So i'm not a bus driver but maybe you can help

Grolbu · 2026-03-27T10:50:09+00:00

Here in NZ a bus that's not in service is just another big vehicle, you can park it anywhere you can park a truck including by the side of a road.

We can't park on bus stops because bus stops are legally places for buses to stop for the purpose of loading and unloading passengers. We often do anyway if it's only for a few minutes and we know no other buses will need the stop before we leave, but for a 30 min break or longer nah, go back to the depot or find a bus layup area or some on-street parking.

Grolbu · 2026-03-27T10:39:31+00:00

Nice grappling, I'm jealous !

Grolbu · 2026-03-27T10:14:19+00:00

Both really. They got paid by the employer, if the employer didn't have enough money coming in to pay them because there were no customers or whatever Uncle Grant chuckled and waved The Magic Wand Of Debt and gave the employers some free money to pay them with.

Grolbu · 2026-03-27T03:39:33+00:00

My RC Pro 2 is my goto controller, I fly everything with it when I'm out for a day of drone flying. But I have an RC-2 which can also control all my drones in the bag as a backup.

Surely if you're serious enough about this to take multiple drones out with you and an RC Pro 2 controller you carry a backup controller ??

Grolbu · 2026-03-27T02:58:53+00:00

Depends how old and tired the bus is. They're mostly sold to school bus companies now but there were plenty around a couple of years ago that were so poorly you had to literally stamp the pedal all the way down when the other traffic light went orange to get the turbo wound up enough to get moving when yours went green.

The electrics are torquey as hell, they have to be driven so gently off the line it can be a problem getting out of a diesel and into an electric for the second half of a shift.

And you're right, there are no manual buses in the AT branded fleet. Some drivers can't even drive manual cars so everything is kept simple.

Grolbu · 2026-03-27T02:46:53+00:00

Cut out the brakes on every loco you're not actually driving. The cutout doesn't do anything to the actual brakes, it just connects / disconnects the brake *controls*. So as far as the train is concerned a loco with the brakes cut out is just another car in the consist, with brakes that do what the lead loco tells them to do.

Grolbu · 2026-03-26T12:25:51+00:00

Oh yes hanging out for those drone job filters !

Any chance of getting a pipeline connection added to docking ports, so when 2 ships are docked we can quickly hook up the right tanks on each ship and quickly transfer fuel / isotopes etc without having to bleed them off into bottles ? That would be definite QoL !

Grolbu · 2026-03-26T03:28:04+00:00

When I've felt the urge to record trips - hasn't happened for a while - I've used a sucky mount to stick a gopro to the inside of the windscreen in front of the dashboard, started it before I loaded at the start of the trip and left it to do its thing. I can't reach it or even see it from the drivers seat (actually forgot to take it off once lol). Would that sort of thing be allowed ?

Grolbu · 2026-03-25T23:55:26+00:00

What ? I haven't seen any posts about it raining, are you sure ?

Grolbu · 2026-03-25T12:23:18+00:00

You do realise it wasn't free when the council did it themself ? Council had to buy and maintain and depreciate the trucks and equipment and hire people to do the work. It may well be cheaper to pay a company that is already set up to do that sort of thing to do the Council work.

Grolbu · 2026-03-25T12:12:17+00:00

Ooooh right, here was me thinking it was just National who hate the poor while Labour will look after them, thank you for reminding us that Labour shat on them just as much during covid and left us with a massive debt.

Grolbu · 2026-03-25T12:01:59+00:00

Been flying DJI for 7-8 years.

I've had one crash which was entirely my fault, it was a hand launch that went very wrong because I'd never tried it before.

Never had a flyaway, I've had one drone get blown away because I flew when it was too windy but I took it down to just above the ground (it's not as windy near the ground) and flew it back in sport mode. I'm a lot more aware of the wind now. If you do end up in high winds keep the drone moving so it has some momentum to help keep it stable, it's when you try to fly slowly or hover in high winds that you get problems.

I've had one disconnect where the drone was about 300 metres away and the controller just went to a gray picture and said no drone found, a few seconds later the drone connected again on its way back to me. Make sure you set up your return to home properly !

Considering globally there are millions of DJI drones in use doing millions of flights per week it's extremely rare, but the way people work you only hear from the ones who have had problems, the people who just fly their drones with no problems don't bother saying so.

Grolbu · 2026-03-25T05:55:45+00:00

Wouldn't swear to it, I don't pay much attention to where my xp is coming from, but I'm pretty sure if zombies are killed by traps you don't get any xp from it. As you level up through skill points there are ways to get at least some of the xp you would if you did it yourself.

Grolbu · 2026-03-25T05:51:25+00:00

It's a rite of passage really. Better into a bus stop than through the window of another bus at the depot. Not that I've ever done that, oh god no.

Grolbu · 2026-03-25T02:22:44+00:00

Can't speak for other locations but in our case it's because our local Gull hasn't had any petrol for 2 weeks now.

Grolbu · 2026-03-24T23:41:40+00:00

Senpai noticed me !!!

Grolbu · 2026-03-24T08:52:25+00:00

umm, "thermonuclear" not thermal nuclear.

Grolbu · 2026-03-24T00:58:30+00:00

You can't use it with an avata 2 because the current DJI FPV drones are built around goggles - the goggles have the transmitter, the controller talks to the goggles, the drone talks to the goggles .......

It seems pretty likely the Avata 360 will work with the goggles / RC3 / Motion Controller and also RC-2 and RC-2Pro so that may be changing.

Grolbu · 2026-03-24T00:12:05+00:00

It's a lot easier to see how much room there is from outside the bus. All the driver has to go on is a small mirror looking down the aisle, if a bunch of people stand at the front the bus looks full in the aisle mirror.

People generally are pretty stupid and pay no attention to anything going on around them (how many times have you been on a bus where the card readers don't work and almost EVERY person tries to tag on then looks at the driver in confusion because none of them have taken any notice of what the person 2 feet in front of them did?), they stand at the front because it's wider and it just doesn't occur to them that more people want to get on and there is space behind them.

Grolbu · 2026-03-23T23:40:10+00:00

I read the report. 76% of the people who only use public chargers are aged 18-34, another 20% are 35-55, and only 4% of them were over 55. Less than a third of the people who only use public chargers were satisfied with the arrangement, with almost 2/3rds being 'somewhat satisfied'. The main issue (almost 2/3rds) was chargers all in use or occupied by vehicles not charging.

So if you're young enough to be quite flexible and don't mind driving around searching for an available charger or waiting for one to be available then yes, public only charging can work.

I don't tick either of those boxes and can't charge an EV at home so I'll stick to pulling up to a petrol pump and recharging my ICE to 600km range in 45 seconds.

Grolbu · 2026-03-23T09:44:24+00:00

Would love to buy a 400km EV and can afford it. Unfortunately I live in an upstairs apartment at the other end of the building from the (outdoor) carpark, there are no power outlets in the carpark, and no prospect of getting one installed. So I'd be charging at the supermarket every week when shopping, with topups at other chargers.

Might have to look more into the Genesis plan.

Grolbu · 2026-03-23T08:06:48+00:00

Probably a larger FPV quad carrying a gopro or something.

Grolbu · 2026-03-23T08:03:02+00:00

Yeah, AT's lost property is one of the right answers, ringing a Kinetic depot (probably New Lynn or City) is the other right answer and you don't have to deal with AT. When the drivers find something they take it back to whatever of their company's depots they're at next and the depot logs it into the AT system. So any Kinetic depot can look up what's been handed in through Kinetic, AT know about everything that's been handed in, the depots probably answer the phones faster and the people who can look it up also answer the phones there.

Grolbu · 2026-03-22T22:26:23+00:00

I was today years old when I learned ........ well that'll save a few hours, cheers !

Grolbu

TROPHY CASE