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Post by Steve80 on Feb 12, 2015 5:54:44 GMT
Here's one driver from Abellio Walworth and his views on the strike. Seems like a good clip to share
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Post by DT 11 on Feb 12, 2015 6:43:44 GMT
Here's one driver from Abellio Walworth and his views on the strike. Seems like a good clip to share A lot of what he is saying is true. I completely agree about what he said about Boris Johnson and the NRMs wasting public Money. That money should have been invested in drivers. Plus the crap Boris Bikes. The Ultimate Problem in All Organisations today is Cheap Bloody Labour...
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Post by thesquirrels on Feb 12, 2015 8:13:57 GMT
The Citybuses on the 176 as a passenger were outstanding. I think what happened was when LondonLinks Walworth Garage was closed, the service transferred to Cowie South London at N, which led to a mix of old style LT Olympians and the horrible Kentish Bus ones where as an average height man, the legroom was next to non existent! Those ex-KB olympians were pretty dire from a passenger POV. Wonky bench seats and very poor legroom. Would let one go on the 253 if an Alexander L was in sight.
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Post by sid on Feb 12, 2015 8:41:11 GMT
Here's one driver from Abellio Walworth and his views on the strike. Seems like a good clip to share A lot of what he is saying is true. I completely agree about what he said about Boris Johnson and the NRMs wasting public Money. That money should have been invested in drivers. Plus the crap Boris Bikes. The Ultimate Problem in All Organisations today is Cheap Bloody Labour... He made some valid points but a lot of what he said was nonsense and bringing up the LT and bikes is just a cheap shot at Boris who as we know doesn't set drivers rates of pay. Bus drivers do deserve more money but so do a lot of other people, recruiting cheap labour from abroad is happening in a lot of industries.
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Post by sid on Feb 12, 2015 8:45:58 GMT
View AttachmentMy impression from this article is that some companies have spoke out to Unite saying that TFL are still charging fines for the companies for not running a complete service on strike day yet at the same time, TFL are telling the same companies not to get into talks with Unite? Is this the issue as to why Unite have suspended the strike or am I reading this wrongly? I really cannot imagine TfL telling companies not to get into talks with Unite.
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Post by vjaska on Feb 12, 2015 13:06:32 GMT
The Citybuses on the 176 as a passenger were outstanding. I think what happened was when LondonLinks Walworth Garage was closed, the service transferred to Cowie South London at N, which led to a mix of old style LT Olympians and the horrible Kentish Bus ones where as an average height man, the legroom was next to non existent! Those ex-KB olympians were pretty dire from a passenger POV. Wonky bench seats and very poor legroom. Would let one go on the 253 if an Alexander L was in sight. I used to frown when one turned up on the 2 instead of a Gardener Eastern Coach Works L lol.
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Post by snoggle on Feb 12, 2015 14:01:12 GMT
View AttachmentMy impression from this article is that some companies have spoke out to Unite saying that TFL are still charging fines for the companies for not running a complete service on strike day yet at the same time, TFL are telling the same companies not to get into talks with Unite? Is this the issue as to why Unite have suspended the strike or am I reading this wrongly? Firstly I don't think we have the full picture. Quite why Unite appear to be surprised by multi million pound payment deductions being levied by TfL I don't know. I suspect that is put on the leaflet just for effect as anyone in Unite involved in London bus matters will be fully aware of how the tendering process works and the fact that affecting the service run immediately affects a company's bottom line. That's a key weapon for the union so the officials will all know about that. I have to say that I don't understand what Unite are alleging about TfL and the TfL Board. I assume they are referencing the Board because it's their way of trying to lasso Boris Johnson into the dispute. I can't see why TfL would seek to prevent talks. What TfL *will* be concerned about is a move to London wide collective bargaining and pay structure. As I have said before there are much bigger issues lurking in the background of this dispute and I feel Unite are not being clear about their ultimate objective which is to dismantle competition for pay rates thereby effectively killing off competition for routes. Labour is the biggest proportion of bus operating costs and nullifying variation in that effectively prevents operators offering different costs for a route tender. One of the ways TfL have managed to cope with maintaining the network in the face of cuts in funding is downward pressure on tender costs. Now OK drivers have borne some of that pressure but not all of it. Some has come from cutting PVRs, reducing stand time, trimming frequencies on high PVR routes and refurbing buses rather than buying new. However I think there is little scope for more of those sorts of cuts in the face of rising demand and worsening traffic conditions. The union therefore faces a very stark choice - it can have an expanding bus network with more jobs (and union members) but with variable pay rates or it can keep going to win uniform standardised pay rates and then find TfL has to slash the network to find the tens of millions of pounds needed to pay higher tender costs. This means fewer jobs overall, no expansion and probably more awkward shift patterns. It also means more overloaded buses and more angry passengers thus making the job even more stressful. I don't see TfL buckling and finding £80m-£100m per annum while trying to keep the network the same size or to grow it. Oh and bus fares would have to go up too thus risking a reversal of the trend of growing ridership. As I have said before I have no issues with the drivers' concerns but I do think there are ulterior motives in play. I also think that drivers need to think about the longer term issue here and that's costs, budgets and the future number of driving jobs.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Feb 12, 2015 17:40:29 GMT
I would not believe that £80-100m figure is over exaggerated as usual. I really don't think there would be that much staff cuts as now some companies cant find the staff again, no surprise now the recession has ended and people flock to other jobs with less stress, normal hours and near enough the same or better pay. I think the unions main objective is to stop the situation we got now where new drivers are on around £8-9 per hour for near 8-10 years. Instead before it would have been 4 years to get top rate and there were many intermediate stages inbetween.
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Post by rambo on Feb 12, 2015 19:16:38 GMT
£21 for a weekly bus pass, is, imo, excellent value. If it has to go up in order for drivers to get a decent wage, so be it.
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Post by snoggle on Feb 12, 2015 23:06:54 GMT
£21 for a weekly bus pass, is, imo, excellent value. If it has to go up in order for drivers to get a decent wage, so be it. While the pass price may be decent VFM I am afraid there are far too many people who believe it is too expensive including many politicians. The last fares revision has not been well received in Outer London or by more occasional passengers because of the hike in One Day Travelcard prices / daily caps. In short, off peak travellers are being screwed to fund fare cuts for peak time travellers in Zones 1-3. I don't think that is sensible or particularly fair and I don't see the principle lasting for very long. TfL should really have introduced a separate flexible fares product rather than muck around with daily caps relative to weekly Travelcard prices. The fact that Londoners may not pay anything like the commercial fares in Essex or elsewhere does not change the fact that current prices and the idea of increasing them even more is and will continue to be politically toxic. While I expect housing to be the main issue in the 2016 Mayoral Election it is already pretty clear that fares will not be too far behind. I doubt people will vote for another 4 years of inflation busting fare rises and that just makes the issue of accomodating cost increases as a result of higher wages even harder.
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Post by overgroundcommuter on Feb 13, 2015 2:02:40 GMT
7 Day B+T Tram pass £21. (This can be reduced to £10.50 with a B+T Photocard if on some social security benefits) 7 Day two zone Travelcard without Z1 pass. £24.10.
The price of the B+T pass is only £3.10 less than a Travelcard. I have a B+T photocard, so am able to buy at half price, but if I had no choice, the two zone travelcard without Z1 is better value for money than the B+T Pass. (As long as you have a travelcard with at least Zone 3 on it, it's also valid on Tramlink).
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Post by rmz19 on Feb 14, 2015 3:31:17 GMT
7 Day B+T Tram pass £21. (This can be reduced to £10.50 with a B+T Photocard if on some social security benefits) 7 Day two zone Travelcard without Z1 pass. £24.10. The price of the B+T pass is only £3.10 less than a Travelcard. I have a B+T photocard, so am able to buy at half price, but if I had no choice, the two zone travelcard without Z1 is better value for money than the B+T Pass. (As long as you have a travelcard with at least Zone 3 on it, it's also valid on Tramlink). I remember when my Z1-3 18+ monthly Travelcard was £81 back in 2011, now it's £101!. A £20 rise in 4 years....(sigh).
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Post by ServerKing on Feb 14, 2015 7:45:20 GMT
7 Day B+T Tram pass £21. (This can be reduced to £10.50 with a B+T Photocard if on some social security benefits) Looks like I'll have to get a DLA while I can (the benefit, not the popular Arriva bus) I can get signed off because of my migraines, I'm sure If this money was passed onto the drivers I wouldn't mind these yearly price hikes. But it's probably going to be used in buying more of these LT's... BoJo keeps banging on about jobs in Northern Ireland where they are made, but what about helping people in London get decent jobs instead of facing the increasing prospect of being priced out of their own city? Not just by foreign investors buying all the property but by the rising cost of living? If it costs a small fortune to travel to an interview on transportation, with perhaps a 50% chance of second interview or job, how does that motivate people? For once I do agree with what the guy at Walworth garage said in the YouTube clip. 9.5 hours with no real break has to be illegal
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Post by sid on Feb 14, 2015 13:37:27 GMT
7 Day B+T Tram pass £21. (This can be reduced to £10.50 with a B+T Photocard if on some social security benefits) Looks like I'll have to get a DLA while I can (the benefit, not the popular Arriva bus) I can get signed off because of my migraines, I'm sure If this money was passed onto the drivers I wouldn't mind these yearly price hikes. But it's probably going to be used in buying more of these LT's... BoJo keeps banging on about jobs in Northern Ireland where they are made, but what about helping people in London get decent jobs instead of facing the increasing prospect of being priced out of their own city? Not just by foreign investors buying all the property but by the rising cost of living? If it costs a small fortune to travel to an interview on transportation, with perhaps a 50% chance of second interview or job, how does that motivate people? For once I do agree with what the guy at Walworth garage said in the YouTube clip. 9.5 hours with no real break has to be illegal But it's not 9.5 hours without a break, as far as the law is concerned a break is a break whether it is spent at the roadside or in the canteen back at the garage, of course the latter is preferable but....................
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