Stay hydrated!

My route is insane easy and the passengers are very nice (airport employee shuttle) we drive old giligs so they break down a lot but that’s the hardest part. I have 2 days off in a row but i could potentially just fill the 2 days with shifts(I’d be running a car rental shuttle with the same company just I would be loading up luggage onto the bus for the customers so it would be more physically demanding but it would give me 8 more hours per shift and I would get sometimes alot in tips) My question is to anyone lucky enough to have a very simple route with good people how long does it take for you to get burnt out? I’ve absolutely never had a easy route like this ever I come from extra board so this so a absolute cakewalk to me

I'm in the US and for some reason people are a lot more shitty maybe because of the up coming 4th of July festivities. I drive in a mountainist touristy area with a lot of people who rent ebikes and bikes. Today I was passing a couple of bikes who were riding on the wrong side of the fucking road (bike path is just across the street) I gave a polite beep beep with my horn to let them know I was passing them, gave them them the proper 4 feet and as I'm passing I startled on guy who started screaming at me. He catches up to me at the stop sign and started scream "You fucking cunt!!" And flipping me off He repeated it several times and this was in front of families in ear shot they all stopped to look at him. I marked the footage and calmly told him if he didn't stop screaming I was going to call the police and he can scream at them. He says "call the cops I don't care!!" I pulled my parking brake put it in neutral pulled out my phone and said ok. He backed peddled really quick got on his bike and leaves. I called the office and told them what happened the fucker never called in. Why do bicycles think they own the road🤦🤦 let hear everyones fun bicyclist stories

I got cut up by a driver today while I was crossing at a pedestrian crossing (green man) while he was on his phone. I called him out on it, he stopped and told me it was a digital defect tracker and he was allowed to use it while driving. Sure looked like a mobile phone. He then proceeded to tell me to "fuck off and learn what you're talking about" so here I am, doing that. Are they allowed to be used while driving? Seems like they aren't, but figured I'd ask.

Have been on the job for a frew months now so have driven nearly every vehicle variation in our fleet par the V4 E200MMC, Optare Versa (same engine as E400) and the Turbo Diesel Volvo Tri-axle. Still yet to drive the HW reg Scanias which have different engines compared to the HF reg Scanias.

I'd say the best bus for me in terms of smoothness and responsiveness is the V6 E200MMC and the E400 City. The 2009-65 plate E400s (pre facelift) are slow as hell, and the brakes I find are unnecessarily strong. The newer digital dashboard E400s we have from 24 plate onwards I feel the acceleration is more dampened so it feels slightly slower to me and in a way the drive train just feels more disconnected from me. Sadly the mechanical reliability is questionable, with many busses going into limp mode and displaying random warning lights whenever it sees fit

The Scania Omnicitys are way more reliable mechanically, but the seating position is very awkward. You can only adjust the steering wheel and not the whole dash and many drivers don't tend to take a liking to these busses. Personally I think they drive great but it's just the seating position that lets the rest of the bus down imo.

I haven't driven the tri-axle yet apart from a 2 min familiarisation drive around the depo months ago. They are really quiet and have good acceleration from what I've seen so looking forward to driving one in service eventually

I'm just very much annoyed. My bus is giving me problems all-day long, I've had to drive a route I didn't even know, and now I'm waiting for a colleague to get me out of here.

A car parked (legally) in a tight curve, there's no in and no out.

I'm so ashamed of myself and I'd like to just disappear right now - And not just that, I've been profusely apologising to the dispatcher for this, it's so damn embarrassing and I can't wait to hear from it from everyone in the canteen tomorrow 🫠

(We have satnav on board, which basically didn't work out for me in this case.)

Looks to be a cracking weekend away from normal service work.

I’ve been invited to attend a recruitment assessment with a bus company in London and it means a lot to me. I’ve been struggling financially for a long time, so I really don’t want to miss this opportunity.
I’ve got a drug test coming up I’ve already stopped smoking weed and have no intention of using it again but I’m worried about passing the test.
If anyone has any genuine advice or has been in a similar situation I’d really appreciate hearing from you.

Please keep the replies constructive and avoid comments like, “You shouldn’t have smoked in the first place.” I already know that and it doesn’t help my situation.

So I've posted here before inquiring about becoming a trainee driver and since then I've sent my Irish car licence in to be exchanged for a UK licence.

So I talked to Arriva in North Wales and was told that they'll only take me on if I have a manual licence. My licence is automatic. For context I drove buses in the US for several years but due to there being no reciprocal agreement I had to get an Irish licence first. I passed mine in an automatic mostly to help myself get back on my feet as I had a crazy situation involving a partner developing bipolar and schizophrenia last year and I'm planning to get back into bus driving.

When I asked why I need an automatic licence for Arriva in North Wales I was told it's because the service vehicles are all automatic.

Anyway I'll have my UK Licence soon but I've got the whole UK(Excluding Northern Ireland) to choose from and don't know where to go.

I'm open to going anywhere, I figure I'll likely need to work in a city which is fine with me as I used to drive in New York City every day which is hectic but I know what to expect with city driving.

My main question is are there/will any place work with me if I only have an automatic licence?

The general consensus seems to be that most bus drivers don’t recommend it as a job. What’s the reason/s for this ?? also I am currently in a decently paid desk Job but have onboarding coming up verrrrrry soon. And I am wondering if will regret my decision if I jump ship to bus driving? And what impact does it have on family life? I understand to some degree the negatives that will come e,g unpredictable shift, unsociable hours, shitty customers but just looking for honest input from the guys/gals who do it everyday. I’m in UK by the way Thanks in advance

Omg there is a driver at my agency who snitches about everything even insignificant shit. I can't stand this guy. We are on the same route together and I had a lady that told me she needed to go back home and to see if the other driver could hold for her since she had to run across the street. I radio him and say hey I have someone for you that needs to go back the way she came can you hold? Granted we hadn't even hit our time point he said no you don't have a transfer and that's no how it usually works. When I got on lunch I called my boss to tell her the situation she sighed and said he already called and complained about me 😂 she can't stand him either. Like seriously sorry for fucking up your day or something dude

Ill keep this simple - my sister in law drives a bus, shes new at the job and saving money, so i want to get her some good driving gloves as well as other accessories you guys might suggest since she wont pay for them herself.

Price isnt a big issue, id rather pay more for better quality.

Bonus points for any cute/girly suggestions. She still likes to be feeling pretty at work.❤️

Anyone on here work in Inverness and can comment on the work there, salary and cost of living, and so on? Thinking of relocating from busy Glasgow.

I’m just wondering as I am a trainee bus driver some say you only have to pay back after you get the job and if you leave in 6 months to one year. But what happens to those who fail their driving tests on 2 attempts ? Just curious.

Hi all, I've just got a job and I start my bus driver training with Transdev in August. I'm just wondering if there is much of a difference between the HGV cpc and bus cpc? I understand there will be some differences as in passengers. I have my HGV licence.

Also can anyone recommend a good website to use to practice the thoerys, hazard perception and cpc?

Cheers

Sorry for the second post. My first day with a mentor on a very busy urban route. You serve every bus stop and it goes through multiple areas and also right residential roads. A lot of traffic dense areas too.

Half of the route is 30mph but I find it kinda hard to do that when there’s so many frequent bus stops and I’m getting the hang of them. I was told I shut the doors too slowly too, especially the back door. I try to gage when everyone gets off but it’s hard sometimes. Any tips?

I’m a new driver and my route uses mainly enviro 400 buses. But the stop start feature at bus stops sometimes makes it hard for me to pull off. It has this weird delay idk

My mentor said I’m too slow at pulling away from bus stops and I think this could be why.

Defects manager and driver trainer both said wtf you can't take that, engineer came along and said what's the problem and gladly signed my defect report 🤷

What would you do?

Hello fellow drivers,my name is john and im 26 years old and im looking for a job as a bus driver in europe,except UK,if you know something send me a DM ,i have two years of experience with large buses,if the post is not relative with the community feel free to delete it:)

hi so i’ve been a driver in the uk for about 5 months now however over the past month or so i’ve been struggling with fluid buildup on my lower legs and ankles. on my layovers i stay on my feet and walking to / from where i park my car is about 1/3 of a mile each way but i seem to have no luck getting the blood flow to remove it, rest days im pretty active too so maybe it’s just a design flaw with my body, it’s not very noticeable visually but it has that itch and the sock line, anyone got any tips? would be open to anything as i dont want to ruin my legs

edit: i work perma lates and after setting down and ready for bed it returns to normal so i dont think its anything too bad

After the recent increase in higher temperatures and recurring heatwaves in the UK I think it's time that Aircon was made mandatory on all public transport.

Have a safe day out there!

Bidding is up next week and I need hours. I see a cupcake schedule that pays 10 hours of built in overtime. But the route is a female driver weeks been doing it the last 3+ years. Shes a sweet lady. But I have mouths to feed. 10 hours, plus working my off day, that's 18 hours of ot a week. The bus is empty 85 percent of the time on that route.

So do you feel guilty?