Brooklyn bus driver: ‘This job breaks your body down’
Roberto Martinez packed five bottles of protein shakes and ice tea before he left for work at 2 p.m. Tuesday. “I try to eat as healthy as a I can,” said Martinez. “Otherwise, when you sit down for too many hours, you can easily balloon.”
Martinez, a bus driver with 15 years’ experience in the city transit system, is able to choose his bus routes. On Tuesday, he drove the B11 bus in Brooklyn for an eight-hour shift, ending at midnight.
Before beginning his route, Martinez must first report to the depot and check in with his supervisor to make sure he’s wearing his uniform and ID and is ready for duty. Martinez chatted with everyone he met on his way.
“Most of the employees respect and like me because I don’t fake,” said Martinez. “I can help my coworkers.”
Though it was 87 degrees outside, Martinez insisted on walking 16 blocks from the depot to the beginning of his bus route. His last stop is a food market, where he bought a gallon of water. “I sometimes get a fruit smoothie as well,” he said, “you know, to flush out the toxins.
“This job breaks your body down. People think that we just sit down all day,” said Martinez,” adding that drivers have to “work with our minds” to deal with everything from scooters to the mayor’s Vision Zero safety requirements.
The B11 covers a route from Brooklyn College on Flatbush Avenue to Sunset Park. It gathers a diverse group of passengers: Hasidic Jews, Mexicans, Chinese, Indians and others.
At around 10 p.m., Martinez’s B11 was hitting its night peak as people got off from their late shifts of work. A middle-aged man wearing Hasidic clothing boarded and tried to figure out how to pay his fare.
“This is your first time using the bus? OK, you apparently do not speak English,” Martinez said as he attempted to explain the payment rules.
Two Hasidic children boarded on the next stop.
“You two explain the $2.75 fare for him,” Martinez said to the kids, who helped him pay the right amount.
About an hour later, a man boarded, carrying bags of groceries, talking to himself but not paying his fare. After around two minutes, the man began to yell at Martinez: “Please let me out! Let me out!”
Martinez did so at the next stop, and he later explained that he’s seen this passenger before. “That man never paid a single fare. Never!” he said, “He knows what he is doing.”
Each time Martinez finishes a route, he takes a few moments to recover. “It is not strictly a break,” he explained. “Sometimes I get three minutes, sometimes half an hour. It is all subject to the traffic.”
“I sometimes do push-ups or take a snooze,” he said with a grin. “I have to take care of myself.”
There are risks in the job. “We deal with the public in a much more vulnerable situation than other transit workers,” he said. He pointed at the protective partition on his right side: “That partition is a joke,” he said, noting that passengers “can still spit at you. It’s more like the transit authority said we did something.”
Martinez is already planning his retirement. “I will be 55 in five years,” he said, “I want to run for the next union election at 2021, not because I don’t like work as a bus operator. I just want to better serve the members.”
What’s his favorite part of the job? “My coworkers are an extension of my family,” he said. “Also, it is well-paid job. I make $100,000 a year on average.”
