The Bus Driver.
So, what makes a bus driver? Easy you might say, you get trained, earn your PCV, then off you go. Yes if it was that easy everyone would do it. But not everyone wants to and for many reasons. Bus driving is difficult, and there are many factors that make that up.
The training comes first after you have passed a stiff medical. In our company the drivers get six weeks training before they are allowed out on their own.
New drivers.All new drivers start at the rate of £5.85 a hour. That is the training rate, and they stay on that rate for the time they are in training. A new driver that has never driven a bus will have the following training time.
Two weeks PCV training and then a test. If he or she does not pass then they will be given one more chance.
I week class training learning about the fares and ticket machine and rules and regulations.
I week route training learning the basic routes they will have to drive.
I week familiarization with general aspects of the job and other things they might not have picked up.
I week on bus with a personal mentor working as a bus driver before going out on their own.
If the drivers fail at any of these things, in general as long as they have been OK, they will be given another week or so to try and gain what they might have not been able to pick up. (Routes are generally the biggest problem.)
Any staff that start with a PCV license of course will not need the training weeks, and will just have the last four weeks training on the list.When they have passed all stages, and are ready to go out on their own, the pay will be raised to £6.25 per hour. They will only be expected to drive the smaller 30 seat buses at this stage.After six months with the company they will have further training to drive the bigger vehicles of 48 seats and the double deckers and the pay will have a final increase to £7.45 per hour.There can be another increase if they apply and are trained to drive the big ‘bendy buses’ that Cardiff has now invested in.
At first the drivers will learn the basic routes that with rota's that have been designed for them. That is just 29 routes that they will expected to know when they go on the road. As they progress through the company they will drive the bigger vehicles and learn a lot more routes. A senior driver will know something like 80 routes.
I am not going to pretend on this site that this is a easy job. Most of the time you are in traffic for the greatest part of the day. Your job is to take passengers from A to B and while most just want to get to their destination, you will always have the awkward one, who may be drunk or on drugs or is just stroppy for the sake of it. That is just part of the job, and most will take it in their stride, but that does not mean they have to like it!
There are occasionally assualts on staff, and that is treated very seriously indeed. Most buses now have CCTV cameras on them and assailants can been seen from these. One very nasty thing that has been going around is passengers spitting on drivers. So much so that all staff now carry 'spit test' kits supplied by the company. If this disgusting thing happens a sample is taken and given to the police for DNA testing. If they can find out who did it, he or she will be charged with assualt.
So why do they do it if there are that many problems? Well for one thing these things are very much in the minority and most days they just get on with it. A few drivers,(the minority) have always wanted to drive a bus, and come here and enjoy it. The majority, and I include myself in this, come to get a job for a short time, and then move on. But the company is good to work for, with some of the best working conditions in the industry, and they stay on and do a good job. Another lot are ex Truck drivers that are fed up with working away, or older men that want a steady job until they retire.
So when you next board your bus, and the driver may look a little fed up, just think of the sort of day he might have had. A smile and a 'good day driver' will go a long way. He is not just some guy or woman that cannot get another job, but a highly trained intelligent driver that has a very difficult job to do, and you can make a difference to his or her day.