Anyone done it on here, doesn’t seem too bad wages …I know it depends on where you live ect
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I did it in Birmingham.When I started they told me 99% of the public were great.But you carry 850 people a day,so thats 8 idiots you have to deal with.
Lorry driving is a lonely job.You wont feel lonely driving a bus.They have great social club provisions though,snooker,darts,golf whatever you like to do.weekends away.fishing
I’ve done rail replacement bus driving around London which is similar but not exactly the same. Still more or less the same public, still a timetable to keep in most instances, but station to station without so many or intermediate stops. However it is at the stops for Underground stations, which are on the road rather than a forecourt, where the trouble arises. The natives know where the bus is going whether they are rail passengers or not and will swarm on in ridiculous numbers and then attempt to get off at “their” stop which won’t be one on your schedule.
Actual driving, no one wants to let you out from a stop, some can’t accept that you’ve got ahead of them by using a bus lane, other bus drivers make life difficult by blocking a stop or “punching up” so you get all the work and they have an easy time. Then there is the timetable, two or three minutes “recovery time” at one end and none the other followed by 15 minutes break on the next “rounder”. Delays will mean the three minutes disappears and there is only a few minutes at the other end. Pressure will mean that legal breaks aren’t always taken in full - there’s either a thread recently on here, facebook, or something in Applications and Decisions about a driver elsewhere in trouble over this. Late running builds up until one journey gets deleted or turned early. The bus companies don’t like this because it becomes “Lost Mileage” for which they don’t get paid.
Toilet facilities are joke, if you’re lucky one end will be a bus terminus for which you need the door code, if not then it’s a matter of knowing the route and which stations have toilets close to the entrance - practically all bus routes pass some stations.
cav551:
I’ve done rail replacement bus driving around London which is similar but not exactly the same. Still more or less the same public, still a timetable to keep in most instances, but station to station without so many or intermediate stops. However it is at the stops for Underground stations, which are on the road rather than a forecourt, where the trouble arises. The natives know where the bus is going whether they are rail passengers or not and will swarm on in ridiculous numbers and then attempt to get off at “their” stop which won’t be one on your schedule.Actual driving, no one wants to let you out from a stop, some can’t accept that you’ve got ahead of them by using a bus lane, other bus drivers make life difficult by blocking a stop or “punching up” so you get all the work and they have an easy time. Then there is the timetable, two or three minutes “recovery time” at one end and none the other followed by 15 minutes break on the next “rounder”. Delays will mean the three minutes disappears and there is only a few minutes at the other end. Pressure will mean that legal breaks aren’t always taken in full - there’s either a thread recently on here, facebook, or something in Applications and Decisions about a driver elsewhere in trouble over this. Late running builds up until one journey gets deleted or turned early. The bus companies don’t like this because it becomes “Lost Mileage” for which they don’t get paid.
Toilet facilities are joke, if you’re lucky one end will be a bus terminus for which you need the door code, if not then it’s a matter of knowing the route and which stations have toilets close to the entrance - practically all bus routes pass some stations.
So, you get a duty card, ie job number 1, they are not breaks at the end of each run, they are purely recovery time, used to be a log card to write down trip times, generally, stand time as I knew it back in the 90’s was purely, to do the wayfarer and punch in new trip number running number etc, nowadays, there are no cash tickets to deal with not sure of fare stages exsist … plus, most duties you normally did 2 rounders and if you came of more than 20 mins late … then you could take the full break … Rail replacement is different to service routes.
The driver of this bus got 18 months prison as fell asleep, the police told him he should have stopped the bus to rest but that impossible if there are passengers who would definitely be kicking off for being late.
The regular run is Chippenham/Swindon/ Chippenham, each journey is about one and half hours driving so Chippenham to Swindon is an hour and a half.
The drivers do two back to back of the above, and are supposed to cram in a ten minute break but drivers say that never happens and they are supposed get a 45 minute meal break and all doing overtime leading to fatigue but don’t even get that.
Another fatigue or lack of sleep topic, this driver got 7 years prison as was prone to nodding off in monotonous situations.
Bus drivers tell me the weekend late night shifts are the worst due to the drunks urinating on the bus and in the day time old ladies moaning about being two minutes late.
London bus driving is easy no interaction with passengers no cash. One of the companies is bringing dri Vera from Scotland 3weeks Scotland 3 weeks London a week off after that.
I drove buses in Brisbane and can’t get my head around drivers that worry about running late. It’s like driving a lorry… it gets there when it gets there. Running early is the thing you don’t do.
Ex-wife is a bus driver, has been for about fifteen years. Enjoys the job, says school runs are the worst bit; but has never done late night stuff as there simply are no late buses round here. Apart from the schools, the only issues she encounters are a lack of facilities i.e. toilets for female drivers.
Son worked for First for a few years, got his PSV through them when he realised that being a chef ain’t a job for anyone over 30. He did do the late night stuff, being in Glasgow; some of the things he’s witnessed made me realise that my decision years ago to never carry self-loading cargo (either with two legs or four) was the right one.
Personal experience of London in an artic makes me think that being a bus driver down there must rank in one of Dante’s seven circles of hell as punishment.
A convenience shop lets the bus drivers use their staff toilets in my town but dread to think what happens if the desperate need for a number two when out on route with nowhere to go to relieve yourself.
fellow i know used to drive busses in london said he loved it as you drove same route all the time.He now drives in Colchester and you have to learn All the local routes [30+] as you can be on any of them with little notice. He said this was a real bummer for 6 months till he got all of them into his head.
I don’t know how they learn all the routes, I am not too sure if it’s true or not but I heard some coach companies and National Express ban sat navs, and years ago there was a trip from hell with a new driver that got lost and a two hour trip turned in to a seven hour one.
Henry Stephens:
I don’t know how they learn all the routes, I am not too sure if it’s true or not but I heard some coach companies and National Express ban sat navs, and years ago there was a trip from hell with a new driver that got lost and a two hour trip turned in to a seven hour one.
that guy i know was convinced he wouldnt be able to learn them all when it became clear he had to or ship out. .Apparently youv a book of the routes so you can stop and read it .I said to him do the long termers smile ? he said yes, about 6 months later i ran into him he said hed now got the knack of learning routes but sometimes still had to ask the passengers!
I did it for years in London,
You know your shifts well in advance once you get on a ROTA.
99% of the time you finish on time.
You WILL be just an employee number.
You can work your way up, as long as your ready to screw people on the way up the ladder.
In the end I got fed up with the passengers.
The only way to do the job is not give a sh*t about who gets on the bus and let them do what they want.
We had to do all the routes in Brisbane as well. Fun at first, but you get used to it and it makes a change. Like Rambo19 says, take no notice of 'em.
Henry Stephens:
I don’t know how they learn all the routes, I am not too sure if it’s true or not but I heard some coach companies and National Express ban sat navs, and years ago there was a trip from hell with a new driver that got lost and a two hour trip turned in to a seven hour one.
There is a National Express driverwho drove round Luton and Dunstable for hours.He finally got to the Airport parked up and quit.
That sounds like the story that made the headlines.