Bus Drivers

[steve-o]

Working for First Glasgow was terrible. The Union was in Managements pocket. We got a set time from sign on to picking up bus in the street at a stop. An example would be starting at 12:07 and ten minutes to get to the stop for the bus at 12:17. If there is an inspector standing at that stop and the bus arrives more than 1 minute ahead of time then the driver is on a first and final warning if he’s done it in the past 6 months or something. Ever wonder why a bus is crawling along the road for no reason? It’s his job if he doesn’t.

■■■■■■■ passengers. Old folk moaning you’re one minute late saying they’re reporting you and getting on for one stop, women with prams hurling abuse because there’s already a pram on and she’ll have to fold it or get the next bus. Again, possibly the drivers job if an inspector finds more than the allowed unfolded prams on board. Neds (Chavs) trying to blag their way on then trying to rip open the cab door when you dare to refuse them travel. Football hooligans trashing the bus and swarming it at bus stops near stadiums, being spat at weekly, bricks being thrown at the windscreen of the bus most nights in some areas of Glasgow, Drunks peeing up the back all over the floor because they can’t be bothered to hold it in. Buses with a string of defects; heaters blowing cold, no turbo boost, broken flywheel teeth causing near impossible starting, worn out drivers seat, no screen wash, wipers hardly working, squeaks, rattles, over heating daily, gearboxes playing up, suspension constantly playing up, jerky brakes, weak brakes, super sharp brakes, unbalanced brakes, passenger seats falling to bits.

Great job

[flat_to_the_mat]

RRooobbbbiiieeeee.Steve-o started his second paragraph by saying you’d been on his bus

[orys]

Steve-o:
…
Great job

So this is you behind “the Driver” alias who wrote that “Bloodbus” book?

[steve-o]

orys:

Steve-o:
…
Great job

So this is you behind “the Driver” alias who wrote that “Bloodbus” book?

Oh Orys I honestly could not comment on that What I can say is I was so close to losing my job over that site. I’m just glad I never used my real name on it.

[orys]

Steve-o:

orys:

Steve-o:
…
Great job

So this is you behind “the Driver” alias who wrote that “Bloodbus” book?

Oh Orys I honestly could not comment on that What I can say is I was so close to losing my job over that site. I’m just glad I never used my real name on it.

So I just wanted to tell that I got the book for last Christmas when I came up with crazy idea of doing my class D and I really enjoyed it

But I never finished with my bus license

[steve-o]

orys:

Steve-o:

orys:

Steve-o:
…
Great job

So this is you behind “the Driver” alias who wrote that “Bloodbus” book?

Oh Orys I honestly could not comment on that What I can say is I was so close to losing my job over that site. I’m just glad I never used my real name on it.

So I just wanted to tell that I got the book for last Christmas when I came up with crazy idea of doing my class D and I really enjoyed it

But I never finished with my bus license

I remember you saying you were doing the lessons on your own rather than going through First. Out of a bad bunch I would say Stagy is the best in Glasgow. Scottish CityLink is as bad as First to work for. Many First Bus drivers aspire to work for CityLink, but if only they knew…

[macplaxton]

Horses for courses.

I knew a guy who worked for years on London buses and he had no real problem, but he was good at dealing with people (diffused things, rather than stoked them).

I could probably do it if I had to (and have a cat D), but I prefer to deal with silent goods.

[orys]

Steve-o:
I remember you saying you were doing the lessons on your own rather than going through First. Out of a bad bunch I would say Stagy is the best in Glasgow. Scottish CityLink is as bad as First to work for. Many First Bus drivers aspire to work for CityLink, but if only they knew…

Yes, it wasnt’ really buses i aimed in, I wanted to drive tourist to highlands with one of these mini coaches companies. But thanks to stupid DVLA I wasted several months to get my provisional entitlement and by that I had no more savings to go through the rest of the course

[saratoga]

It’s a stressful job wherever you are in the country. In the cities you are more likely to get abuse in all sorts of forms than in rural areas.

I’ve had kids nearly losing parts of their anatomy after they opened the ‘bonnet’ (covers the engine at the rear of the vehicle) to hit the emergency stop. However, on that model the STOP was a button at the side.

I’ve had the ‘Stop’ pressed in the middle of a box junction in rush hour.

Bricks and stones through windows, usually aiming for OTHER passengers.

Heaters? Erm, I wear thermals in winter because I cannot rely on heaters working AT ALL. Some of the double deckers have good heaters.

Then there are passengers that don’t want to pay or just ignore us entirely, they often use out of date tickets and smoke dope on the buses. I know it’s against the law and so do they but as we can’t chuck kids off the buses they’re the ones that are often smoking the dope!

Then there is the ‘push’ to keep us running on time despite weather and road conditions. I could run 5 minutes later over a 1 hour trip and sometimes be able to make it up but other times can’t.

They’ve installed tracking systems on the vehicles so they can tell if we’re dawdling or rushing, speeding or slow, revs and speed and all the stuff reported from the engines get transmitted to them.

I’ve had quite a few RTAs. Some out of ‘learning the size of the vehicle’ and others because people park without thinking. I get cut up frequently, can’t allow ‘space’ in front of the vehicle because someone will pull into it and then probably brake hard, and can’t rely on the premise that being a bus lane other vehicles will stay out of it.

There are numerous box junctions that people stop on and block the junction but care little about it. There is the infrastructure in place that they can be prosecuted but nothing is done over it. Kids have a free reign for the buses and passengers are often mistaken or incorrect in their knowledge over the tickets they buy. Even if you take an invalid ticked from a passenger they will abuse you for it even if the Police are called!

I have a Cat D licence and most buses these days are auto’s. We’ll see how long I cope in the industry. I’ve been there 2 years and at this rate will end up back on trucks for less stress.

Can’t use mobile phones, can’t have an earpiece in whilst driving, no reversing without a banksman (!!!) no music on in the cab (unless the chav passengers in the back are playing it) can’t eat or drink whilst in the cab and the best weapon we have when confronted by a vehicle blocking our way and we can’t manoeuvre (ie street too narrow) is handbrake on and newspaper out.

However, I’m on £9 an hour, I don’t need a car to get to work and if I can keep my head down, not challenge invalid passes and basically ignore the abusive stressful passengers, timekeeping within safety constraints an attempt to smile at some of the passengers I may survive the job.

My recommendation would be that if you have the patience of a saint and a clean drivers licence and not a ‘racer’ then you’ll survive the job. Assuming you get a job in the first place. Most large bus companies’ queue’s for applications are still in the 10k mark, ie 10,000 applications WAITING to be processed. I would say stay away from the buses and stay with the trucks…

The Bus Drivers Canteen is a place you could visit to take a look at some of the comments by bus drivers…

[macplaxton]

orys:
I wanted to drive tourist to highlands with one of these mini coaches companies.

But then you’d run the risk of getting held-up by the clown and the wolfman*.

(*Surely you’ve been in Scotland long enough to have seen the film “Restless Natives” by now?)

[newmercman]

robbbie:
Why do bus drivers earn so much more than truck drivers?

It would appear that they don’t

FAIL

[tachograph]

Do bus drivers lose money if they indicate before pulling out instead of as they pull out

And do bus drivers lose money if they pull into the kerb instead of stopping at a 30 degree angle to the kerb

And why is it that when you give way to an approaching bus the driver rarely acknowledges your existence

[bowser]

tachograph:
Do bus drivers lose money if they indicate before pulling out instead of as they pull out

And do bus drivers lose money if they pull into the kerb instead of stopping at a 30 degree angle to the kerb

And why is it that when you give way to an approaching bus the driver rarely acknowledges your existence

yes .
yes .
and they dont like you …

MERRY CHRISTMAS …

[orys]

macplaxton:

orys:
I wanted to drive tourist to highlands with one of these mini coaches companies.

But then you’d run the risk of getting held-up by the clown and the wolfman*.

(*Surely you’ve been in Scotland long enough to have seen the film “Restless Natives” by now?)

Well, I did not. It’s seems that it was a huge oversight here…

[alamcculloch]

If a bus pulls in square at a bus stop ,no other driver will let him out again.Remedy block the road and ZB the lot of them.

[rambo19]

Must admit, I always pull up square at a bus stop, when i’m ready to go, I put my indicator and wait, 99.9% of the time someone lets me out.
I will agree though, there are some ■■■■■■■■ bus drivers out there.
But, I have never seen a bus driver talking on his mobile phone, but I see hgv drivers every day talking on thiers, skip/tipper drivers are the worst for it

[steve-o]

orys:

Steve-o:
I remember you saying you were doing the lessons on your own rather than going through First. Out of a bad bunch I would say Stagy is the best in Glasgow. Scottish CityLink is as bad as First to work for. Many First Bus drivers aspire to work for CityLink, but if only they knew…

Yes, it wasnt’ really buses i aimed in, I wanted to drive tourist to highlands with one of these mini coaches companies. But thanks to stupid DVLA I wasted several months to get my provisional entitlement and by that I had no more savings to go through the rest of the course

No offence but there’s some jobs best left to the natives and Scottish Highland tours is deffo one of them lol

[saratoga]

tachograph:
Do bus drivers lose money if they indicate before pulling out instead of as they pull out

And do bus drivers lose money if they pull into the kerb instead of stopping at a 30 degree angle to the kerb

And why is it that when you give way to an approaching bus the driver rarely acknowledges your existence

1. It is recommended that as soon as we are finished loading the indicator goes on. The driver then lets the doors close and check for mirrors (N/S, Internal, O/S) however the driver may have to wait for passengers to sit down before pulling off. Safety and all.

2. Bus stops often have cars parked in them. I would much prefer pulling in properly and getting level before opening the doors and dropping the suspension but most of the time I can’t do this. Dropping people off in the middle of the street level with the bus stop is one option but with a 12-18 inch step for them to get down it is often easier pulling ahead to an available bit of kerb for them.

3. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. It really often depends on how much of a [zb] day the driver is having. And trust me when I say that some days can be downright soul destroying!

[zigzag]

On back of London buses

[orys]

Steve-o:
No offence but there’s some jobs best left to the natives and Scottish Highland tours is deffo one of them lol

Actually they seemed quite keen to take me on… They propably hoped to get more Polish customers thanks to my language skills