11:30am

Arrive again at the boat terminal. The cruise typically lasts an hour, and was operating right on time. We did get to see a few spectacular calves while we were out on the lake. We all got back on the coach and left the boat terminal.

11:45am

Arrive at the Begich, Boggs Visitors' Center, on Portage Lake. We spend a bit of time both here and at the Portage Glacier Daylodge. Lunch was at the daylodge, and since I had guests, however few, my lunch was free.

1:45pm

Depart the daylodge and the visitors' center, and begin heading north again. We returned to the Seward Highway and followed Turnagain Arm back towards Anchorage.

2:15pm, Girdwood, AK

Arrive at the Alyseka Resort, and drop off the guests at the tram. Once they have disembarked, I take the coach to a parking area and then go up the tram myself.

3:15pm

Depart Alyeska, and head back to Anchorage. Once in town I drop off the guests at the hotels where they boarded, and then continue on to other assignments.

4:25pm, Anchorage, AK

Arrive at the Hilton, and disembark the guests that boarded there.

4:30pm

Arrive at the Westmark and disembark the guests that boarded there. I stayed on the curb there since I was shuttling two people to the airport at 5:00pm from that hotel.

5:00pm

Depart the Westmark with two passengers aboard, heading to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.

5:20pm

Arrive at the airport, and drop off the passengers at the terminal they are flying from. From there I pull around to the C Concourse where I park the coach until I am needed to pick up guests from the 5:09pm arrival. Once they have collected their luggage and themselves, I am called up to the loading area and we board.

5:30pm

Pull up through the security checkpoint and to the loading area. It takes just a minute to load everyone since they had been grouped together inside the airport by the employees there. As soon as everyone and their luggage is on board, I back out of the loading area and head downtown.

5:50pm

Arrive at the Captain Cook Hotel and let a few people off there, with their luggage being given to the bell man.

5:55pm

Arrive at the Hilton Hotel, letting a few more off there, and again, giving the luggage to the bell man to bring to the rooms.

6:00pm

Arrive at the Westmark Hotel and let the remainder of my 21 guests off, and just as before, passing their luggage off to the bell man to deliver to the rooms. At this point I am empty and finished with my dispatched assignments, so I radio dispatch to see what is next. They tell me I am done for the day, so I leave the Westmark for the coach yard.

6:15pm

Arrive at the Interstate Circle yard. Conduct my post trip inspection and figure out what my hours of service look like for the next day. Finish up the paperwork, and leave by 6:30pm.