Trivia - Where would you be a bus driver if you had a choice ?

[Martin nx]

I drive for Nat Exp Owned Ops outstationed in Norwich and with a 47hr 53m rota week at £11.61ph paid through from start to finish with a 2 on, 2 off pattern quite happy with it!

 

[notadriver]

It's a lot of hours Martin - I think we should strive to do a sub 40 hour week the same as most other professional jobs.

 

[Martin nx]

We are contracted to a minimum of 42hrs a week but most of us want a few more than that to make the money up to be honest. A 35-40hr week would not pay enough and I think most drivers are in the same boat!

 

[Flying Snail]

I drive for Nat Exp Owned Ops outstationed in Norwich and with a 47hr 53m rota week at £11.61ph paid through from start to finish with a 2 on, 2 off pattern quite happy with it!

That sounds like hell to me, it averages out at over 13.5 hours per day.


It goes back to the discussion in the other thread about the s**t pay drivers get where the majority work long hours and still look for more just to pay the bills.

I did a few years of long hours and although the pay was good, particularly when I could get expenses for covering outstations, eventually it started getting me down. I had enough and switched to a rota that was little more than our basic 39h week and I was much happier despite the cut in pay.

To be fair though, even accounting for the higher cost of living in Ireland our pay is a good bit higher than the figures I have seen from across the UK. Although the higher taxes to pay off the debts of corrupt bankers and greedy property speculators as well as the falling € has done it's best to destroy the decent pay our unions fought for over the last century.

10 years ago I wouldn't have hesitated to say that a job for either of the state bus companies here, depending on your preference for city or rural/express/long distance commuter work would be up there with the best bus driving jobs around.

They are still better than equivalent UK jobs for pay and conditions but the gap is not as big as it was. On an average 40ish hour week (not including unpaid breaks) working 1 Sunday a month and a small amount of OT (Sundays are double time, OT 1.5) I would get around €37-38k.
Also the uncertainty over the future of state ownership on top of a few bad years with declining revenue and pressure to make workers take the brunt of the recession has taken it's toll on morale to a certain extent. Moaning about the job is practically a requirement in the garage but when I compare to some of the nonsense that goes on in some other companies as well as the pay difference I don't really have that much to complain about, not to mention that for someone who likes to travel around the UK the privilege travel entitlement is rather useful.