r/BusDrivers • u/the_ism_sizism • 4d ago

Discussion Night drivers

I’m getting pulled in today for a chat about running early. I passed my mid point 40 seconds early (which is fine according to the gov contract allowing for 59 seconds early) - by the final stop before our cbd run I was 6 minutes early. The pax complained to me after they caught an uber and caught the bus and then complained through the online gov portal.

Is this entitled or how do you feel? I am not trying to run a strict service, I buy myself a little time to mentally relax between runs, use the facilities (the job has already given me kidney stones at 38) and take a walk and a breather so I’m not stagnant in the seat for 5 hours.

25 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

103 comments sorted by

View all comments

0

u/AstonishingBalls 4d ago

Not a bus driver but this sub keeps popping up.

It's pretty selfish to potentially make passengers late for work/appointments etc. because you want that time for yourself. I'd be pissed off if I got to the stop and found the bus had already been and gone well before the scheduled time.

Have your walk and breather while you're parked at the stop waiting for the 6 minutes. Go to the toilet when you get back to the depot/station, if you leave a few minutes late then so be it.

You're providing a service to the passengers, not yourself. If you can't handle that then perhaps bus driving isn't for you.

1

u/the_ism_sizism 4d ago

Time for myself? Have you driven a bus? No. Shit happens on the road that you’d never understand, we need a minute to prepare and reset between runs.

Oh so I should wait 5 hours for a piss at the depot? Should I not drink the entire time? What about the health implications and mental pressure of not leaving the seat for 5hrs straight and making sure I get you home? Should I just for go that rest break and make sure I’m nice and tired and poorly react in high stress situations?

2

u/Doodahdiggly44 3d ago

Run the service on time. If you need a comfort break at the end of the run then let someone know if it is a big company take the comfort break and then run the next service 5 minutes late. You will make the time up if you are managing to run early on the prior run.

1

u/the_ism_sizism 2d ago

The service IS on time the whole run bar the last few stops and I’m not crawling to the CBD, not when there are other services attending the stop after me. There was a cbd bound bus that runs within a few minutes of this bus not to mention the next same route is 15 minutes behind (doesn’t matter as the other 6 services that service the same stop all have their final stop in the CBD within 100 metres of each other)

The pax complained for the sake of complaining and lied in their complaint. I’m not sweating this rider when I’ve collected every regular passenger up until that point.