All the fun of the fare with bus queen Linda
Maria Croce meets the “wee cracker” who defied the odds to carve out a career behind the wheel – and never had a single bump
LINDA McNeish was so desperate to become a bus driver back in the 70s she’d offer to park the vehicles at the depot.
She started off as a conductor at the age of 18 but was so keen to get behind the wheel that when the buses returned she’d ask the drivers if she could have a go at parking them.
Linda, now 63, from Glasgow, who has just celebrated 45 years working for First Bus, was nicknamed “Gies a shot” because that’s the phrase she’d use to ask to have a go at driving.
She had to wait until she was 21 before she would be considered as a driver – but by then she was already proficient. And even though she was below the height restriction in place, she managed to land a job behind the wheel.
Linda said: “I used to get shots all the time in the yard. During the day if I saw them coming in I’d say, ‘Gies a shot!’ I wanted to guarantee a pass when I would eventually be assessed.
“I was 5ft 1in on my tiptoes but the height requirement was 5ft 3in as there wasn’t much adjustment on the seat. Now it’s a luxury, the seats go forward and back and pump up and you can have it any way you want it.”
Linda could reach the pedals, however, and began her driving career.
She was still something of a rarity, though, and was featured in the Daily Record in 1977 under the headline “A wee cracker on the 44 bus”. And last year, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon joined Linda to support First Group’s bid to tackle the imbalance of the number of women taking up a career in the industry.
Although Linda spent her days driving buses, she always preferred small cars.
“I had a wee mini when I passed my test, I didn’t like big cars,” she said. “I drove a big car in effect six or seven days a week. I didn’t need a big car. I really felt as if the bus was mine.”
She went on to become an instructor, then an examiner and now helps coordinate training for instructors.
When she started out behind the wheel, there was no power steering and conductors sold the tickets until the drivers took over that role in the 80s.
She’s seen many other changes over the years. And now First Glasgow – which is part of the group – has just rolled out two all-electric buses following funding from electricity distributor SP Energy Networks.
It means the city has come full circle back to fully electric transport on commercial routes for the first time since the electric trolley buses were decommissioned by Glasgow Corporation in May 1967. Older vehicles have also been refurbished to cut emissions.
When she became a driver, her conductor was male – making an unusual combination. But she said passengers would often praise her driving. She said: “There weren’t many women drivers back then, maybe four or five. I thought, ‘I need to be good here’. I have eight brothers as the youngest of 12 so I never had any problems being a female. And if you were good the passengers would always tell you. They’d say ‘You’re better than the men’. I just used to say, ‘That’s what I’m here to do’. It was all I wanted to do. Looking back it was just like that TV programme On the Buses.”
She’s proud she never had any scrapes in her whole career as a driver. Linda said: “I saw drivers having bumps and I thought that won’t happen to me. And as an instructor, I never had any bumps with trainees.”