I am going to give a guide to becoming a bus driver the pros and cons of the job.
For many coming into the industry you don’t hold your lience to drive a bus, This is not a problem most of the big companies like Stagecoach, Arriva and Go North West all provide training to help you pass your test. This is the first hurdle that you must overcome, When you are offered the job you risk that if you are unable to pass your test you will be jobless at the end of it. On saying that however if you are able to drive a car there is no physical reason that you would be unable to drive a bus and get the hang of it.
Most companies will use the largest bus they have when I did my training although the depot I went for operated only Double Deckers, I did my training on a R reg Volvo B10M. They do this to get you use to the fact you may have a large front and rear over hang that you will have to learn to use to your advantage or not hit anything with the tail swing of these single decker buses.
While you are learnign to handle these large vehicles on the road or before depending on the company you will be studying for the Hazard and theory test. Which in this day is rather easy, The test will be 100 questions and a CGI hazard test simular to the one you sat for your car test. There is however another test that you will have to study for which you didn’t for your car. This is the CPC MOD 2 which is a case study as well as the MOD 4 which is a show me tell me quiz, You will be asked questions about how to prepare the vehicle or what to do if there is a fire. The entire tests will gain you the first CPC card which is a requirement to drive a bus in public service. The Mod 4 you can find a video on our YouTube channel to help and demonstrate what is expected on a test.
Once you have passed your test you will have to a new driver training program this will be different depending on the company that you are working with. This will show you how to deal with situations and what is expected of you, It will also teach you the ticket machine. Once you have completed this you will be thrown into route training. This is possibly the most asked question of how do we learn the routes well again depending on the company, Stagecoach would show you each route once and give you an idiot sheet or a route guide that you can make notes on to help you like adding landmarks etc. You may get the chance to drive some with the trainer giving you instructions this was the way I found that I learnt them best but some might learn by just sitting and watching them.
Once you have been shown each route once this can be a week or a few days depending on how many routes the depot you are going to has. Once you have done this you will be sent on the road with a buddy driver this is to help you get into the role of being on your own but also have that little bit of help if you need it while you are out on the road this may last one week or two weeks depending on you and the report they make.
I think the worst part about the entire training is the 1st day that you are left to your own devices and are solo on the road this is possibly the most nerve racking thing I have ever done, The pressure of not getting lost etc it is real at that point, Your only help is on the radio or other passengers.
Is bus driving for you though?
The job on a whole depending where you go is a good job with everyday being different, However if you have Kids and family you want to spend time with it can be very hard due to the shifts you have to work I will make this clear its not the same everywhere and most places you can get on a regular pattern after a short while. The shift work can be a killer and it does mess with your head flipping from mornings to lates and middles I think the worse shift that bus companies do is the split shift this is where you will come in for a few hours in the morning then have a few hours off and return for a few in the evening. Sometimes it is a small back half such as a single trip on a 256 or half on a 201 which is really annoying many drivers will sit around the depot for 3 to 4 hours waiting to do this as returning home is pretty pointless.
The other side of bus driving is the people you have to deal with the role of a bus driver has changed a lot since the days of having conductors so now the driver has to deal with them all, Most passengers are very polite and cause no problems what so ever but as the night rolls in the passengers get worse, It all depends how you deal with these my personal appoach was totally on what mood I was in so sometimes I will challenge them and other time I wouldn’t care.
I hope this helps