Table 2.
Illustrative quotes for each theme.
| No. | Quote | Sex | Cooling facility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Theme 1, Concerns about summer heat | |||
| Q1 | “Summer time is unbearable…the situation is getting worse than in old days…” | F 1 | Fan |
| Q2 | “The weather won’t cool down till October…definitely prolonged…” | M 2 | A/C |
| Q3 | “I saw heat warnings on TV every day…” | M | Fan |
| Q4 | “You sweat heavily just sitting and resting, not to mention driving a bus.” | F | Fan |
| Q5 | “We’ve got a thermometer on each bus…when outside temperature reaches 40 °C, the temperature inside the bus can be over 50 °C…” | M | Fan |
| Q6 | “I’m totally not worried about the changing climate… I don’t think I can do anything about that… ” | M | Fan |
| Q7 | “Warmer weather may not pose much threat to me, but I’m afraid older people will suffer more…” | M | A/C |
| Q8 | “I prefer summer to winter, I never felt too hot…” | F | Fan |
| Theme 2, Health effects related to extreme heat | |||
| Q9 | “We are definitely at higher risk than other people…” | M | A/C |
| Q10 | “You can stay at a cool place when it’s hot, but we can’t…” | M | Fan |
| Q11 | “A driver passed out on the bus on an extremely hot day, and we had to make emergency calls to send him to hospital immediately.” | M | Fan |
| Q12 | “It’s unlikely not getting sick for two consecutive summers…” | M | Fan |
| Q13 | “I’ve been hospitalized for kidney stone operation twice this year, and I think the major reason is insufficient water intake…” | M | Fan |
| Q14 | “My face turned hot and red because of the direct sunlight…” | M | A/C |
| Q15 | “I sweat through the moment I got on the bus…keep wiping and wiping… my face hurts a lot…” | M | Fan |
| Q16 | “I was very irritable when driving on very hot days…” | M | A/C |
| Q17 | “I received more hostility from our passengers during hot days, and I felt hard to control my temper…” | M | Fan |
| Theme 3, Adaptive measures | |||
| Q18 | “Air-conditioning really works in summer….” | M | A/C |
| Q19 | “The company provided us kinds of fluids such as tea, mineral water and soup…” | F | Fan |
| Q20 | “I turned on the fan the moment I sat on the bus, and turned it off till my work shift was over…” | M | Fan |
| Q21 | “I do bring some medication with me when it’s too hot…” | M | Fan |
| Q22 | “We’ve got TV at the restroom at the bus terminals, weather information are easy to get…” | M | Fan |
| Q23 | “We make jokes to each other and I feel better when I heard the laughter…” | M | A/C |
| Q24 | “It’s nice to see our managers …delivering us a bottle of water…” | M | A/C |
| Q25 | “No matter what they do…It’s still hot…” | F | Fan |
| Theme4, Barriers in implementing coping actions | |||
| Q26 | “Windows cannot be fully opened…ventilation is too poor…” | M | Fan |
| Q27 | “We can’t drink as much as we want to…I’ve seen a female driver stuck in a traffic jam, with a full bladder, cried helplessly…” | M | Fan |
| Q28 | “I’m afraid nothing worse than stuck in a traffic jam…” | M | A/C |
| Q29 | “At rush hour, I may not have time to get off the bus and have a rest, for another round is demanded.” | F | Fan |
| Q30 | “Nothing makes things any better…I already get used to this working condition…” | M | Fan |
| Q31 | “I don’t think a fan would make any difference, the cab was filled with hot airflow…sometimes, a fan just makes things worse…” | F | Fan |
| Q32 | “Facing the air conditioning for several hours every day is not a pleasant experience…” | M | A/C |
| Q33 | “Many of us, even some young bus drivers, were diagnosed with coronary heart disease, hypertension…” | M | Fan |
| Q34 | “I usually won’t ask for a sick leave…I keep working even when I feel uncomfortable, for salary’s sake…” | M | Fan |
| Theme 5, Suggested interventions | |||
| Q35 | “We all want air-conditioned buses…and that passengers also prefer A/C buses even they paid more money for it” | F | Fan |
| Q36 | “Our schedule is the same no matter it’s in winter or it’s in summer…I think lesser work hours in summer will help a lot…” | M | A/C |
| Q37 | “Older drivers cannot withstand the young workers’ workload…” | M | A/C |
| Q38 | “I don’t think I can work till 60…I want to get retired earlier…” | M | Fan |
| Q39 | “The situation cannot be improved, so raising our salary might be more encouraging…” | M | Fan |
| Q40 | “We used to drive on a shaded road, it’s cool and the sun would not pour through those thick leaves…” | M | Fan |
Notes: 1 = Female; 2 = Male.