No uniform.
Jeans and a dark jacket.
The biker was cleaning tools.
He looked up.
“Bus driver.”
She nodded.
“Biker.”
He smiled slightly.
“You need a motorcycle?”
“No.”
“Then you’re in the wrong place.”
She held a folder.
“I need somebody who knows what this means.”
He looked at it.
“What?”
She placed three printed maintenance reports on the bench.
The biker did not touch them at first.
“How’d you get those?”
“Drivers can print defect reports they submit.”
She pointed to the first.
Three weeks earlier.
Different bus.
STEERING PULLS RIGHT UNDER BRAKING.
Closed the same day.
NO DEFECT FOUND.
Second report.
Another driver.
AIR PRESSURE DROPS AFTER SHUTDOWN.
Closed.
MONITORED. WITHIN LIMITS.
Third.
Bus 42.
LEFT REAR VIBRATION. INTERMITTENT KNOCK.
Closed.
The biker looked at her.
“You think they’re ignoring repairs?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why bring them here?”
The driver tapped the signatures.
“Look at the mechanic numbers.”
Two different technician IDs.
One appeared twice.
The biker remembered the fleet technician at the school.
The absent mechanic.
“You checked the schedule?”
The driver nodded.
“One mechanic was on vacation for one of these.”
The biker leaned back.
“That doesn’t prove the problem wasn’t checked.”
“I know.”
“It proves the account was used.”
“Maybe.”
She nodded.
“That’s why I’m asking.”
He respected that.
She did not want a scandal.
She wanted an answer.
The biker read every line again.
“When did this start?”
She looked uncomfortable.
“Probably longer than I know.”
“Why?”
“Driver shortage.”
“Mechanic shortage.”
“Bus shortage.”
The district had grown.
Routes expanded.
Older buses stayed in rotation longer.
Replacement vehicles took time.
The fleet garage had lost several experienced mechanics in eighteen months.
Management pushed to keep route availability high.
None of that meant anyone intentionally sent unsafe buses onto the road.
But it created pressure.
The biker knew pressure.
Every fleet shop knew it.
A delivery company needed trucks moving.
A construction company needed equipment running.
A school district needed buses on routes.
The danger began when availability became the goal and inspection became the obstacle.
He tapped the defect report.
“Who decides whether a bus stays out?”
“Transportation.”
“Supervisor?”
“Usually.”
“The same one from Monday?”