rambo19:
I’m a london bus driver.
My basic minimum rate is £11.44 per hour.
And that’s actually less than it was in 2003/04 when I was on agency down there.
I took an agency job up here, £10 / hr, which was pretty good for up here where most drivers were lucky to see £8 / hr, they asked me to do London and they provided digs, I was down there 2 weeks because I found out that the London drivers were on over £13 per hour
I don’t like undercutting people, and felt we were being used to bring local wages down, so I came back up North. Plus, I was missing the missus.
Andydisco:
Ive seen the ads on the back of the buses here in brum and the 8.75 is in small print as it mentions the words after probation , I rang up the other week after seeing them advertising jobs and they were only interested in non psv holders ,seemingly i’m over qualified with D+E
This will be due to incentive grants from the powers that be. Lothian Buses have allegedly been running the same kind of operation for a a while, i have a couple of friends that have received the same response as you have from this company.
DonutUK:
Travel West Midlands is owned by National Express, in the same way that Central Trains used to be owned by National Express as did Scotrail etc etc
I am desperately trying to get on the Nat Ex services at my place (coach company)…thanks to a change in manager that has rendered the proper coach side of things a great big love in for 5 drivers while the rest of us have to hoover up the [zb] that they don’t want!
Worst thing about Nat Ex is their “Traffilog” system…a system of coloured lights that “monitors” your driving! The camera don’t really bother me as they can get out of the [zb] as well as drop you in it!
The easiest way to get around the Traffibog is to use someone else’s number, i’ll sell you my old one if you like.
Don’t think they use numbers now, just a key fob type thing…could be wrong though!
I can get you one of those if you want, who do you want to be?
Found out today that it is now tied into the digi tacho somehow…
Dented:
Yeah right! Pull the other one! Service buses are tacho exempt and the drivers run on domestic hours!
Slight correction. It depends on the range of the journey.Wifey drives service buses for Morris Travel in Carmarthen, if she’s on the Llandovery run she doesn’t need to use tacho, wheras on Cardigan run she does.
Indeed, because as we have already pointed out, National Express do more than just coaches. Buses, trains and, well, Eurolines is still coaching though. But even so, it started out with Buses
A bus is classed as a passenger carrying vehicle over 8 seats with a top speed below 60 mph. A coach is a passenger carrying vehicle over 7.5 tonnes capable of over 60 mph. Thats what my book says, although this doesn’t explain why a PSV under 7.5 tonnes can go in the fast lane of a motorway, but technically only be allowed to do 60mph. Anyway should we be sticking to trucks on here! I come on here because people are more sane than the bus forum.
Ok, so the original post was an advert about service buses, local services. The buses that don’t go more than 50km from base. As such, they are tacho exempt. They do not use digital nor analogue tachos plus they are domestic hours and not EU/EC hours.
Right? Got it?
The ticket machines that National Express West Midlands, formerly Travel West Midlands, formerly variations of WMT/TWM etc use a ticket machine. It used to be a wayfarer that used a square module under the ticket machine. Your employee ID was used to login, a 6 digit code starting with 1, inspectors using a 5 digit code.
The new ticket machines use the same system with, when I left, the system coming in using the employee ID card to swipe to login.
some Services buses don’t even have tachographs fitted!
Volvo B6 & B7 have a tacho style head, Scanias and the new Enviro 400s are the same. The Mercedes 0405 have tacho heads but the red lights are constantly on and are not serviced at all and have never been whilst in use.
I worked for TWM for 3 years, from their TWM to NE/NEX period.
I believe dented referred to the fact that a previous poster had said that the ticket machines were associated with the tacho cards. I would find this unlikely as why bother to spend a fortune on the one system and let the coaches use something different? But having never made it to the coaches I am open to offers. I guess I could walk down to a coach in the bus station and ask them, but it’s cold outside and you’re probably only trying to wind others up with your [zb] so I think not
What’s the exact law on not being able to hold down a C+E at the same time as a PSV?
The “Hire or reward” bit would imply that a minibus with paying passengers is not allowed, but an empty london bus being returned to some depot would be (for a C+E holder!)
Winseer:
What’s the exact law on not being able to hold down a C+E at the same time as a PSV?
There are plenty of drivers on this forum with the C & CE, D & DE
The “Hire or reward” bit would imply that a minibus with paying passengers is not allowed, but an empty london bus being returned to some depot would be (for a C+E holder!)
If it has 8-16 seats fitted it can be classed as a D1, regardless of weight.
If it has more than 16 seats fitted it is classed as a D, regardless of weight.
If it is being transported with 16 or more seats in the driver would need a D licence to match the gearbox fitted.
Some classic buses with less than 16 seats can still be driven on a car licence as long as not H&R which is still a weird one though.
The only way that a C/CE can drive a D is for a test after repair, I think but that has to be confirmed. It can be driven by an engineer/fitter for the company. For your last paragraph above, you would need a D to drive it across country and cannot do it on C or CE.
This is my own knowledge of the subject but I am sure more knowledgeable people on here could put me right if I am correct.
I have heard of drivers with C driving a bus to a bus garage on trade plates or before it has been even put into service but I doubt the legality of this, but we’ll see how that goes too!
I’ve seen an advert asking for someone with a clean C+E and PSV licence… I would have thought only D gives one PSV entitlement, and I also thought that no one can hold both entitlements at the same time?
Saratoga:
The only way that a C/CE can drive a D is for a test after repair, I think but that has to be confirmed. It can be driven by an engineer/fitter for the company.
You can drive a D on a C licence for a test after repair or to a place of repair but it can’t have any passengers on and you need to have held the licence for two years
Carryfast:
Surprise surprise it seems that the Polish are better in every way than British bus drivers.
I am not surprised
But being serious: the clue is that if you have foreign license, they cannot check if you have any points on it. So they just make you apply for British Counterpart License and you got fresh account in Britain. That might be the reason why Polish people get it easier.
Winseer:
I’ve seen an advert asking for someone with a clean C+E and PSV licence… I would have thought only D gives one PSV entitlement, and I also thought that no one can hold both entitlements at the same time?
Would I be wrong? I’ve got D1 and D1+E.
Yep you are wrong, I have C+E and PSV licences…
Thank you, hope this helps.
