Drivers - Bus Reviews & Opinions

[Tomf1993]

Bus Glass does not smash? Ive seen bus accidents and the glass does not smash it sort of shatters but all in tact still.

[2900]

I have noticed one of the 4700 Geminis sliding cab Windows has been fitted with laminated glass which is considerably thicker than the standard safety glass items , it does give you that bit more assured feeling. Good to hear about the thick plastic being applied to the vehicles Windows, I can recall a good while go a branded Dudley rd merc had its rear window smashed the vinyl used on that window held the window together , I remember thinking that's not bad at all having that vinyl on it.

[2900]

Bus Glass does not smash? Ive seen bus accidents and the glass does not smash it sort of shatters but all in tact still.

windscreens are laminated which shatters still glass goes every where and any where.
Side windows is toughened safety glass which shatters into millions of tiny pieces.

[Liverpool Street]

Hi Tony

Diamond Bus 29 is not a crappy schedule, what causes their 2 bus bunching and most times 3 is that some of their buses the Solo's are powerless crap and cant even make the hills, and most time of the day its in and out of Brackenall Heath with 1 min stand time, they only run 3 buses on it, which from my point of view is shtty, as their is not a consistent level of service, it can go from a bus 5 mins apart to 15 mins apart then 20 mins apart, they need a 4 th bus on that route just to level out the service and frequency, Ive told Simon 100s of times, it needs sorting out and I cant explain more simply than I have to him. They need a little bit more running time from the bit from Bloxich road into Walsall town Centre, that is the issue.

They have a facebook page, which hardly even gets answered by them. its just a mess the operational side of things.

Their schedules and duties is designed for Lewis Hamilton..

I don't think that is quite true -
When the 636 had solos, darts and B6's struggle like hell Tibet any speed and yet they stayed on time

Remember that diamond and other independents have a small pool of drivers so each driver has to do more mileage in the time at work

[Tomf1993]

Yes - Indeed Diamond schedules and duties are complicated, like TWM, drivers do all sorts of routes and at Diamond like one ex driver has said openly on the forum drivers are doing 12 plus hours a day which Ive seen for my self, a 29 driver seen at 8am and again at 7pm in the evening..

[BU07 LGO]

Yes - Indeed Diamond schedules and duties are complicated, like TWM, drivers do all sorts of routes and at Diamond like one ex driver has said openly on the forum drivers are doing 12 plus hours a day which Ive seen for my self, a 29 driver seen at 8am and again at 7pm in the evening..

as long as they don't exceed 10 hours driving that's ok

[GeminiFan1991]

I don't think that is quite true -
When the 636 had solos, darts and B6's struggle like hell Tibet any speed and yet they stayed on time

Remember that diamond and other independents have a small pool of drivers so each driver has to do more mileage in the time at work

Doesnt the law/ legislation that governs how long a driver can continuously drive not apply to these smaller operators ?!

[Tomf1993]

5 and a half hours driving before a min 30 mins break is required.

[Tony]

5 and a half hours driving before a min 30 mins break is required.

Not always, you can drive up to 8h30m with out a 30 min break as long as the smaller breaks total 45m

[Tomf1993]

No way this cant be right, as I've tried telling a few London United schedules this and he said no 5 and half hours then a break must be taken. But Its messed up as depending on EU rules

file:///C:/Users/Imran/Downloads/103661-rmt-bus-workers-handbookalwc-lo-res.pdf

[Tony]

No way this cant be right, as I've tried telling a few London United schedules this and he said no 5 and half hours then a break must be taken. But Its messed up as depending on EU rules

file:///C:/Users/Imran/Downloads/103661-rmt-bus-workers-handbookalwc-lo-res.pdf

Nothing to do with EU rules
Domestic rules clearly state that you can drive for 8h30min using an accumulative break of 45 minutes

Instead of looking at what a Union thinks should be the rules, have a look at what they actually are, you will need to scroll down to page 24
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208095/rules-on-drivers-hours-and-tachographs-psvs-in-gb-and-europe.pdf

I'm not saying this is right morally and the union don't have a case, but at the moment you can work for 8h30m without a break as long as actual driving in that time is a maximum of 7h45m

[Westy]

It's Blakenall Heath, not b**dy Blakenhall Heath or Brackenall Heath!

[Tomf1993]

Cheers Westy

[Westy]

Im a local.

It annoys me!

[2900]

Nothing to do with EU rules
Domestic rules clearly state that you can drive for 8h30min using an accumulative break of 45 minutes

Instead of looking at what a Union thinks should be the rules, have a look at what they actually are, you will need to scroll down to page 24
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/208095/rules-on-drivers-hours-and-tachographs-psvs-in-gb-and-europe.pdf

I'm not saying this is right morally and the union don't have a case, but at the moment you can work for 8h30m without a break as long as actual driving in that time is a maximum of 7h45m

most of the duties at Hockley garage and west brom were up to about 7/8 years a go were based on the acumaltive break method the majority of us just on with it. A few drivers started moaning they needed proper breaks these toerags left not  long after the breaks were put in , now we have dutys with massive compasses averaging 8.45 to 9.30 to earn the 7.36 , this is why now we,ll fight for any pay rise , I have and always do my workings out on the compass not time on the bus , eg today my compass is 8hrs 36 any way I,ve digressed, back to the hours back in the 90s early noughties I don't remember drivers yapping about the5hrs 30 mins break rule. Looking at the dutys now there are very few dutys where the first portion is 5.30 it's more like 4.30 to avoid rta break issues where possible, the other thing is the gap between duty portions keeps growing it use  to be 30 mins it's now 60 mins plus to avoid rta issues