It’s that time of the week again. After the events of last night I am feeling the need to do something good before tonight so I am going to get this post done and dusted in one sitting (yikes)
watfordgap but do you ever drive route 1?
Sadly no I don’t ever get to drive route 1. I would like to sometime though.
pigsonthewing I’d like to #askthedriver what shift pattern do you work?
I work the same shift pattern the rest of the drivers work. We all work 5 days out of 7. The rest of it depends on the route you do. The one Im on has a very short rota so the late nights and early mornings come around very quickly. Those you work 7 days then have a long weekend (Friday to Monday) then work 7 late nights (Tuesday to Monday) then get another couple of days off. You then start on the day duties and this lasts between 1 and 3 weeks then back to the early mornings. Lather, rinse, repeat till the end of time.
brendadada is 16 drunks about average for a Friday night and what happens with the ones who fall into the road? has anyone died on one of your runs? Must happen…
16 is actually a very good night for drunks. It all depends on the weather as well. If its raining then there will be less. If its been a nice week then the number will be higher. The ones that fall into the road I usually make sure that they are ok and not injured (very rare) and point them in the right direction. If we called out ambulances or police for them all I would never get home. Finally, no-one has died on my duty (yet) I have heard of people having a heart attack on the bus and even going into labour. I have also heard of stabbings that later died in hospital but never someone actually passing away on the bus. Are you trying to tell me something about my driving lol??
Ok this next one also is important as part of the answer is company policy.
charlottecarey are drivers allowed to get off bus, leaving full bus and engine running to go to shops/call of nature etc?
The short answer to this is NO. This is leaving the bus unsecure. We are not allowed to leave the bus unsecure at all. We are allowed to answer the call of nature at a terminus point providing that there are facilities there BUT we must make the bus secure. That is engine off, battery isolated, ticket machine module removed. Its very rare but we can radio in for a “comfort break” on the route if we have to and they will send an inspector to watch the bus. We are not allowed to leave the bus full of passengers to go to the shop. If this happens to you then I suggest the following. Get the fleet number of the bus (this is four digits above the door), the time & date, the place and the route and send off a complaint via the website. Don’t forget to follow it up if you don’t get a response though. These will eventually make it down to the correct garage and from there the driver can be traced and the service improved.
Well there you go more questions answered. Please keep sending them in and don’t forget the #askthedriver Thanks again
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- OR (as an alternative to the method stated in the second-to-last paragraph) -
If you pay by cash, phone up their complaints number (look in the Yellow Pages), and all the information you need is there on your ticket (it’s worked for me in the past – and I got a free daysaver out of it, to cover my losses).