It was an interesting ride. We covered an area of South Phoenix from 56th to 7th Street. Places that have these 3 or 4 yard bins are churches, parks, and small apartment complexes. I saw some of the, shall we say, less glamorous parts of town. We came across overloaded bins filled with all kinds of items, bins with mattresses and furniture next to them, a dead cat (my driver had to call animal control), and a car parked in the fire lane blocking the bin (which the driver has to call in).
The driver has been driving for a while and enjoys his job. He likes working alone and working 4 ten-hour days. The driver is responsible for writing down mileage, and ensuring that he tips his load before it reaches its weight limit (or sometimes volume limit). He has to empty every bin and if he can't empty one for some reason, he has to call it in. He has to watch out for children, animals, and especially low hanging wires.
The truck is very loud and fairly bumpy. The smell wasn't too bad until we got out of the truck, and when we got to the landfill tipping floor to dump our load.
I'm glad that I get to spend so much time out in the field experiencing what goes on. Everyone I work with does ride-a-longs as well, which is useful since most of the decisions made downtown affect the drivers' day-to-day work.
I have the option to pick any department with the city of Santa Monica to do a ride along and I am debating about public works and transportation (they have their own bus line, the Big Blue Bus). I think reading about your experience might suffice as enough knowledge hah! We shall see! Sounds like it was an interesting day!
ReplyDeleteAlthough waking up super early doesn't sound overly exciting, I'm glad you enjoyed your ride-a-long overall. I've done a police ride-a-long but never a public works one, maybe I will have to ask my supervisor about that one.
ReplyDeleteHi Megan!
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you had the opportunity to go out in the field. I think that being able to see how things are done in the field gives you a better understanding on how a service works. It probably makes you think about certain things related to the service that otherwise you wouldn’t have even thought about it.