Bus driver to Train driver

[notadriver]

Who's made the jump from bus driver to train driver? I'll start off with myself and I believe 455driver was on the buses too. Anyone else here please ?

 

[driver9000]

Yes and I've never looked back

 

[anthony263]

Currently in the process myself if I am sucessful with FGW

 

[bigbad82]

I made the move to Stagecoach recently to start the transition onto the Rails.

 

[scotraildriver]

I went from being a PCV instructor - does that count although never actually worked bus driver shifts? Have to say train driving is a lot less stressful than bus driving the majority of the time.

 

[TOCDriver]

I did have a class 1 HGV many years back doing Supermarket depot delivery work

 

[notadriver]

I went from being a PCV instructor - does that count although never actually worked bus driver shifts? Have to say train driving is a lot less stressful than bus driving the majority of the time.

It most definitely counts as you drove a pcv. I'm a coach driver and whilst train driving is less stressful than bus driving I find I need to concentrate far more driving a train. I find the coach driving easier.

 

[scotraildriver]

Yes I agree that concentration is a much bigger factor in train driving. Also the amount of damage and potential fatalities that could occur in making a train driving mistake is massive and the knowledge (rule books, procedures etc) is on a different level to bus drivers.

However, I maintain the view that on an ordinary day, when everything goes to plan, bus drivers have by far the more stressful job for around half the pay. They deserve a big pay rise for what they deal with.

 

[Class2ldn]

Yeah ive sort of. Had a job in the ambulance service after leaving the coaches at NX but hated it. Still miss the driving though.

 

[Daniel84]

I just wondered if there are any current bus drivers on here who can offer advice on the reality if the job. I am interested in applying for a vacancy recently advertised with stagecoach, the fully trained wage would be a pay cut, but the job appeals to me in some of the same ways a train driving role does.

I just wondered if there is much scope for overtime? What type of shifts there are and how the job is on general? I've heard that people don't tend to last too long.

I don't necessarily mind the drop in pay as long as I'm not walking in to a horror job and would appreciate any info from those in the know.

Cheers

Dan

 

[notadriver]

Hi Dan I'm not a current full time bus driver but I have worked for Stagecoach and I drive coaches occasionally at the moment. May I ask where this job is ? For me the location matters (city/rural). Also what job do you do now and is it a big drop in salary?

 

[driver9000]

It has been some years since I was in the bus industry but my experience of it was long hours (12hrs with unpaid meal break) and low pay driving old buses. Stagecoach is made up of lots of smaller 'companies' each with their own pay scales and conditions. When I drove there were 2 pay bands - Minibus and Conventional with the work kept in separate rosters. There was always overtime going and the front door of the garage was a revolving door of staff - the driving school was always full! I saw a lot of new starters quit within 6-12 months but on the other hand some stayed and are still there now.

I used to work a 45 hour roster with some very long days over 11hrs in length and including 'split' shifts where you would work the morning peaks, go home for 4-5 hours and then come back in for the evening peaks. Looking back on my old roster there were one or two short duties but in the main they were nearer 10hrs than say 5-6hrs. I was mainly city/urban work with a bit of rural thrown in here and there. A lot of driving was done every day. I'm probably not painting the job in a very good light and don't want to put you off but this is my views and my experience of working on the buses and speaking to some still there it hasn't changed much.

 

[Daniel84]

Thanks for the feedback, the job is based in Manchester and would be quite urban I would have thought. Assuming the same 35 hours week as I work now I'd be taking about a £5K pay cut fully trained, as well as losing other benefits and favourable working patterns I currently have.

However, money isn't everything and if I thought the job could offer something more suited to me than my current non challenging office job and ultimately one day help me to become a train driver then I would seriously consider applying. Looking at the comments above and hearing from different people it does seem a gamble and could go either way.

 

[455driver]

I am no longer a bus driver but we were on a 42 hour week, a 35 hour week seems a little on the low side.

 

[Daniel84]

I am no longer a bus driver but we were on a 42 hour week, a 35 hour week seems a little on the low side.

I don't know how good I've got it do I, haha. I only work Monday to Thursday as well. The 42 hour week would help to take the pay more in line with what I'm on now at least.

I think I'm going to apply and take it from there, they may well take the decision for me. Thanks again.

 

[90019]

I do a 48 hour week spread over four days, but I opted to stay on the single decks because I like the days off on the four day rota.

 

[NI 271]

I was a driver from 1992-2003, but I stayed with the company and worked as a controller/supervisor (the job title changes fairly frequently as they add more work and responsibilities), and am currently a staff manager. I have worked (driving) on the last three Saturdays and will be doing so again this week and hopefully next as well. If I was honest, the reason I don't drive full time is that it'd mean a hefty pay cut but I love the job.

Whether anyone else does may well be down to the conditions, I work for one of the big guns in part of the business that was previously the dominant operator round here, so big workforce, reasonably powerful union membership (although not in the same league as the rail unions, certainly as far as solidarity goes), and as a result, our A rate drivers are reasonably well paid compared to the industry average. There's still split shifts, which I always swapped for lates (I can't believe how many drivers will do anything to get out of a late turn, they're by a distance the easiest shifts), and lots of rotas will have a mix of lates, middles and earlies in the same week, but if you're cut out for the job, you soon get used to it. The job is as stressful as you let it be, but since I moved out of full time driving, it feels like money for nothing when I drive nowadays. Many drivers think I'm mad for still driving because not many people earn significantly less for overtime than their normal rate of pay, but I genuinely enjoy it, it's certainly better than being cooped up in an office dealing with other people's problems.

I do appreciate if I lived elsewhere things may be very different, but as far as I'm concerned, bus driving is an awful lot better than working for a living. What's more, if you've never worked shifts, weekends, bank holidays etc before, it'll tell you whether working (better) shifts on the trains is for you or not, and you will DEFINITELY learn how to deal with awkward passengers. I had a driver manager interview last December with Northern, and answered every question with experiences I'd had at work. It felt like it had been scripted for me.

 

[notadriver]

Hi Daniel84
As a new entrant into the bus industry they can be very picky about who they choose to train up to PCV standard. And once you could be on the starter rate of pay for some years working the worst city routes and working overtime to get a living wage.

Will it lead to a train drivers job? It helps but there are no guarantees. Whilst yes there are a few ex bus drivers at my depot, most are conductors - very very few have made it to driver and very many aspire to the train driver position like NI271.

My experience of bus drivers was doing the driver Cpc to keep my pcv entitlement. Not one was happy with the job - many did it as a stop gap. Main complaints were low pay, poor treatment by customers and management alike. Coach driving - which I do is rather different. Not as much pay but the work and vehicles are so much better.

 

[Daniel84]

After spending some time reading various opinions and weighing up my current situation I have decided against applying, it would take too long to get back to where I am now and there seems to be lots of negatives from people in the job. On the face of it I feel I am more suited to that line of work than my current job, but will keep plodding on and hope something else comes up.

 

[90019]

After spending some time reading various opinions and weighing up my current situation I have decided against applying, it would take too long to get back to where I am now and there seems to be lots of negatives from people in the job. On the face of it I feel I am more suited to that line of work than my current job, but will keep plodding on and hope something else comes up.

If you think it's something you'll enjoy, don't let a few negative opinions change your view.

You'll find people in depots who will moan and complain about everything, and constantly tell you how bad it all is. Then you ask how long they've been there and get a reply along the lines of 25 years. My experience is that the worst moaners often turn out to be the people who've been in the job the longest - but if it's so bad, why are they still there?

I can't speak for Stagecoach, but even working the 12 hour shifts on my rota, I don't find it a particularly tricky job to do. To be honest, most of the time I barely consider it to be work. Yes, there are aspects I don't like (the passengers, mainly), but it's not enough to put me off the job.
Some people do find it stressful, but that's just down to the individual. If you worry about your time and get frustrated by the traffic, then of course you're going to get stressed. The trick is to just not worry and do what you can.
When I started, I used to worry about my time and trying to get the bus back on time if something made me late, but after a couple of months I realised that it was making me take risks I shouldn't, and I've since mellowed and calmed down a lot. Obviously, if I can, I'll keep the bus on time, but I'm not going to take lots of risks to do it.

I've now been driving buses for about 16 months, and still love the job. The general atmosphere in the depot is a pretty positive one, and most of the drivers I know are happy to be doing the job. The pay will never be the best, but as we're the highest paid bus drivers outside London, I'm certainly not complaining.


I suppose it depends what you want out of it. If you're just wanting to use it as a springboard to get onto the railways, personally I wouldn't bother. You'd be better off trying to get a job on the railways in the first place rather than the buses, in my opinion.

 

[NI 271]

You'll find people in depots who will moan and complain about everything, and constantly tell you how bad it all is. Then you ask how long they've been there and get a reply along the lines of 25 years. My experience is that the worst moaners often turn out to be the people who've been in the job the longest - but if it's so bad, why are they still there?

Ha, that's almost word for word what one of our driver trainers says every course he takes...and absolutely true.

 

[RJ]

I did/do bus driving because I love it. The vehicles and the passengers are the fun bits, I don't bother with workplace politics.

That said, when I was a London service driver, I was on a contract that was perfect - 2 days a week, full travel facilities and no shortage of overtime available, so I got to pick and choose which shifts I did. For a uni student, the pay was ok considering most others work in retail and other NMW jobs - near £16 an hour for doing the best shifts of them all - the night buses and the ability to clean up during the holidays.

Too many drivers moan about everything - I just left them to it. Do a job that you love and you'll never work again!

 

[notadriver]

Just looking for an update. Have any bus drivers applied for and been successful in getting any trainee driver positions recently ?

 

[Rocombe11]

I am a driver for Stagecoach and I would say that to try the job wouldn't be a bad move. There are many similarities with the railways, you could answer all the cbi questions with your experience of training and working as bus driver for both train driver and conductor grades-even the emergency one!

I began working for Stagecoach 18 months ago and 9 months ago decided to try and get a role as train driver. Thus far, out of 6 applications for the railways, one was a rejection, 4 are ongoing, and one I failed at CBI stage (that was for conductor so didn't affect my applications for the driving grade) but was useful practice for the CBI that I sat for the driver role which I passed.

It will if anything give you a taster of what it would be like to work under the conditions that I would expect to find working on the railways-the phrase that sticks in my mind at two interviews is "this is a highly regulated industry" meaning to me everything that you do will be scrutinised and if you make any mistakes you will be hauled into the office, disciplinaries galore, and that is not for everyone, I for one absolutely hated working under those conditions to start with but I soon recognised that things can be very black and white, don't make mistakes and follow the rule book they can't touch you. It will give you an idea of the shifts involved, say goodbye to having every weekend off, you will work 9 days in a row, 4am starts one week and 2am finishes the next. As to dealing with the general public, not that you will much as a train driver, you will discover that while most people are pleasant, you will meet obnoxious morons and on some days you will feel that every obnoxious moron has decided to get on your bus.
But on the whole I would say, give it go, you may love the job-to me it is money for old rope. I would say that it will show you if you have the temperament to cut it as train driver, if you are one of those bus drivers constantly on the radio to control getting stressed out of your head because of this problem or that, then train driving probably isn't for you and you won't have wasted months/years getting a job that you will hate.

 

[Urobach]

Just looking for an update. Have any bus drivers applied for and been successful in getting any trainee driver positions recently ?

Have just made this jump and am one of two ex bus drivers on the course

 

[notadriver]

Have just made this jump and am one of two ex bus drivers on the course

Glad to hear it. How long were you driving buses for? I saw you also were at university?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I am a driver for Stagecoach and I would say that to try the job wouldn't be a bad move. There are many similarities with the railways, you could answer all the cbi questions with your experience of training and working as bus driver for both train driver and conductor grades-even the emergency one!

I began working for Stagecoach 18 months ago and 9 months ago decided to try and get a role as train driver. Thus far, out of 6 applications for the railways, one was a rejection, 4 are ongoing, and one I failed at CBI stage (that was for conductor so didn't affect my applications for the driving grade) but was useful practice for the CBI that I sat for the driver role which I passed.

It will if anything give you a taster of what it would be like to work under the conditions that I would expect to find working on the railways-the phrase that sticks in my mind at two interviews is "this is a highly regulated industry" meaning to me everything that you do will be scrutinised and if you make any mistakes you will be hauled into the office, disciplinaries galore, and that is not for everyone, I for one absolutely hated working under those conditions to start with but I soon recognised that things can be very black and white, don't make mistakes and follow the rule book they can't touch you. It will give you an idea of the shifts involved, say goodbye to having every weekend off, you will work 9 days in a row, 4am starts one week and 2am finishes the next. As to dealing with the general public, not that you will much as a train driver, you will discover that while most people are pleasant, you will meet obnoxious morons and on some days you will feel that every obnoxious moron has decided to get on your bus.
But on the whole I would say, give it go, you may love the job-to me it is money for old rope. I would say that it will show you if you have the temperament to cut it as train driver, if you are one of those bus drivers constantly on the radio to control getting stressed out of your head because of this problem or that, then train driving probably isn't for you and you won't have wasted months/years getting a job that you will hate.

Hi mate.. Good luck in your quest and I hope you achieve your dream soon. As an ex-full time bus driver I am very interested in those who manage to make the jump.

 

[Urobach]

Glad to hear it. How long were you driving buses for? I saw you also were at university?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

WAS being the word lol

Driving buses for 3 and a half years pal

 

[notadriver]

WAS being the word lol

Driving buses for 3 and a half years pal

Same path with me although it took a lot longer to go driving for me.

 

[NI 271]

I am a driver for Stagecoach and I would say that to try the job wouldn't be a bad move. There are many similarities with the railways, you could answer all the cbi questions with your experience of training and working as bus driver for both train driver and conductor grades-even the emergency one!

I began working for Stagecoach 18 months ago and 9 months ago decided to try and get a role as train driver. Thus far, out of 6 applications for the railways, one was a rejection, 4 are ongoing, and one I failed at CBI stage (that was for conductor so didn't affect my applications for the driving grade) but was useful practice for the CBI that I sat for the driver role which I passed.

It will if anything give you a taster of what it would be like to work under the conditions that I would expect to find working on the railways-the phrase that sticks in my mind at two interviews is "this is a highly regulated industry" meaning to me everything that you do will be scrutinised and if you make any mistakes you will be hauled into the office, disciplinaries galore, and that is not for everyone, I for one absolutely hated working under those conditions to start with but I soon recognised that things can be very black and white, don't make mistakes and follow the rule book they can't touch you. It will give you an idea of the shifts involved, say goodbye to having every weekend off, you will work 9 days in a row, 4am starts one week and 2am finishes the next. As to dealing with the general public, not that you will much as a train driver, you will discover that while most people are pleasant, you will meet obnoxious morons and on some days you will feel that every obnoxious moron has decided to get on your bus.
But on the whole I would say, give it go, you may love the job-to me it is money for old rope. I would say that it will show you if you have the temperament to cut it as train driver, if you are one of those bus drivers constantly on the radio to control getting stressed out of your head because of this problem or that, then train driving probably isn't for you and you won't have wasted months/years getting a job that you will hate.

Great post, especially the bit in bold. I was a bus driver for over ten years and have been working as a supervisor and manager since - also over ten years. I am off tomorrow and Saturday but I'm going to spend 15+ hours driving over those days, realistically because we're currently under-staffed but also because I still love driving. Interesting you use the term "money for old rope" as it's one I've used since the early 90s in regards to the job, the drivers who get stressed are those who cause it themselves. It will come as no surprise to find they are the ones who find themselves sat across the desk from me in disciplinary interviews much more frequently than those who turn up, do the job, and go home.

In truth, part of the reason I want to go driving trains is that I have had enough of clearing up other people's problems, and want to go back to a job where I am effectively my own boss, knowing that as long as I do my job correctly I aren't going to get any grief from above or below.

 

[ultra4]

It has been some years since I was in the bus industry but my experience of it was long hours (12hrs with unpaid meal break) and low pay driving old buses. Stagecoach is made up of lots of smaller 'companies' each with their own pay scales and conditions. When I drove there were 2 pay bands - Minibus and Conventional with the work kept in separate rosters. There was always overtime going and the front door of the garage was a revolving door of staff - the driving school was always full! I saw a lot of new starters quit within 6-12 months but on the other hand some stayed and are still there now.

I used to work a 45 hour roster with some very long days over 11hrs in length and including 'split' shifts where you would work the morning peaks, go home for 4-5 hours and then come back in for the evening peaks. Looking back on my old roster there were one or two short duties but in the main they were nearer 10hrs than say 5-6hrs. I was mainly city/urban work with a bit of rural thrown in here and there. A lot of driving was done every day. I'm probably not painting the job in a very good light and don't want to put you off but this is my views and my experience of working on the buses and speaking to some still there it hasn't changed much.

As above!
and do not forget the passenger factor.
Try here in Birmingham with NX.
ONE day on our OUTER CIRCLE route and your dreams about being a bus driver shall be cured forever.