Nov 2006
NYC 2006 Holiday Motorcoach Operator's Guide
New York City has finally published the 2006 Holiday Motorcoach Operator's Guide -- the official information for drop-offs, pick-ups, and parking in midtown Manhattan, New York City, between Thanksgiving and the end of the year. It's especially important if you're taking passengers to the Radio City Music Hall area. The link below is to a PDF file that you should print out and keep with you:

http://home.nyc.gov/html/dot/pdf/motorcoach2006.pdf

As in previous years, there have already been reports of NYC police misunderstanding and hassling drivers with the new regulations, so the better you know them, the better you can be prepared to defend yourself and help educate the police. Don't wait until you get to the city to read these.

I've had four trips to NYC the last two weeks, and have six more (a personal record!) next week, so I'll have a few opportunities to see how things are going. I'll try and keep you posted here on my experiences in NYC.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers! I'll be working on Thanksgiving Day once again this year, but it's okay -- it's a very pleasant trip to the Allenberry Playhouse in Boiling Springs, PA, for their annual Thanksgiving Day dinner and Christmas program. This is the third year in a row that I've done this trip, and I look forward to it. My wife will be along with me on the trip, so at least we'll be together even if I do have to work.
The Lights on the Empire State Building
Every time I have a trip to New York City (about twice a week this time of the year) I see the colored lights atop the Empire State Building and wonder what the significance of them is. Sometimes it's easy to guess, such as the red and green lights for Christmas. Others aren't so obvious. Well, tonight I finally remembered to look it up; here's a link to the official site with a listing of the current month's lighting schedule:

http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_lightingschedule.cfm

Starting today, they're red and green for Christmas. Now I'll know where to look in the future -- the tough part will be remembering to look it up BEFORE my trip so I can share it with the passengers!