I'm looking at relocating to London and I've been struggling to find out what trainee bus drivers get paid. What I know so far is that arriva pays already-pcv drivers £25-27k (according to its own website), so I presume a trainee is somewhere between that and minimum wage.
I also am intrigued about what the free TFL travel pass includes. Some operators say bus, tube and tram, one mentions overground too. Do any drivers on here get mainline rail discounts too?
The reason this is important to me is because I have assessment days booked with two bus operators and my wife is awaiting a start date on a new job. So the bus salary and exact contents of the tfl pass literally influences where we can live in London
Oh, and I hope to heck I pass at least one of the assessments, not a lot of south London driving experience!
TfL bus operator bus pass is valid on Bus, Underground, Tram, TfL Rail and the Overground
That is my understanding - and the DLR of course. And I think that Crossrail will be included when it opens.
You can also nominate a second person (does not need to be a relative or in a legally recognised relationship, but they do need to prove they live at the same address) for a similar pass. Although be aware that while this is long standing, it is not contractual, and the conservative mayoral candidate has already said he will scrap it (at present, the 'nominated person' not the employee pass that is but who knows) if elected, and is quoting figures that suggest each such person is costing TFL the equivalent of an all zones annual travelcard (which is not the case as many will only use it occasionally)
As for pay rates, it's difficult to nail down.
Some companies will quote an 'average earnings' figure or an 'up to' figure which may include a lot of overtime / rest day work.
Quoting an hourly rate is not the full picture, as some operators pay enhanced rates for 'unsocial hours' (the exact definition of which will vary from one operator to another) or if your time worked and / or spreadover (time from sign on to sign off) in any particular day goes over a threshold; others pay a 'consolidated' hourly rate - usually a higher headline figure - without any of that. Some operators pay 'spreadover' (i.e. meal break is paid), some just pay 'time worked' (i.e. it isn't), some pay spreadover minus X minutes' break (i.e. somewhere between the two)
Some of the bigger operators in London have different terms and conditions at different garages, either as a result of negotiations in the past, or because the current operation includes bits that they have taken over from other operators at some point. And some have rates / sets of terms and conditions that are 'closed' (i.e. only drivers who were already in post as at X date can be on that particular grade.)
Generally speaking, trainee PCV drivers are not going to get full rate - I'd say somewhere around London Living Wage (currently 10.55 an hour) for the training period, but it is going to be a few weeks not a few months. And yes, you will owe them money if you quit within the first two years.
Bus driver wage rates generally increase with each year of service for a few years (not normally now linked to size of bus like it was in the post-deregulation era) and sometimes things like holiday entitlement does as well. If you join as an existing PCV holder you normally skip the first year rate (or two), on the other hand, progress from one year to another can be conditional on conduct / safety record.
It can be 5 or even 10 years before you get to top rate. Mayor Khan has promised a scheme where you keep this seniority if you move operators - I'm not sure how far this has got to happening. Some operators occasionally offer this in recruitment advertising.
Length of service can count towards choice of what rota you go on (most London drivers just work one route, but it can be two or more routes in one rota; some operators offer early / middle / late / spreadover rotas, some don't) - traditionally on London Transport, there tended to be one route or rota at each garage that tended to be the 'old codgers' route (usually something reasonably suburban) and this can still happen.
One thing to be aware of in London is that (broadly speaking) each route is a separate contract for 5 - 7 years. If you're on a rota that works just / mainly one route, and that route passes to another operator, then (again generally) you are liable to transfer to the new operator, on your existing terms and conditions, but obviously from a different depot (some routes move further than others - for example Go Ahead and Abellio have depots almost across the road from each other at Camberwell, but some routes can move a bit of a distance.) - search on TUPE regulations if you want to know more (this is derived from EU law so may get quietly ditched in the coming years)
If this happens, depending on how well staffed they are at the time, old operator may say to route X drivers "you have the right to transfer to new operator if you want, but you can stay with us and move to another route / garage if you want" but they may say "sorry but you have got to transfer" - they broadly have to say the same thing to all affected drivers, they can't use it as an excuse to pick and choose.
As for mainline rail discounts, I believe some of the London operators who are part of groups that also have rail franchises do have discount season ticket schemes with 'their' train companies, but there isn't any deal for bus workers across the whole of TFL-land, and of course it is only as good as the life of a rail franchise.
Also, be aware that buses run a much longer operating day in London than pretty much anywhere else. Early shifts that start as early as 0330 and / or late shifts that finish as late as 0230 are not unknown. Some garages have parking space but a lot don't (some of the garages are 100 years old and the idea of bus drivers running cars wasn't really a thing then) and staff buses have not disappeared completely, but are less common than they were when it was all LT (although there are a lot more public night buses now)
Regular night work is a thing (and usually pays either a higher hourly rate or a lump sum enhancement) but you're unlikely to get on to regular night work for a few years.
