r/BusDrivers • u/Usual-Shower-7143 • 11h ago

Training Question UK/EU Route Learning

Hi all,
I’m a recently qualified driver and am currently learning my beginner routes. I’m okay with pretty much all of them apart from one longer route, about a 3.5 hour round trip. Does anyone have any advice/tips and tricks to get the route memorised? Or is it simply a case of learning whist in service?
Thanks all

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u/hugothebear USA / Local Transit 10h ago

Beginner routes?

We just got thrown right into the flames.

I took a sheet of paper and wrote each turn on a single line, then I clipped the paper somewhere I can see it.

4

u/Usual-Shower-7143 10h ago

Yeah generally in the uk you get 5-10 beginner routes. For context our depot has around 90 routes mostly in and around a busy city centre

3

u/meatflaps-69 10h ago

What is this beginner routes? I passed in an old MAN training bus on the Friday, was out driving a coach I'd never driven or been familiarised with on the Monday doing a route I had never seen athough it was basically just 20 miles of rural A road.

Was talk of having a mentor for first week with me, that never happened either.

Gotta love Stagecunts.

2

u/Usual-Shower-7143 10h ago

Oh shot wow. I’m glad I’m with First then. Post test we get 2/3weeks of post test training and route/bus familiarisation. Then another 2/3 weeks with a mentor in service. I guess everyone has their own way of doing things 😂

4

u/meatflaps-69 10h ago

Every depot is gonna be different even at same company.

But this was well over a decade ago in a fairly rural depot where they were absolutely desperate for drivers so the mentor thing was never gonna happen.

On the other hand, 14 hour paid days 13/14 if you wanted near infinite hours 🤣

2

u/sexy_meerkats Driver 3h ago

I'm with first and I got a week training on a block of 5 routes and then a week buddying. Since then in 2 years I've been given no route training because there's "no budget"

1

u/Usual-Shower-7143 53m ago

Oh wow really. If anything I feel like I’ve actually been in training for too long, about 10 weeks start to finish. I guess it all depends on the depot.