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Post by Curtailment on Jul 3, 2017 3:14:45 GMT
Do all London bus drivers still have to commence every duty by signing on at their home garage?
Most driver changes seem to happen midroute or at a terminal stand - I can't find very many schedules that have buses running light between termini and depots in the middle of the day. Routes are often worked from garages close to one of the depots by Underground or service bus. This is a lot more efficient than some provincial operators (e.g. Stagecoach in Manchester) where duty spells invariably start and end by driving the bus into or out of the depot.
Some other provincial operators (e.g. First in Glasgow) have drivers start / sign on on the road, taking over a bus mid-route. This causes inconvenience for the drivers, who often drive to work in the city centre, pay in their takings at the depot at the end of their shift and make their way back to their cars by service bus. Managing blowouts must be a challenge for the traffic office, especially those that don't call, but it's seemingly worth the wages this saves the business.
Since buses here no longer take cash, I wonder why there aren't (m?)any London duties starting and/or ending on the road. As we have an effective public transport network, fewer bus drivers commute to work by car, so there's less value in starting and ending work in the same location. The archaic ticket machines needing modules that have recently seen a garage terminal poses an obstacle, but these are supposed to be modernised soon; and there are workarounds for this. Shifts would be shorter if drivers only had to commute to a changeover point - even paying a 10 minute slack/changeover allowance would surely be cheaper than pointless travel time to/from a depot, where the only purpose of the driver's visit to the depot was collecting a duty card and having their name ticked off?
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Post by M1104 on Jul 3, 2017 8:57:56 GMT
With drivers signing on at the depot it's easier for the firm to keep tabs on staff situation should a driver be late or blow out. Also they may be relatively frequent situations where a driver that would normally travel to the changeover point may be required to take a bus from the depot due to an issue with another bus. Although the engineers could do that firms would take advantage of the fact that the driver is going in that direction anyway.
On the flip side I imagine some drivers would find it beneficial where they live closer to the changeover point than to the depot. It could benefit some drivers but be chaos for others, especially if they have to drive a great distance to work then not be able to park anywhere near the changeover point. Bus drivers who ride motorcycles will have additional problems as to where to keep their helmet and any appropriate clothing whereas from the depot they would at least have lockers if available.
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Post by moz on Jul 4, 2017 14:12:23 GMT
With drivers signing on at the depot it's easier for the firm to keep tabs on staff situation should a driver be late or blow out. Also they may be relatively frequent situations where a driver that would normally travel to the changeover point may be required to take a bus from the depot due to an issue with another bus. Although the engineers could do that firms would take advantage of the fact that the driver is going in that direction anyway. On the flip side I imagine some drivers would find it beneficial where they live closer to the changeover point than to the depot. It could benefit some drivers but be chaos for others, especially if they have to drive a great distance to work then not be able to park anywhere near the changeover point. Bus drivers who ride motorcycles will have additional problems as to where to keep their helmet and any appropriate clothing whereas from the depot they would at least have lockers if available. Add to that it allows the company to check if the staff member is dressed suitably with proper footwear, allows them to carry out random drink/drug tests in a supervised enironment and covers the company's requirement to provide access to hot water and a seated rest area. Moz |
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Post by VPL630 on Jul 5, 2017 16:07:28 GMT
technically it can be done, Bromley for example use 1 module per bus so only the first and last drivers need to sign them on/off, you only need to pick up your duty card from the garage but as the comments above, there are reasons why we still have to go to the garage
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Post by ThinLizzy on Jul 5, 2017 19:57:50 GMT
With drivers signing on at the depot it's easier for the firm to keep tabs on staff situation should a driver be late or blow out. Also they may be relatively frequent situations where a driver that would normally travel to the changeover point may be required to take a bus from the depot due to an issue with another bus. Although the engineers could do that firms would take advantage of the fact that the driver is going in that direction anyway. On the flip side I imagine some drivers would find it beneficial where they live closer to the changeover point than to the depot. It could benefit some drivers but be chaos for others, especially if they have to drive a great distance to work then not be able to park anywhere near the changeover point. Bus drivers who ride motorcycles will have additional problems as to where to keep their helmet and any appropriate clothing whereas from the depot they would at least have lockers if available. Add to that it allows the company to check if the staff member is dressed suitably with proper footwear, allows them to carry out random drink/drug tests in a supervised enironment and covers the company's requirement to provide access to hot water and a seated rest area. Moz on the flip side, a number or rail operators have remote booking on where the driver just picks up a phone and says "I'm here" |
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Post by YY13VKP on Jul 5, 2017 20:10:04 GMT
technically it can be done, Bromley for example use 1 module per bus so only the first and last drivers need to sign them on/off, you only need to pick up your duty card from the garage but as the comments above, there are reasons why we still have to go to the garage I thought the drivers had a module each , however it might be different per company. While I was at Go-Ahead behind the front counters at Camberwell, Croydon and Stockwell, each driver inserted a module into the Wayfarer machine they have, inserted a code of some sort then took them out, that was them signed on and ready to go. Occasionally, some drivers if they were running late or forgot to sign on would be called by the garage front counter clerk and if they were present the clerk would sign them on manually. Also, as a whole I think it is better to sign on at the garage rather than the street because as WDL1 says below signing on at the garage helps the garage staff to keep tabs on their drivers, and also at times, a driver may be required to see one of the Operating Managers before starting a shift for whatever reason or vice versa. At Stockwell we had loads of drivers in and out the manager's offices. |
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Post by VPL630 on Jul 5, 2017 21:36:20 GMT
technically it can be done, Bromley for example use 1 module per bus so only the first and last drivers need to sign them on/off, you only need to pick up your duty card from the garage but as the comments above, there are reasons why we still have to go to the garage I thought the drivers had a module each , however it might be different per company. While I was at Go-Ahead behind the front counters at Camberwell, Croydon and Stockwell, each driver inserted a module into the Wayfarer machine they have, inserted a code of some sort then took them out, that was them signed on and ready to go. Occasionally, some drivers if they were running late or forgot to sign on would be called by the garage front counter clerk and if they were present the clerk would sign them on manually. Also, as a whole I think it is better to sign on at the garage rather than the street because as WDL1 says below signing on at the garage helps the garage staff to keep tabs on their drivers, and also at times, a driver may be required to see one of the Operating Managers before starting a shift for whatever reason or vice versa. At Stockwell we had loads of drivers in and out the manager's offices. Bromley along with a few other garages are trailing this, eventually all garages should be using this new system |
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Post by TB141 on Jul 8, 2017 7:31:12 GMT
I thought the drivers had a module each , however it might be different per company. While I was at Go-Ahead behind the front counters at Camberwell, Croydon and Stockwell, each driver inserted a module into the Wayfarer machine they have, inserted a code of some sort then took them out, that was them signed on and ready to go. Occasionally, some drivers if they were running late or forgot to sign on would be called by the garage front counter clerk and if they were present the clerk would sign them on manually. Also, as a whole I think it is better to sign on at the garage rather than the street because as WDL1 says below signing on at the garage helps the garage staff to keep tabs on their drivers, and also at times, a driver may be required to see one of the Operating Managers before starting a shift for whatever reason or vice versa. At Stockwell we had loads of drivers in and out the manager's offices. Bromley along with a few other garages are trailing this, eventually all garages should be using this new system London finally dragging itself into the 21st century. Most other places did away with modules completely ages ago 🙄 |
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Post by snoggle on Jul 8, 2017 10:27:05 GMT
Bromley along with a few other garages are trailing this, eventually all garages should be using this new system London finally dragging itself into the 21st century. Most other places did away with modules completely ages ago 🙄 Yes but everywhere else sells tickets and allows value uploads to Smartcards on the bus. Therefore they have a need for an ETM and have bought new machines with the last tech. London going cashless has made it extremely difficult for TfL to justify any meaningful investment in new on-bus kit. We'll get there eventually when Countdown is disaggregated and radio systems need replacing. At that point there may be a quantum step forward with a more integrated system but until then TfL are patching and mending and tweaking. Having said all that I am sceptical that there is enough money in the budget to progress things like replacing Countdown and getting out of the tied contract. The money couldn't be found under the Boris regime and things are far tighter budget wise now. |
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