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Post by snoggle on Jul 6, 2017 17:17:03 GMT
Yeah, he got a 2 year one for performance lol. I wish 🤣. It's more like a "round 2" rather than an extension, but various managers recommended to me that if I was free during the summer, which I was, then I was welcome to return, so I am doing so. I assume you are being paid for your efforts?
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Post by towertransit70 on Jul 13, 2017 14:21:58 GMT
Zubin 434, seeing as u were enjoying your work experience, I have emailed stagecoach london about doing work experience during the summer holidays. Hopefully if they can accommodate me, then I could be in your position. Good luck to me🤗
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Post by YY13VKP on Jul 13, 2017 15:47:48 GMT
Zubin 434, seeing as u were enjoying your work experience, I have emailed stagecoach london about doing work experience during the summer holidays. Hopefully if they can accommodate me, then I could be in your position. Good luck to me🤗 Best of luck mate!
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Post by towertransit70 on Jul 13, 2017 16:21:30 GMT
Thanks. By the way, did any of your teachers and friends reacted in a surprising way because u got yourself work experience in a bus garage or were they fine with that
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Post by snoggle on Jul 13, 2017 17:30:39 GMT
Thanks. By the way, did any of your teachers and friends reacted in a surprising way because u got yourself work experience in a bus garage or were they fine with that My experience, a long time ago, was that people thought a job in transport was for "Losers". There was, and still is, a general lack of understanding of the role that transport plays in making a society function effectively. To be fair to the transport companies and some education outlets I think there is a far greater understanding now that a career in transport is not for losers. If you can "hack it" then it is also likely to give you secure employment for life. Companies also realise that the upheavals from bus deregulation and BR privatisation caused a massive glitch in the supply of fresh talent into the industry who could take things forward. Both NBC and BR had good management training programmes but these were destroyed. Only in more recent times has it dawned on TfL, Network Rail, Stagecoach and others that they have to both take on graduates and also apprentices *and* also develop the talented people they already employ. When I studied for my degree there were options for marketing, banking, finance and transport. Those of us who did transport where somewhat sneered upon by those chasing the money in banking / finance and those looking for a profile in marketing (it was the 80s after all!). I recall bumping into one of my fellow students, a rather plummy accented chap from the Home Counties who did banking, at Victoria. After we had exchanged the necessary pleasantries he said "oh we all thought you were stupid doing transport but now I can see that it has a valuable role". Again in the 1980s LT and BR were really, really struggling to cope as passenger numbers boomed in the Lawson economic boom in the mid to late 80s. This rather raised the profile of transport as an issue because people were having hellish travelling conditions and then we had the Kings Cross fire. If you've got any sort of anxiety about doing transport as career then don't worry. What your peers think is not very important. If you find something you actually want to do and like doing then you'll be better off than many people who do tedious jobs they don't particularly enjoy. From what Zubin said I think his counterparts were possibly a bit jealous that he had such a good time and they didn't on their placements.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Jul 13, 2017 18:22:19 GMT
Thanks. By the way, did any of your teachers and friends reacted in a surprising way because u got yourself work experience in a bus garage or were they fine with that My experience, a long time ago, was that people thought a job in transport was for "Losers". There was, and still is, a general lack of understanding of the role that transport plays in making a society function effectively. To be fair to the transport companies and some education outlets I think there is a far greater understanding now that a career in transport is not for losers. If you can "hack it" then it is also likely to give you secure employment for life. Companies also realise that the upheavals from bus deregulation and BR privatisation caused a massive glitch in the supply of fresh talent into the industry who could take things forward. Both NBC and BR had good management training programmes but these were destroyed. Only in more recent times has it dawned on TfL, Network Rail, Stagecoach and others that they have to both take on graduates and also apprentices *and* also develop the talented people they already employ. When I studied for my degree there were options for marketing, banking, finance and transport. Those of us who did transport where somewhat sneered upon by those chasing the money in banking / finance and those looking for a profile in marketing (it was the 80s after all!). I recall bumping into one of my fellow students, a rather plummy accented chap from the Home Counties who did banking, at Victoria. After we had exchanged the necessary pleasantries he said "oh we all thought you were stupid doing transport but now I can see that it has a valuable role". Again in the 1980s LT and BR were really, really struggling to cope as passenger numbers boomed in the Lawson economic boom in the mid to late 80s. This rather raised the profile of transport as an issue because people were having hellish travelling conditions and then we had the Kings Cross fire. If you've got any sort of anxiety about doing transport as career then don't worry. What your peers thinks is not very important. If you find something you actually want to do and like doing then you'll be better off than many people who do tedious jobs they don't particularly enjoy. From what Zubin said I think his counterparts were possibly a bit jealous that he had such a good time and they didn't on their placements. That's a good thing that's come over the time, I remember back when I was a very small boy (like 4) my relatives would tell me "oh you better study hard otherwise you're gonna end up as a bus driver" however today I doubt the same thing would be repeated. Society has also changed a fair amount in the views of us transport geeks, with all the random sort of stuff people take pictures of these days such as food at a restaurant (need those insta likes ), just taking pictures of a normal bus is suddenly a lot more acceptable. Although in terms of transport enthusiasts in general bus enthusiasts seem to be the ones who people poke a lot of fun at. I know a lot of times my knowledge of buses has got me and my friends out of sticky situations. Some of them find it quite cool I can tell them if it's gonna be "the curvy bus" or the "box bus" before the bus arrives at the stop or is even visible in the distance. Just the other day in Waterloo me and my friends were going away for a few days and my friends were quite amazed how I managed to get them from the Jubilee Line straight onto the main concourse of the main line station rather than actually following the signs onto Waterloo Road. Another thing they found quite amusing was the fact that I could tell them exactly where a plane that was flying above us was going, so throughout the trip it was a case of "hey where's that plane going" and me responding. They were even quite impressed I knew flight numbers for the Emirates, Thai and a few BA flights.
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Post by YY13VKP on Jul 17, 2017 19:43:01 GMT
Thanks. By the way, did any of your teachers and friends reacted in a surprising way because u got yourself work experience in a bus garage or were they fine with that My experience, a long time ago, was that people thought a job in transport was for "Losers". There was, and still is, a general lack of understanding of the role that transport plays in making a society function effectively. To be fair to the transport companies and some education outlets I think there is a far greater understanding now that a career in transport is not for losers. If you can "hack it" then it is also likely to give you secure employment for life. Companies also realise that the upheavals from bus deregulation and BR privatisation caused a massive glitch in the supply of fresh talent into the industry who could take things forward. Both NBC and BR had good management training programmes but these were destroyed. Only in more recent times has it dawned on TfL, Network Rail, Stagecoach and others that they have to both take on graduates and also apprentices *and* also develop the talented people they already employ. When I studied for my degree there were options for marketing, banking, finance and transport. Those of us who did transport where somewhat sneered upon by those chasing the money in banking / finance and those looking for a profile in marketing (it was the 80s after all!). I recall bumping into one of my fellow students, a rather plummy accented chap from the Home Counties who did banking, at Victoria. After we had exchanged the necessary pleasantries he said "oh we all thought you were stupid doing transport but now I can see that it has a valuable role". Again in the 1980s LT and BR were really, really struggling to cope as passenger numbers boomed in the Lawson economic boom in the mid to late 80s. This rather raised the profile of transport as an issue because people were having hellish travelling conditions and then we had the Kings Cross fire. If you've got any sort of anxiety about doing transport as career then don't worry. What your peers thinks is not very important. If you find something you actually want to do and like doing then you'll be better off than many people who do tedious jobs they don't particularly enjoy. From what Zubin said I think his counterparts were possibly a bit jealous that he had such a good time and they didn't on their placements. Couldn't have said this better myself. And yes the last sentence is sorta true
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Post by YY13VKP on Jul 17, 2017 21:01:13 GMT
Just completed day 2 at Croydon,having a really good time so far. Here's what I've been up to. So on Wednesday I worked with the Engineering Administrator for most of the day, who I got on really well with. Most of the staff still remembered me from last time, which was great, although there had been a few changes, noticeably the offices being moved around, for example the Operating Manager's office had traded places with the Performance Manager's. I was also in company with another work experience student, this was one of the 355's drivers daughter, which was great. She was on her last day though, while my time was just beginning. I started off by creating a new contact sheet for other bus operators in the event someone called for lost property for a route which is not operated by C. While this was happening, I also took a lost property call. Once this was complete, I helped the engineering administrator file Vehicle Defect Cards and helping to ensure they were filled in correctly and sorting the correct ones into those with defects (so they can be passed to the engineers) and those without (so they can be filed). After this was done, I went downstairs to meet the engineers, as well as talking to them about faults on C buses. I finally got to know what's causing the whine on 192 - it is caused by the Turbo. I then got an exclusive look at WVL334, which happened to be the day before it entered service. Hants and Dorset have done a really good job on it! Cannot wait for the whole batch to be completed. I then spent the afternoon with one of the SGA's at the front counter, assigning drivers to their duties before moving to iBus. Go-Ahead have started a new programme for drivers known as the "iBus Experience". This is aimed to help drivers understand how controllers maintain the service as well as learning how the job works in case they wish to become a controller in the future. Croydon had a P12 driver from Peckham doing the iBus experience while I was there, sitting with one of the controllers before leaving to get to Trafalgar Square for the F1 Live London event. The Croydon iBus hub is a much more relaxed atmosphere compared to bigger hubs such as Stockwell, where controllers are always busy with Central London routes, there are so many more station and at Stockwell you also have the Performance Manager constantly monitoring, whereas at C, the performance manager checks in now and then. Today was my second day, and having caught the X26 in the morning upto Wallington Green to help family friends who were going to Heathrow, I decided to start in iBus. Before all that , i met the General Manager, who I met last time - but very briefly, and the Operating Managers. There had been a swap in Operating Managers between Croydon and Sutton, the AOM's remained the same though. In iBus, I shadowed the Run-Out controller, who was on shift till 11. He was controlling routes 130, 359, 405, 455 and X26. I then moved to mileage, where I helped to generate missing trip reports - mainly for routes 127 and 202 and attach them to duty cards so that they can be audited by TfL. I then had an interesting conversation with the engineering manager about the fleet, one of my primary interests within buses. I then sorted more duty cards before finishing again in iBus. Also saw more people I knew from last time, including the Driver Mentor who took me round the garage last time, the driver who took me on PVL386 on the last day of route 249, who was now at Croydon on loan from SW, and a few iBus controllers, as well as one SGA who I worked with last time AND drove my bus ( SE173) home on a standby duty! The fact they all remembered me made me really pleased. Really enjoying my time at Croydon, Tomorrow, the managing director of Go-Ahead London, John Trayner is visiting C for a performance meeting with the managers, so there might be a chance that I meet him as well as the expected return of 955 from refurb. Cannot wait!
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Post by YY13VKP on Jul 20, 2017 22:30:41 GMT
Finished at Croydon now sadly . Cannot believe these days have really flown by, but as they say, time flies when your having fun.  This is what I did in the past three days: So on Tuesday, the managing director of Go-Ahead London, John Trayner paid a visit to Croydon for a performance meeting with the managers. As he came in, the general manager introduced me to Mr Trayner and I spoke to him about how I enjoyed my work experience last time and my interest in buses. He is a very kind person and I am so glad I was given the opportunity to meet the head of London's Biggest Bus Company. I then helped generate missing trip reports for the mileage clerk.  For most of the day, I worked with the running shift engineers. I had a look at the work they were doing on WVL237 prior to its MOT the next day, then went with the engineers to look at different buses. I was then dispatched to West Croydon Bus Station with an engineer to sub WHV64 with 952. Nothing was wrong with WHV64, however it was required to operate the spreadover bus on route 202, and the 202 requires hybrids to be used, and as 952 was available, we swapped them over. I then finished the day by helping to produce a new allocation and running number list for the iBus hub. On Wednesday, I completed the iBus allocation sheet and helped the engineering manager to create a spreadsheet about upcoming modifications to the front springs on the Enviro 200 fleet. The SOE's were to be done first, followed by 189-192 and SE167-SE174. Whilst this was happening, 955 arrived from Hants and Dorset Trim and the whole engineering team went to inspect it. I then went with the engineering administrator after the inspection was done. Apart from a few marks on the handrails and the bonnet hanging loose, it was a pretty good refurb. I then did some more filing for engineering before seeing the General Manager and Performance Manager and gained an understanding on what they do within the garage, before moving to iBus.  While in there, the driver of SE171 on route 455 had called in to say he had a lost bag onboard, and the owner was coming for it, two buses behind. I then went out with the controller I shadowed to the stop outside the garage and we collected the bag from the driver before the driver continued, before handing it to the front desk. Also, the X26 was being controlled from the same work station and WVL344 (on bus C 5) had broken down in Kingston whilst on route X26 with the indicators not working, so an engineer was dispatched to Kingston to reset the battery. Whilst this was going on, we were thinking about which buses we could use to replace it on the X26 to save mileage, and since no ex ELT WVL's or E's were in the garage, it seemed there was about to be an ultra rare working about to take place. We first enquired with the engineers about using 949, already blinded for the X26, which had just returned from SW with a new ramp fitted, however after all this work, the ramp STILL didn't work, so we didn't send it out to save getting a fine. We also considered throwing 955, WHV79, WVL239 and even single decker 566 on the X26! However 955 was still being worked on, WHV79 went out on the 202 spreadover, WVL239 was an NSB and 566 did not have the blinds, so we had no option but to lose the mileage for the rest of the trip. Today was my last day at Croydon, and I brought several chocolate boxes for the teams in Croydon, as well as the manager, and of course the Engineering Administrator who was managing me throughout the time. I started today in iBus where it was a relatively quiet morning apart from SE174 going mechanical on route 455 and 211 breaking down again at Vulcan Way, being a non starter.We also had LDP256 returned to the garage as it had a smashed front blind screen.  We had someone from Crawley visit, before I headed into the main office. I helped the mileage clerk code some more mileage, and as he was ahead of schedule with his work, he was able to take me into the garage to see a few buses on spreadovers. As he was an ex driver at SW,  he knew how to start most of the buses up. We managed to get the following blinded for an odd route or a route it'll never go on: WVL334 for route 405 to Purley - The X26 buses only seem to have blinds for routes 293, 405 and X26. I'm very surprised they do not have the 119, 127 or 202 on them, especially as WVL338 had been out on the 127 previously. 567 blinded for routes 119 and 127 (This failed in a way as the front blind was annoyingly stuck on route 293 and wouldn't move) WHV71 blinded for route 64 562 blinded for route 119 - As this had YOB, the plan was to get this blinded for the X26, since Metrobus had won it back, but 1. It did not appear on the blind list, for some reason it was programmed for all the blinds that 189-192 have! This included the 434, so I selected that, but the blinds ended up continuously scrolling as the set did not have 434, and 2. The front blind was stuck on 293 again! I'm not sure if the 293's buses have had their front blind deactivated so they can only show route 293 and nothing else. E221 blinded for route 119 We then headed back in for lunch. However, during the lunch break, the AOM gave me a commendation for an X26 driver to trace, and I saw the filer's name. It was a fellow Croydon based enthusiast who I don't think is on this forum but is certainly on The Londoner Facebook page. Better still, I traced the duty card and it happened to be the same driver mentor who took me round the garage when I was at C in March. I had bumped into him a few times as well while I was at C this time around. Also, SE169 had come off the 455. Now this morning, I was hoping an SE would be on the 455 spreadover so I could set the blind on it to 434, but unfortunately SOE32 was allocated to bus 311. Today however, the spreadover bus had to go out earlier than expected due to a school finishing early, and as a result, it swapped duties with bus 308, which was SE169 and SE169 returned to the garage. As a result, I did manage to get it blinded for route 434 , and the mileage clerk allowed me to select more blinds, so I also changed it to routes 130 and 359 before I returned back into the admin office, and said goodbye to the team as they left, before I finished in iBus. This was another really good work experience placement, and was on a par with the two week work experience with the company. I learnt so much more about how Croydon operates, and met the whole team who were behind it, as well as learning more about how engineering works as well as about the buses itself. A massive thank you goes out to the management at Croydon for giving me another amazing opportunity and hopefully I will visit the garage again soon, as the managers said I was welcome back anytime.  Â
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Post by Alex on Jul 20, 2017 22:48:04 GMT
Finished at Croydon now sadly . Cannot believe these days have really flown by, but as they say, time flies when your having fun. Now....I didn't give you the 'like' because you were sad to have finished , take the positives from this, you're meeting people and getting a knowledge of the business - which is always very handy in the long run I'd just like to say thanks for posting your updates and taking the time to describe everything in so much detail. The posts give an excellent insight into the day of the life of a London bus garage, and it does sound exciting - I'm jealous! This is coming from someone who has worked in another bit of London's transport network for 11 years, so the stuff you've seen and done must be good Be proud of yourself and keep the interest going, study the theory stuff for driving and get that going as soon as you can, not saying you want to be a driver but it's something that's transferable to the bus industry, and it's related to the subject, and deffo keep in touch with your contacts as much as you can. Wishing you the best Zubin, cheers
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Post by YY13VKP on Jul 20, 2017 22:58:49 GMT
Finished at Croydon now sadly . Cannot believe these days have really flown by, but as they say, time flies when your having fun. Now....I didn't give you the 'like' because you were sad to have finished , take the positives from this, you're meeting people and getting a knowledge of the business - which is always very handy in the long run I'd just like to say thanks for posting your updates and taking the time to describe everything in so much detail. The posts give an excellent insight into the day of the life of a London bus garage, and it does sound exciting - I'm jealous! This is coming from someone who has worked in another bit of London's transport network for 11 years, so the stuff you've seen and done must be good Be proud of yourself and keep the interest going, study the theory stuff for driving and get that going as soon as you can, not saying you want to be a driver but it's something that's transferable to the bus industry, and it's related to the subject, and deffo keep in touch with your contacts as much as you can. Wishing you the best Zubin, cheers Thank you very much Alex! I am considering starting out as a driver as it gives you experience on most aspects of the industry, and it helps you to progress. Nearly everyone at C in a senior position started as drivers, even the managers at C started off as drivers. Also, the General Manager at C told me that there could be some part time work at Head Office which I may be interested in. This is something I'll look into over summer.
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Post by Alex on Jul 20, 2017 23:05:23 GMT
Also, the General Manager at C told me that there could be some part time work at Head Office which I may be interested in. This is something I'll look into over summer. No worries at all and glad to hear there might be an opening coming up soon (though I hope it's the head office of the London operation and not wayyyy up north!), driving is indeed interesting. I'm doing my lessons now (aged nearly 35) and it's an eye opener. Though I can drive the vehicle ok, the theory side is much more in depth than you'd think - when you go into every little detail. I'm determined to learn all the details though as I want to be a good driver for my wife (who is expecting our baby in November), if you can master it while younger and presumably less pressure on, it's something that will work out very well
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Post by ​galwhv69 on Sept 9, 2018 13:07:12 GMT
Sorry for randomly posting in this thread after a long time of no new posts on this thread How old do you have to be to start work experience at a garage? Can it be done in conjunction to school time or can it only be done during the holidays?
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Post by YY13VKP on Nov 13, 2018 21:06:39 GMT
Sorry for randomly posting in this thread after a long time of no new posts on this thread How old do you have to be to start work experience at a garage? Can it be done in conjunction to school time or can it only be done during the holidays? Apologies for the very late reply, for some reason this didn't appear on my bookmarks. I'm not so sure to be honest. I've heard some drivers have had their kids do work experience in conjunction with school when they were in year 10, but I think the age might be 16 due to health and safety reasons. Mine was done in conjunction with college firstly, but then in the summer I did it voluntarily. My college course however included work experience as part of the course, so you had to do two weeks before the easter holidays, so I basically had a 4 week easter break as this was more fun than work . In your case though, it's best to check if your school allows time for work experience to be carried out and then go from there. In university though, my course includes a full year of a work placement in my third year, no doubt I'd either be doing this for a bus or train company!
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Post by ​galwhv69 on Nov 13, 2018 22:59:57 GMT
Sorry for randomly posting in this thread after a long time of no new posts on this thread How old do you have to be to start work experience at a garage? Can it be done in conjunction to school time or can it only be done during the holidays? Apologies for the very late reply, for some reason this didn't appear on my bookmarks. I'm not so sure to be honest. I've heard some drivers have had their kids do work experience in conjunction with school when they were in year 10, but  I think the age might be 16 due to health and safety reasons. Mine was done in conjunction with college firstly, but then in the summer I did it voluntarily. My college course however included work experience as part of the course, so you had to do two weeks before the easter holidays, so I basically had a 4 week easter break as this was more fun than work . In your case though, it's best to check if your school allows time for work experience to be carried out and then go from there. In university though, my course includes a full year of a work placement in my third year, no doubt I'd either be doing this for a bus or train company! Thanks for your reply,don't mind about it being late I know my school does work experience but not sure if its y10 or 16 like you said.I'm in y10 next year so will go and ask about it.Would be nice doing it during school time (from memory my school does it in september according to school calendar) and if its amazing enough and I can do it then I will do it during the holidays aswell Thanks again,will find this post and thread useful if(hopefully) doing work experience at the garage
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