he buses in wellington are a mix of diesels and electrics. the locals call the electrics “trolleys” referencing back to the days when they ran on rails. the #1 island bay line is electrified so many of my rides are on the trolleys.
the trolleys get their power from a pair of overhead lines. each trolley has 2 spring loaded arms that ride on the overhead power lines to provide the juice. not surprisingly on occasion the arms dislodge from the lines and the trolley comes to an abrupt stop. that happened to us on the way home tonight.
our bus driver was a 50 kg (110 lb) soccer mom with pony tails. she gets out of her seat, puts on a bright orange safety vest, pulls on a pair of heavy lineman gloves and steps out to set things right. she is now standing at the back of the bus with traffic flowing around her heaving on the ropes that connect to the power arms working to get them back on the lines. 5 minutes later of what looks like is hard work and she’s back behind the wheel and we’re on our way again.
i fully expect to have her out there with a jack and lug wrench if we get a flat. “no worries. i’ll have us on our way in again in a jiffy”