Bus driver, sensible new career choice?

[Otispunkmeyer]

okgo said:

A freind of mine works on the olympic site, and earn a fair whack driving diggers about!

I used to work at corus.

And I dont know if they were pulling me leg, but when I said who's is that 911 parked over there in the dirt they told me it was the crane drivers.

Its a pretty serious job when you think about it. When ever you have a load in the air, everyone elses safety down below is on your head!!

[PumpkinSteve]

andicog said:

Know I'm a little late on this but . . . . this is so right !, I have just walked out of stagecoach after 10 years on lates, it was normal to have 2 or 3 windows a week smashed by bricks or whatever else ( a scaffold pole one night) came to hand, police dont want to know and management just want you back on the road. Buses are maintained to a very low standard, vehicles can have the same fault for months (not trivial ones either)
My advice to anyone would be to give it a wide berth unless your totally desperate for money !! .

I very briefly worked for one of the larger companies repairing the buses, jacked it in after three months. I totally agree about the state of the buses and that was the main reason I didn't want to work there, they had an absolutely miniscule budget for maintenance of the vehicles and 99% of the faults were simply bodged up.

There were 8 hour shifts of standing doing nothing because all the buses were out on the road, it made for a long day...there were also a lot of questionable practices going on, gallons of oil and antifreeze poured down a drain, for example. I wish I had reported them for it when I first left, but this was three years ago now, I don't know if it'd be too late.

[Pugland53]

Otispunkmeyer said:

I used to work at corus.

And I dont know if they were pulling me leg, but when I said who's is that 911 parked over there in the dirt they told me it was the crane drivers.

Its a pretty serious job when you think about it. When ever you have a load in the air, everyone elses safety down below is on your head!!

I worked at Corus Port Talbot for 15 years. It is true that the crane drivers there earned good money compared to other jobs but I can't remember the exact figure.
Personally, I would suggest trying to become a trainee train driver, as I did. Far better money than a bus driver, I really enjoy it.

[CharlieHotel]

Pugland53 said:

I worked at Corus Port Talbot for 15 years. It is true that the crane drivers there earned good money compared to other jobs but I can't remember the exact figure.


Personally, I would suggest trying to become a trainee train driver, as I did. Far better money than a bus driver, I really enjoy it.

It's not going to be easy for someone who doesn't already work for a TOC to become a driver tho is it?
People internally will get a shot at the vacancies first and there'll be alot of interest.

[tonym911]

Recently read somewhere that the Australian mineral mine operators are looking for big plant drivers and the pay is excellent.

[Pugland53]

CharlieHotel said:

It's not going to be easy for someone who doesn't already work for a TOC to become a driver tho is it?
People internally will get a shot at the vacancies first and there'll be alot of interest.

Well I can't speak for every TOC but the one I work for has taken quite a lot of drivers on in the last few years. In the majority of cases most of the people on the driving course were new entrants with only a couple of ex-guards on each course. As for a lot of interest, it is a well paid job so is bound to attract interest but if you are good enough you will get through, it is a very responsible job so they arent going to take on monkeys.

[Motorwaymick]

just4info said:

Hey since u have experience in these industries.. can u tell me which bus operator will be good to join? arriva, transdev or Go- ahead? many thanks.

From what I hear from colleagues in the industry Abellio is the better employer, they don't force their drivers to be TUPEd and generally a nicer place to work. Most other operators still think we are in the Hire n Fire era.

[chris123321]

out of interest, how do you go about becoming a plant operator/crane operator?