This is a letter, written by a National Express bus driver, published in the Evening Telegraph, Dundee.
‘Bus drivers are still fair game to public’
Another year has drawn to a close but from a bus driver’s point-of-view nothing has changed.
From what I have read in the Tele letters page over the past year, drivers continue to be fair game for anyone who has a gripe about National Express Dundee.
We are employees, not the owners and we do as our bosses command.
I would like to outline the following:
1 — our licences are ours and we needed to pass a specialised test to gain it. We also need to qualify for other certificates to keep our licences.
2 — National Express are a privately-owned company who are responsible to their shareholders.
3 — drivers are, by law, responsible for every passenger who boards their bus, and are therefore in charge of said vehicle and have the ultimate say as to what happens on-board.
4 — the days of stopping between recognised bus stops are well and truly gone.
5 — do not expect a bus to stop for you if you are not prepared to make it known to the driver that you wish him to stop. Put down your phones and concentrate on looking for the bus!
6 — be a parent and watch your kids on-board. Do not allow them to treat the bus as if it were a playground.
7 — passengers have a duty of care too. No eating, drinking, swearing etc.
8 — from a personal point-of-view, swear at me and you do not travel on my bus.
I hope this letter makes a small difference to the way bus drivers are treated by the public. —
Fed-Up Driver.
Ahem …… I’m not sure that’s how I would have said it! The author comes across as very belligerent which sadly I assume must be their normal manner when driving their bus. Shame. In my experience passengers, with the exception of a tiny number, adopt the same attitude and manner as the driver. Be polite and friendly and even if you have to say no to a request it’s normally accepted well. For example the author of the letter wrote “the days of stopping between recognised bus stops are well and truly gone”. Stopping at dangerous places such as on bends, brow of a hill, just before pedestrian crossing etc. aren’t going to happen. Tell the passenger why and they usually apologise for asking. In other places where it’s perfectly safe to stop why not? Act in this way and the passenger is likely to choose to travel on your company’s buses again, maybe use the bus more often or, put another way, keep the service profitable and keep you away from redundancy!