Do all Dublin Bus drivers hate their jobs or just life in general?

Monkey face

I was on the bus this morning going to work. We are passing through Donnybrook when the bus driver pulls down his window and calls over the Metro guy to get a paper. All in all this took about 2 mins to complete his transaction at which point we proceeded to hit every red light on the way to town. Before I got off the bus I mentioned to him that this was not cool and he hit the roof asking me was he not entitled to his paper....eh, no your not entitled to your paper when your driving the paying public to work and making them late.

If you don't like driving a bus maybe you should consider doing something that you would enjoy as opposed to making the general public have to put up with your petulant s**t. I know it’s not as simple as walking into your dream job whenever you want but are these guys really that unhappy?

Any have any similar situations?

GM071class

Monkey face wrote: »

I was on the bus this morning going to work. We are passing through Donnybrook when the bus driver pulls down his window and calls over the Metro guy to get a paper. All in all this took about 2 mins to complete his transaction at which point we proceeded to hit every red light on the way to town. Before I got off the bus I mentioned to him that this was not cool and he hit the roof asking me was he not entitled to his paper....eh, no your not entitled to your paper when your driving the paying public to work and making them late.

If you don't like driving a bus maybe you should consider doing something that you would enjoy as opposed to making the general public have to put up with your petulant s**t. I know it’s not as simple as walking into your dream job whenever you want but are these guys really that unhappy?

Any have any similar situations?

Try being nice to them??

I wouldn't begrudge him getting a paper, and unfortunately the Drivers (be they Dublin Bus or any other) can't control the traffic lights!

godtabh

A bit of an over reaction

Plates

A bit of an over reaction for sure - but to be honest - Dublin Bus drivers wouldn't be known for their charm. They're generally a fairly miserable bunch.

monkeyfudge

Not my bus driver.

My bus driver whistles while he drives each morning.

tommyhaas

FFS, your complaint is that the driver delayed you two minutes while getting his paper. If that caused you to be late, well you should have been on an earlier bus.

Really annoys me this sort of whining, 2 minutes you were delayed, get over it and show some decency. The man was only getting a paper

thirtythirty

Monkey face wrote: »

I was on the bus this morning going to work. We are passing through Donnybrook when the bus driver pulls down his window and calls over the Metro guy to get a paper. All in all this took about 2 mins to complete his transaction at which point we proceeded to hit every red light on the way to town. Before I got off the bus I mentioned to him that this was not cool and he hit the roof asking me was he not entitled to his paper....eh, no your not entitled to your paper when your driving the paying public to work and making them late.

If you don't like driving a bus maybe you should consider doing something that you would enjoy as opposed to making the general public have to put up with your petulant s**t. I know it’s not as simple as walking into your dream job whenever you want but are these guys really that unhappy?

Any have any similar situations?

So you are deducing that that 2 minute wait put the bus into a position in the road whereby it was out of sequence with normal traffic flow, despite the fact that you know nothing about traffic light networks and subnets, phases, or trigger switches. Not forgetting ad-hoc red lights due to pedestrians. If not that, then I wonder why you're giving out about a 2min stop...

I wonder how much personal time you spend at work sending a mail to a friend, getting a coffee or drink, or *ahem* posting on boards. Surely you have to work non-stop perfectly to the clock like these busbots, sorry, bus drivers have to?

Plates

monkeyfudge wrote: »

Not my bus driver.

I'd whistle too if I was employed to be someones personal bus driver.

rebel10

Why would you go out of your way to tell him it wasn't "cool"? Seriously. Could you not have let it go and realise that you might be over reacting?
He had every right to tell you to f**k off, doesn't make him miserable or hate his job, just the eejits they have to encounter everyday!:rolleyes:

delop

Have you not noticed... Everyone is pissed off these days

Cookie_Monster

It's pretty unprofessional to stop the bus just for a paper mid journey but its the kind of thing that's rife in all Irish workplaces, not just DB. cute hoorism / dossing / sense of entitlement etc etc. like when you go for your 15 mins breakfast and come back 35 mins later

I once had to wait on a 111 at DL shopping centre while the driver went in to get a danish and coffee for breakfast, first bus of the day but I'd just worked a night shift and was too tired to care

Walsh

Heard they have a pretty high suicide rate?

hidinginthebush

I was walking down talbot st. just over a week ago and there was a foreign girl taking a picture of her foreign boyfriend (late 20's / early 30's) in front of an out of service dublin bus. The bus driver in the parked bus started yelling at them, so I sort of slowed my walk to see what was about to go down. The bus driver then opened the door and let the guy sit in the drivers seat and get his picture taken there.

So in relation to your post OP, no, dublin bus drivers don't hate their job, they are the most awesome people in the city!

ordinary_girl

Ah here, getting a paper and delaying the bus by a few minutes is nothing. I've met both nice and angry bus drivers, I don't begrudge them for this. They hardly have the most pleasant job in the world. Once the bus actually arrives and I arrive at the place where I'm meant to be then I'm grand. Serves its purpose.

Cookie_Monster

Spend 10 mins chatting to that guy Ray who drives (drove?) 75/111 (and whatever else)
HE loves what he does and is one of the nicest friendliest people you'll ever meet...

darsar

OP, a nice man once told me that "on time is five minutes late".

Have a look at your punctuality and if you were really mad at the time of starting this post and still that annoyed at time of submitting post, all over two minutes of your time it seems there are deeper issues

BenShermin

I think the OP may have over reacted but he is totally right in principle.

Think about it, two minutes to get a newspaper, two minutes stopped at a bus stop to wait for a passenger running for the bus, two minutes to talk to the driver of another bus across from him on a narrow residential road. All these two minutes add up to make bus commuting times an absolute joke in comparision to the car.

It may not happen that much on Dublin bus but take a trip on Cork City's BÉ service, journey times are a joke because of this sort of carry on!

clunked

Monkey face wrote: »

I was on the bus this morning going to work. We are passing through Donnybrook when the bus driver pulls down his window and calls over the Metro guy to get a paper. All in all this took about 2 mins to complete his transaction at which point we proceeded to hit every red light on the way to town. Before I got off the bus I mentioned to him that this was not cool and he hit the roof asking me was he not entitled to his paper....eh, no your not entitled to your paper when your driving the paying public to work and making them late.

If you don't like driving a bus maybe you should consider doing something that you would enjoy as opposed to making the general public have to put up with your petulant s**t. I know it’s not as simple as walking into your dream job whenever you want but are these guys really that unhappy?

Any have any similar situations?

Your rant perhaps tells us more about yourself than the driver you are attempting to criticise. You sound a little unhappy yourself:D:D:D.

Monkey face

Okay, fair enough. It maybe is a knee jerk reaction over something small and I am not claiming to know how the intricate traffic system in Dublin works. But taking a paper off some dude in rush hour traffic is taking the pi**.

If people are late can you actually say that it is not bus drivers fault?

I'm not saying bus drivers are all moody so and so's (the guy on the 84 is a legend), but I would say that they are erratic at best. For example, there is a particular bus driver that goes my route and he is an aggressive driver and will drive through amber lights etc. Then there is another guy who is the Dublin bus miss daisy equivalent. So there is the better part of a 15 minute difference of when you arrive at your destination between these guys.

I am not saying either one is right/wrong for the way they drive (to fast you can cause an accident and to slow you can cause frustration and maybe an accident).

I suppose my main question is how is this type of stuff monitored? The Dart had a 97% success rate for trains arriving/departing......what did Dublin Bus have?

GM071class

BenShermin wrote: »

I think the OP may have over reacted but he is totally right in principle.

Think about it, two minutes to get a newspaper, two minutes stopped at a bus stop to wait for a passenger running for the bus, two minutes to talk to the driver of another bus across from him on a narrow residential road. All these two minutes add up to make bus commuting times an absolute joke in comparision to the car.

It may not happen that much on Dublin bus but take a trip on Cork City's BÉ service, journey times are a joke because of this sort of carry on!

Ahh sure we'll all get there in the end....

It's not Germany, we don't worry too much for effeciency....

Failte Go Mall.... We like it like that!!!

Cookie_Monster

Monkey face wrote: »

I suppose my main question is how is this type of stuff monitored? The Dart had a 97% success rate for trains arriving/departing......what did Dublin Bus have? [/COLOR]

overly generous journey times so that they are on time.

tomED

OP - If a passenger gives out to me for grabbing a free paper, yeah I'd probably hate my job!!! Give us a break will ye!!!

BUT - it is an interesting question.

I don't use buses that often and in the rare occassaions that I do, I must say I've had encounter some strange bus drivers.

The weirdest was when one driver held up the bus for about 5 minutes while he argued with me about my destination. He insisted the bus didn't go there, even though the route hasn't changed since I was at least 5 years old (that's about 28 years) and when I was getting off the bus, he started another row with me about how the place I was getting off was not actually called that.... But sure how would I know, I grew up there and my mother still lives there -

Then of course, there are the bus drivers who love to pull off just as the old granny who has just run five metres in 3 minutes flat gets to the door...

But I'm sure they're not all like that!!!

delop

tomED wrote: »

OP - If a passenger gives out to me for grabbing a free paper, yeah I'd probably hate my job!!! Give us a break will ye!!!

BUT - it is an interesting question.

I don't use buses that often and in the rare occassaions that I do, I must say I've had encounter some strange bus drivers.

The weirdest was when one driver held up the bus for about 5 minutes while he argued with me about my destination. He insisted the bus didn't go there, even though the route hasn't changed since I was at least 5 years old (that's about 28 years) and when I was getting off the bus, he started another row with me about how the place I was getting off was not actually called that.... But sure how would I know, I grew up there and my mother still lives there -

Then of course, there are the bus drivers who love to pull off just as the old granny who has just run five metres in 3 minutes flat gets to the door...

But I'm sure they're not all like that!!!

I think I know that place , friend of mine lives there, is it Addison park, Glasnevin? when he would get taxis the drivers haven't a clue where it is, apparently, its actually in Finglas :-)

tomED

delop wrote: »

I think I know that place , friend of mine lives there, is it Addison park, Glasnevin? when he would get taxis the drivers haven't a clue where it is, apparently, its actually in Finglas :-)

No it's not there - it's actually Loughlinstown, apparently the 45a doesn't go there...

devnull

tomED wrote: »

Then of course, there are the bus drivers who love to pull off just as the old granny who has just run five metres in 3 minutes flat gets to the door...

They are not all like that, I get a bus every day and the drivers are always helpful to those around them and passengers in need and old ladies etc, and there is a real sense of community on my routes, but sure, it doesn't happen everywhere on every route, but not everyone is like it.

There was one occasion recently when a bus I was on there were three people who were barely able to walk and it was night, and the driver let them on between bus stops and let them on without paying a fare as he was worried about them, one of them thanked him by giving him a lecutre about how nasty Dublin bus drivers all are, then proceeded to leave a parting gift by using the bus stairs as a toilet!

tomED

devnull wrote: »

They are not all like that

Which I clearly state at the end of my post....

Cookie_Monster

tomED wrote: »

No it's not there - it's actually Loughlinstown, apparently the 45a doesn't go there...

no, it doesn't go there at all, well hasn't for the 25 years I've lived in the area anyway

tomED

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

no, it doesn't go there at all, well hasn't for the 25 years I've lived in the area anyway

Oh no, the bus driver visits boards too! :P

yosser hughes

Interesting that the bus driver used the word "entitled". That sums them up for me. They have an entitlement culture and in my experience most of them are rude and obnoxious. Apart from that some of them drive way too fast,usually when heading back to the depot at the end of their shift.

paulm17781

OP, you are right, he should not have gotten a paper and no, he is no "entitled" to do this. He can do this before he starts or on his break, not during his shift. I would report him for this. I despise this sense of entitlement people seem to have. What he is entitled to do, is drive the bus until his break and get commuters to work.

Now, I am expecting to get flamed for having an expectation that someone does their job properly, but that's what happens here... :rolleyes:

Cookie_Monster

tomED wrote: »

Oh no, the bus driver visits boards too! :P

No I just live in the area, know where Loughlinstown is and know where the 45a goes. Bray-Shankill-Ballybrack-Church Rd*-Churchview Rd*-Rochestown Avenue*-Sallynoggin-Dun Laoghaire.

If it went right instead of left at the end of Churchview road like the 7,11 it would go to Loughlinstown.

* all Killiney

tommyhaas

The cheek of these bus drivers, trying to get a paper to read at lunch, not conveying their obvious delight at meeting all these generous, easy-going passangers each morning, rushing back to the depot after a shift, I mean the nerve of these people. Something needs to be done about this disgusting behaviour

Nozebleed

my mate's a bus driver and he doesn't shut the fcuk up talking about his job. he loves it. i cant understand it. he's a bus driver.

pebbles21

Was on a 19 bus a few years back,when the driver drove into the Phibsboro depot,got up out of his seat and told the entire bus that we can go and fcuk ourselves

He then walked over to his car and drove off,think he was having a bad day,five minutes later we got a new driver....strange indeed!

tomED

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

No I just live in the area, know where Loughlinstown is and know where the 45a goes. Bray-Shankill-Ballybrack-Church Rd*-Churchview Rd*-Rochestown Avenue*-Sallynoggin-Dun Laoghaire.

If it went right instead of left at the end of Churchview road like the 7,11 it would go to Loughlinstown.

* all Killiney

Oh for god sake - you're not messing!?!

I assure you the 45A goes through Loughlinstown, I guess the most obvious palce on the route that people would know of is Cromlech Fields, Loughlinstown....

Cookie_Monster

tomED wrote: »

Oh for god sake - you're not messing!?!

I assure you the 45A goes through Loughlinstown, I guess the most obvious palce on the route that people would know of is Cromlech Fields, Loughlinstown....

which it goes past but not into. that roundabout and the roads either side are Ballybrack.

hunnybee

Remember the bus driver in Intermission?:D

Cuddlesworth

You were completely right to tell him he was in the wrong. He was. And for anybody who says otherwise, take any private operator with a driver who does the same thing and see how long he does it for.

He is paid to drive the bus from A to B. He can do what he wants on his breaks. He is entitled to nothing but the money from doing his job.

spurious

Two minutes for a Metro person to respond to a call and stick a paper in the window?
More like twenty seconds, if that....count it out.

tomED

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

which it goes past but not into. that roundabout and the roads either side are Ballybrack.

Firstly, I didn't say "into", but that's neither here nor there. Secondly, the bus driver said he didn't go to Louglinstown, which even if we take your point into consideration, you expect him to have enough cop on to know he does.

Thirdly and probably most importantly - the area in question could in theory be classed as three seperate areas.

If we were to use the old way of naming areas (going by the local post office), it would be classed as Killiney.

If we were to use the Local Parish as the decider, it would be Loughlinstown (from the early 80s), and before that it would have been Ballybrack.

But sure, since most of the houses there are county council houses, shouldn't we use the address they put on the area? If so.... it's Loughlinstown.

Oh and then there is of course the local community - who use the small river as a guide (just like the liffey) to the border between Loughlinstown and Ballybrack - but that's just snobbery....

Regardless of all this, if you ask a bus a driver to drop you even remotely close to an area, they shouldn't argue with you over it.

Yeah, if they are concerned, they could offer advice - not argue and certainly not with a local!

monkeyfudge

Why were you even getting into a discussion about the destination with the driver at all?

Just state the fare you want, drop it in the box and say thanks.

jack presley

I'm sure driving a bus would be great craic if it wasn't for the passengers and all that traffic.

T Corolla

I have to agree with monkeyface I took the bus from Blanchardstown shopping centre to Clonsilla one day and the driver was the rudest person I ever met. A polish guy got on the bus and his ticket was not working and the driver snapped at him when he asked for help. I was suprised the passenger did'nt make a complaint. When I was coming up to the stop I pressed the red button he swerved the bus and caused me to hit my head of the bar. I thought he was a right pig to be honest. They need to keep their person about them at all times and not be so negative. I find the same with the Bus Eireann drivers not very helpful and minimium amount of manners in general

Cookie_Monster

tomED wrote: »

Firstly, I didn't say "into", but that's neither here nor there.

apologies, "through", not "into" is what you said.

tomED wrote: »

Secondly, the bus driver said he didn't go to Louglinstown, which even if we take your point into consideration, you expect him to have enough cop on to know he does.

It doesn't and he was right.

tomED wrote: »

Thirdly and probably most importantly - the area in question could in theory be classed as three seperate areas.

It could but it isn't.

tomED wrote: »

Regardless of all this, if you ask a bus a driver to drop you even remotely close to an area, they shouldn't argue with you over it.

So if you got in Bray and asked to go to Monkstown and the driver said nothing, you think that's ok, even though it goes no-where near there.

tomED wrote: »

Yeah, if they are concerned, they could offer advice - not argue and certainly not with a local!

He was right, you are wrong. Get over it.

spareman

Another bus driver bashing thread, my God you losers cant get enough can yous? So you go to work and spend 20 mins of your working day posting on boards about how a bus driver delayed you by 20/30 secs picking up a metro. seriously this place gets worse every week.

Then the usual suspects roll in behind with their horror stories, most of which are pure bull**** may I add.

We got the Guy who thinks he heard the driver snapping at a polish guy who's ticket didn't work, maybe because it was a child school ticket?
And thinks the polish guy should complain about the driver, despite smacking his head of the bar as the bus swerved into his stop, never tought to complain himself??

Then the guy who gets on the bus his used since he was 5 and asks if it goes to his hometown? Just so he can have a row with the driver over county council borders??

Who knows maybe the guy who claims the last 3 buses on his route didn't operate one night might make an apperance yet.:rolleyes:

paddyland

paulm17781 wrote: »

OP, you are right, he should not have gotten a paper and no, he is no "entitled" to do this. He can do this before he starts or on his break, not during his shift. I would report him for this. I despise this sense of entitlement people seem to have. What he is entitled to do, is drive the bus until his break and get commuters to work.

Now, I am expecting to get flamed for having an expectation that someone does their job properly, but that's what happens here... :rolleyes:

Well I can be very critical of Dublin Bus sometimes, and certainly there is an element among the staff that don't help their own cause.

But when a driver cannot put his arm out the window and accept a freely offered morning newspaper to read during his break, without being marked for report to his employer, then society has gone mad. What are you hoping, that he will be sacked from his job, or maybe you'd be like Uday Hussein, and have him simply 'disappear,' to be tortured, shot and thrown into the Liffey?

You had similar arrogant attitudes to taxi drivers some time back, if I remember. You need to learn to distinguish, that just because there are a bad element driving buses, or taxis, or doing any job under the sun, and you occasionally encounter them, that the large majority are ordinary decent people doing a thankless job, many of whom go out of their way to be helpful and polite.

Too many good and decent drivers leave the job after two years or so, because they get fed up day after day having to put up with the stupid, small minded arrogance of petty people who cannot sort out their own problems, and instead try to create problems for everyone else around them. I have to say, if I was a Dublin Bus driver, and someone was rude to me because I dared to take a free newspaper through the window, they would get a bloody great Foxtrot Oscar from me, no matter how polite I generally try to be in life.

Jesus Christ, the country is screwed because of really, deeply serious problems, and this is the petty nonsense that people go on with. Look, get your head together and sort out your own life, and stop making this country more of a miserable, pointless hellhole than it already is. What the bloody hell are we all alive on this Earth for, anyway? To be robots??? The guy took a free paper offered to him through the window! My Jesus...

paulm17781

Shock! Flamed for having high exceptions of people! How did I not see this coming? Oh wait, I did. :rolleyes:

I'm critical of anyone who doesn't do their job properly and feels they are "entitled" to do what they like. They are not. This is true of all walks of society, unfortunately Irish society is rife with this kind of carry on and needs to stop.

The reason I suggest the OP complain is because the driver A) should focus on driving has no right to talk to a customer that way. If I spoke to my customers that way, I would have no business.

At what point did your version of events happen? According to the OP, the driver stopped the bus and called the Metro guy over. This is not the same as accepting one through the window (which I suspect they are not allowed to do).

Perhaps you are happy with a mediocre badly functioning society, I am not.

paddyland

paulm17781 wrote: »

Perhaps you are happy with a mediocre badly functioning society, I am not.

A bus driver calling the paper guy over for a free paper, is a mediocre, badly functioning society. I suppose the postman stopping for a chat with Mrs. Brown is indicative of a badly functioning society too, because your post might be two minutes late? Perhaps the butcher stopping to chat to Mrs. Green is holding you up? Perhaps that is why the girl on the deli counter doesn't smile, because her boss is afraid it will encourage chatting to customers on the job? One coffee shop owner in Kilcock actually chastised his waitress for chatting to customers as she was clearing a table. So there are people like you out there. I hope you are in the minority, otherwise we would live in a really horrible, unfriendly, miserable world.

Jesus Wept

A waitress talking to her customers is completely different from a pointlessly delayed bus.
My bus route goes past the depo where the bus drivers are swapped regularly, often they have a banal chin wag - sometimes for upto 5 minutes.
That is taking the piss, pure and simple.

It's relative, I'd happily spend 5 or 50 minutes or far longer helping out a friend or family member, but two employees on the clock having a chin wag about total bollox while 50 people sit there looking on is utter nonsense.
Believe me, that is a long frustrating 5 minutes to endure.

paulm17781

paddyland wrote: »

A bus driver calling the paper guy over for a free paper, is a mediocre, badly functioning society. I suppose the postman stopping for a chat with Mrs. Brown is indicative of a badly functioning society too, because your post might be two minutes late? Perhaps the butcher stopping to chat to Mrs. Green is holding you up? Perhaps that is why the girl on the deli counter doesn't smile, because her boss is afraid it will encourage chatting to customers on the job? One coffee shop owner in Kilcock actually chastised his waitress for chatting to customers as she was clearing a table. So there are people like you out there. I hope you are in the minority, otherwise we would live in a really horrible, unfriendly, miserable world.

A bus driver stopping for a paper on a busy road is my issue when he was then told "it wasn't cool" (to quote the OP, not to make up events) shouts at his customer is my definition of a badly functioning society. Do not dare say someone is "like me", you don't know anything about me other than I have a high expectation of people. You'd probably find in most countries, bus drivers would not do this and rightly so. Perhaps you are incapable of seeing the bigger picture but what the OP describes is symptomatic of so many other things wrong with this country. To use your example of logic "Sure Sean Fitzpatrick was only borrowing a couple of hundred million, sure there was loads of money in the bank" or perhaps "Sure why not rezone the land and pay over the top for it, sure there's loads more land, this is only one little bit."

People like you who will defend someone in the wrong disgust me. You don't see the problems these attitudes create. You have not said why the bus driver could not get the paper later or earlier or mentioned the laws or DB rules that were broken by this act. You do not care he delayed people in their morning commute. You would rather attack me and make up a personality for me than accept the driver was in the wrong. This is a mediocre, badly functioning society and you have given me another example to add to this list.

"Flame on, flame on!" - The Birthday party, Sonny's burning.

paddyland

Five minutes spent chatting while changing crew is wrong. I have sat on buses while this happened, I know all about it. My take on that is that crew changes should not happen en route, at all. That is an operational issue, not the fault of the drivers, although perhaps compounded if drivers take too long about it.

I would be hounding Dublin Bus to stop the practice of crew changes mid route. I still beg to doubt that a driver spent two whole minutes getting a free paper through the window. It's all relative. I feel there are plenty of issues to take Dublin Bus to task over. The free newspaper issue is pure nonsense, and only serves to undermine the arguments that genuinely need to be aired.