Bus Drivers Wanted Now

This is the ticket given for cash fares. It now includes an ad for bus driver positions at the bottom. I only noticed this a few days ago so I think it is new. Concession tickets (those sold to pensioners and students) don’t have this message. I wonder how many people actually read the ticket.

I first became interested in becoming a bus driver as a result of a poster ad inside a bus. That was more than 5 years ago.

A bus trainer told me he thought about 40% of bus drivers quit within 2 years.

Gridlock

On Monday evening about 6pm I was doing the route 437 into the city. The northern end of George St was gridlocked. It took me 40 minutes to get from the Sydney Town Hall to Circular Quay, a distance of less than 2 km. The rain probably had something to do with it.

As it was, it was my last run. I returned to the depot after I (finally) got to Circular Quay. I arrived at the depot about 30 minutes after I was scheduled to. For this I get half an hour extra pay. I claim this by writing it on my driver’s journal and getting the depot inspector to sign it. This is done with no questions asked.

Thank you, driver

About 10% of passengers say “thanks” as they leave the bus. The rest shout obscenities (just kidding).

Rookwood Cemetery

On Saturday I did 3 round trips of route 408 to the Rookwood Cemetery. I have done this route a few times before but this was the 1st time on a weekend.

My 1st run started at 9AM from Burwood. The bus became full, standing room only. Almost all the passengers were elderly women, many with flowers. With so many elderly people standing I had to be extra careful with the speed I used during acceleration, braking, on corners and over speed humps.

The cemetery is huge. The road taken by the bus covers only a small part of it. Some of the bus stop signs indicate the religion domination buried nearby, Anglican, Lutheran, etc.