BKS2U: Selwyn District mobile library bus

Description

NameSelwyn District mobile library bus Last edited by: Sarah Davy

DescriptionAnge Grigg was in the truck-driving and contracting business with her family, and so had a Class 2 licence that enabled her to drive heavy vehicles. In 2013 /2014 she started as a courier driver for Selwyn Libraries, but as she was one of the few who could drive the mobile library bus, she became a relief driver and would do the rounds of the schedule of stops across Selwyn taking a librarian with her. Through this, she learned to use the library system Workflows and was then able to do the trips on her own as she could issue and discharge books.

Initially she drove for 2.5 hours each morning for the courier run, then, over time, she was doing 30 hours a week driving the bus, and became a full-time mobile librarian.

The bus was a Hino model, 9 metres in length, with a truck engine and a generator underneath that had to be activated by a pull-cord (like a lawnmower) in order for the air conditioning/heating to run when the bus was static – it was difficult to operate and caused the bus to vibrate. Initially the bus was white, later it was painted blue. Its number plate was BKS2U, which is now used for the courier van.

The garage where it was originally stored was Rolleston Automotive, then moved to a Council yard in the Izone industrial park. A local mechanic repaired, serviced and fuelled it initially, then later on Ange fuelled it herself.

When you entered the bus, through a door halfway along the side, it was open all the way, with Adult Fiction as you went in. The left side led to the cockpit and there was an issue desk by the drivers seat. To the right was the children’s area and at the back, a red vinyl bench seat for children to read (and jump on!). The door was air operated, sometimes children got trapped inside when the door had been open and shut a lot and the air in the mechanism had reduced. There was a stairgate to prevent young children falling down the stairs.

The bus stopped along a pre-determined route throughout Selwyn, marked by signs giving the times that the bus would stop there. The service was popular at Arthur’s Pass, Prebbleton, Rakaia Huts, and at preschools, kindergartens and some schools, like Darfield Primary – the children there would come on the bus unsupervised in their lunch hour. Ange encouraged dogs to come on the bus – children would read to them in order to improve their reading confidence. The original driver was Anita – she had a dog called Barney, and there was a picture of him in the back window of the bus encouraging people to ‘come and see Barney’.

The service changed after a strategic review of the mobile library service. The bus was now dated, very cold in winter and very hot in summer. A refresh was needed. When the service ceased, Ange tried to remove all the signs advertising the stops, but there were some she physically could not remove. Ange got a new role as a courier as she enjoyed driving and interacting with people. The library bus was decommissioned in January 2019, and the ECV replaced the service, providing both books and public programmes across Selwyn.
Last edited by: Sarah Davy

Image