Who is a Driver?

[dayvid]

Loved buses as a kid, was brought up on Fleetlines nationals lynxs and metrobuses. As a weekend treat my mom used to take me on long bus trips around brum up to Wolverhampton then returning to Birmingham via the 966 timesaver. As i got older i grew out of buses totally had a few jobs and got to the point that i didnt know what to do. i had a few family members who worked on the buses in London and out of BC and Hockley garage who told me to stay away from the buses as the goodtimes were slowly going. So i worked on the railways for a bit at a station and seen a metrobus and thought to myself i want to drive one so that when i considered a bus driver job. So i trained up on a lynx and passed on a ex gas bus B10L. and took to my role at Lea Hall where the same drivers who took me to school when i was younger worked lol. I enjoyed my job and i got a good run out of the metros before they were withdrawn. i loved the job, but more and more the staff were getting treated rubbish, not by the public but by managers and know it alls. i was dissapointed as i loved my job but it was a horrible feeling thinking your being watched waiting for you to make a mistake with a bad staff morale so i thought right ive done a couple of years whats next sooo i then went to work on national express driving scania irizar PBs which were a lovely drive. years later i now drive the biggest coaches on the uk roads for a company that values its drivers and pays well. But as previous post have said bus driving is your life and not your hobby there is a fine line between both. A bus driver whos a spotter usually gets the mickey taken out of them in the work place too. Lucky for me i actually enjoy my job and im a bit of a enthusiast but i never mix the two.

[Discodave]

Loved buses as a kid, was brought up on Fleetlines nationals lynxs and metrobuses. As a weekend treat my mom used to take me on long bus trips around brum up to Wolverhampton then returning to Birmingham via the 966 timesaver. As i got older i grew out of buses totally had a few jobs and got to the point that i didnt know what to do. i had a few family members who worked on the buses in London and out of BC and Hockley garage who told me to stay away from the buses as the goodtimes were slowly going. So i worked on the railways for a bit at a station and seen a metrobus and thought to myself i want to drive one so that when i considered a bus driver job. So i trained up on a lynx and passed on a ex gas bus B10L. and took to my role at Lea Hall where the same drivers who took me to school when i was younger worked lol. I enjoyed my job and i got a good run out of the metros before they were withdrawn. i loved the job, but more and more the staff were getting treated rubbish, not by the public but by managers and know it alls. i was dissapointed as i loved my job but it was a horrible feeling thinking your being watched waiting for you to make a mistake with a bad staff morale so i thought right ive done a couple of years whats next sooo i then went to work on national express driving scania irizar PBs which were a lovely drive. years later i now drive the biggest coaches on the uk roads for a company that values its drivers and pays well. But as previous post have said bus driving is your life and not your hobby there is a fine line between both. A bus driver whos a spotter usually gets the mickey taken out of them in the work place too. Lucky for me i actually enjoy my job and im a bit of a enthusiast but i never mix the two.

At last someone with sense must be stagecoach (megabus) you work for as many drivers I have spoke to in many areas love working for them only large company which has a good staff morale

[PM]

University and then the rotala graduate scheme for me then working my way up possibly starting up a new company or going into politics with a view to being transport secretary and hopefully i think i could be successful in the bus indutry as unlike many of the graduates now going into transport im actually a bus enthusiast that has a great deal of respect for bus drivers-the people who, and managers could do well to remember this, earn them their salaries. It is they who are the eyes and ears that have to repond to a multitude of situations and ideally there should be a good rapport between manager and driver.

Good luck with what you want to do Peter, but a  Transport Secretary who actually knows something about the bus industry, well that would be a nice surprise!

Thanks D10-haha hopefully someone not like Justine Greening as transport always gets the bad people.....

[Ashley]

The bus industry as like most industries should be run by those with genuine interest and background knowledge and passion for it unlike those who come out of university who just muck it all up

[PM]

The bus industry as like most industries should be run by those with genuine interest and background knowledge and passion for it unlike those who come out of university who just muck it all up

Agree with you that it should be run by those that have passion, interest and knowledge however you can have all this having come out of university, like I intend to have. Tho i do agree with you that some graduates who couldnt care less will try to get into the bus industry however in buses graduate stars are regularly mentioned for the work they do for the industry.

[Ashley]

I don't disagree that some do contribute a great deal to the industry, just in some cases, theres a lack of passion and knowledge

[Discodave]

Graduates need a start but need to relise the people below them have experiance and talking to them like they are thick and trying to tell them what to do insults them so what you have a piece of paper to say you can do this and that and be a manager try having to do the job which pays your big salary all graduates whatever industry they go into need to do the job of the normal people for at least 12 months espically in the transport industry to see what crap we have to put up with day in day out then when you manage or b*****k people you can have a proper view and maybe have respect of your staff and even no vacancies

[PM]

I agree with you Dave and thats why managers are trained to be bus drivers too so they can get an understanding of things on the front line too.

[Discodave]

Problem is most of the managers are graduates or shit sniffers whom worm up the ladder with no experiance one of the bosses whom replaced a long standing ex driver at Cannock and garage manager was great knew all the problems the new bloke and assistant (whom had no licence) were tossers I tried for management positions in the traffic office and as it was the tossers whom were interviewing more of there tosser mates got promoted and on talking to mates even more tossers have been promoted Cannock is just a garage if your not in the clique your not welcome

[j_rp_wright]

The most respected managers are the ones that used to do the job themselves and know what it's like as a driver all the way up to management. Less popular are fresh out of school kids who don't have a clue and trying to play god with drivers.

[Discodave]

True and they also have the best staff retention rates and morale is high where they are running as they listen and take the drivers point of view and complainant and make A FAIR DECISION BASED ON FACT problem is the higher people do not like a popular boss and good staff morale and a good depot it makes them at head office look bad they cant have that and soon find a way of moving them on or paying them off to replace with a graduate robot and soon morale goes and staff either leave (or forced out) or sacked by dubious means as they know people will not try to challange them.   

[windy miller]

This 'selective' employment criticism is not new i'm afraid. During my early years in the GPO it was amazing how many jobs were occupied by Ex servicemen. The supervisors would often 'shield' the attendance sheet each day (4am) so you couldn't see the late arrival entries,esp if they were 'old comrades'. As for insurance,well that was like getting blood from a stone,as the P/o would admit to nothing and compensation was just wishfull thinking...Hopefully these days things may have improved?? :-\