Go-Ahead Dublin City Routes - Updates and Discussion

L1011

The new DB ones will be in that livery also though

devnull

L1011 wrote: »

The new DB ones will be in that livery also though

DB have stated that they will not be and they have not been asked to change.

L1011

devnull wrote: »

DB have stated that they will not be and they have not been asked to change.

I wouldn't believe what DB say on the matter until I actually see yellow and blue buses leaving Wrights

If DB pay to repaint them that's a different issue.

dublinbuster

devnull wrote: »

DB have stated that they will not be and they have not been asked to change.

they will be, bank on it

dublinbuster

Reporting any medical conditions or substance misuse and/or dependence, which might affect the ability to drive safely immediately to the company once employee is aware

if you want to keep your job.......forget about this
this is how you get "shot down"
never to drive for money again

AlekSmart

dublinbuster wrote: »

Reporting any medical conditions or substance misuse and/or dependence, which might affect the ability to drive safely immediately to the company once employee is aware

If you want to keep your job.......forget about this
this is how you get "shot down"
never to drive for money again

Sounds like an idea alright...as long as it's not your fambly or friends using the bus.

https://origin.expressandstar.mna.arcpublishing.com/news/local-hubs/sandwell/wednesbury/2017/10/19/serious-bus-crash-leaves-black-country-road-closed/

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/medway/news/driver-collapsed-at-wheel-of-16898/

https://unofficialnetworks.com/2017/09/25/french-tourist-saves-buss-full-of-people-in-austrian-alps-after-driver-collapses/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11759208/Glasgow-bin-lorry-disaster-driver-had-collapsed-at-the-wheel-before.html

The contractual requirement is,in any case trumped by the Legal Requirement imposed on a Licence Holder to provide the same report to the NDLS.

I suppose it boils down to what priority a Driver places on their own health,as opposed to wanting to keep going regardless ?

brokenarms

soundman45 wrote: »

Have my interview with go ahead in June for bus driver, has anyone been in with them yet for this, is it a tough interview etc?

Well done. I have looked into the company a bit from their employee's point of view in the UK.
I would advise you to use them for your D licence and CPC and get out into BE, DB or Aircoach.
Not many positive reports back from the UK drivers.

These guys will be the next Dublin Coach ..

brokenarms

brokenarms wrote: »

soundman45 wrote: »

Have my interview with go ahead in June for bus driver, has anyone been in with them yet for this, is it a tough interview etc?

Well done. I have looked into the company a bit from their employee's point of view in the UK.
I would advise you to use them for your D licence and CPC and get out into BE, DB or Aircoach.
Not many positive reports back from the UK drivers.

These guys will be the next Dublin Coach ..

Looking at employee reviews it doesn't look too good I'm happy just to go for the interview and see what exactly is on offer I'm not too pushed on changing jobs to be honest but a lot of drivers are just curious. At the moment bus eireann would be the best choice for drivers looking for a new job is think.

punisher5112

It's ran to squeeze as much out of a driver and pay as little as they can get away with paying.

On jobs.ie dublin coach are using a recruitment company called reed global to try and get drivers now such is the shortage of drivers.

Stevek101

The driver shortage is across the board. Dublin Bus have even had trouble keeping their newest recruits.

devnull

Stevek101 wrote: »

The driver shortage is across the board. Dublin Bus have even had trouble keeping their newest recruits.

Where are the DUblin Bus staff going to?

Stevek101

devnull wrote: »

Where are the DUblin Bus staff going to?

Beats me but it is worth remembering new staff are on much poorer conditions with little hope of reaching the marked in dream.

punisher5112

Stevek101 wrote: »

Beats me but it is worth remembering new staff are on much poorer conditions with little hope of reaching the marked in dream.

Possible that could all change but they are only going to be similar to us waiting 12 years

Stephen15

devnull wrote: »

Where are the DUblin Bus staff going to?

Other industries

Patser

devnull wrote: »

Where are the DUblin Bus staff going to?

A lot of bus drivers have HGV licences as well, and with the current building boom there's an equal demand for drivers there. Often that'll involve weekends off, something bus drivers tend not to get.

GM228

It would be a very embarrising start to GA operations if they have a major staff shortage issue from day 1.

If DB are suffering from shortages it's hard to see how GA won't suffer the same especially with both recruiting and when it appears that GAs T&Cs will be inferior to their counterparts.

I did a stint in dublin bus years ago. Being spare was horrible as back then you only found out at 1pm what duty you were on the following day bus eireann used the same system, aircoach give their spare drivers the following weeks roster every Wednesday so at least a bit of a chance to plan life around your hours.

devnull

GM228 wrote: »

It would be a very embarrising start to GA operations if they have a major staff shortage issue from day 1.

If DB are ssuffering from shortages it's hard to see how GA won't suffer the same especially with both recruiting and when it appears that GAs T&Cs will be inferior to their counterparts.

Will be interesting to see how they will address it, the noises I heard suggested they would overcome this problem by training up new drivers, but considering that there's reports of even that resulting in struggling to get numbers, it might not be as easy as they think.

Then again you'd have to thing that for Dublin based drivers it would be better pay than some of the other privates operating out of the capital. Yes Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann and perhaps Aircoach have better wages, but there are a lot of drivers in smaller companies who pay less well who you'd think would jump at the chance of moving.

L1011

GM228 wrote: »

It would be a very embarrising start to GA operations if they have a major staff shortage issue from day 1.

If DB are suffering from shortages it's hard to see how GA won't suffer the same especially with both recruiting and when it appears that GAs T&Cs will be inferior to their counterparts.

They are inferior to DB marked in drivers. They do not appear inferior to DB "spare" drivers

Such a system would have been got rid of in any company without such weird and useless unions decades ago - most unions would not stand for that level of inequity.

Most people want to have proper rosters for everyone, not gold-plated ones for a lucky few and awful for the rest. And we get told that driver route knowledge is key for safety when their entire system ensures that drivers with less route knowledge get sent anywhere and everywhere...

punisher5112

L1011 wrote: »

They are inferior to DB marked in drivers. They do not appear inferior to DB "spare" drivers

Such a system would have been got rid of in any company without such weird and useless unions decades ago - most unions would not stand for that level of inequity.

Most people want to have proper rosters for everyone, not gold-plated ones for a lucky few and awful for the rest. And we get told that driver route knowledge is key for safety when their entire system ensures that drivers with less route knowledge get sent anywhere and everywhere...

All drivers are route trained and honestly I've done it for near 12 years.

I know all the routes I need to know and all the new recruits know exactly what is ahead of them.

In my time starting there was a big difference...

We were told and given letters stating our hours approximately of course and shifts and weekend on or off and after 18 months Sunday work.

7.5 years before I moved up to get Sunday work and an extra Saturday off every 5 weeks instead of just 1.

Marking in was to be within 5 years.

Recession hit and it went downhill after that.

Yer Da sells Avon

I applied. Haven't got an interview yet, but I received an email telling me that within the next few weeks, they'll be in touch with a time, date and location for one of their 'recruitment days' (I'm not sure exactly what that will entail). The wording of the email seems to imply that they've had a high number of applications and that the majority of start dates are in June, July and August.

punisher5112

Hapax Legomenon wrote: »

I applied. Haven't got an interview yet, but I received an email telling me that within the next few weeks, they'll be in touch with a time, date and location for one of their 'recruitment days' (I'm not sure exactly what that will entail). The wording of the email seems to imply that they've had a high number of applications and that the majority of start dates are in June, July and August.

Most likely it will be in a hotel function room or something similar.

murf10

I had my interview with GA,I thought it went well,still waiting to hear back from them,i,the interview involves an asessment,an interview,and a medical, when up and running they will be looking for over 400 drivers,first impressions they seem ok, i haven't my full D licence,i am looking for a change in career, there taken there time getting back to me.

Yer Da sells Avon

murf10 wrote: »

I had my interview with GA,I thought it went well,still waiting to hear back from them,i,the interview involves an asessment,an interview,and a medical, when up and running they will be looking for over 400 drivers,first impressions they seem ok, i haven't my full D licence,i am looking for a change in career, there taken there time getting back to me.

They were still advertising for recruitment admin staff until last week.

bk

soundman45 wrote: »

I did a stint in dublin bus years ago. Being spare was horrible as back then you only found out at 1pm what duty you were on the following day bus eireann used the same system, aircoach give their spare drivers the following weeks roster every Wednesday so at least a bit of a chance to plan life around your hours.

Yes, a whole bunch of other factors can play an important part in deciding who you work for.

Things like knowing your schedule well in advance can be very important to quality of life.

Or for instance I could imagine driving intercity coaches, with few stops and where you mostly just cruise up and and down the motorways is a lot less stressful then the constant stop/start nature of the city bus service and perhaps having to deal with the more troublesome elements of our society on a regular basis. On the other hand it might be more boring.

And of course personality can come into it, some might love the banter with tourists on tour work, others might hate that and prefer to be locked away in a Luas cab.

Sometimes it can be worth earning a few euro less to work in a job that in other ways makes you happier.

Separately, one advantage for drivers of their multiple companies is that you can also take advantage of that. If GA struggle to find drivers, then they will have to offer more to attract drivers from other companies, who in turn would need to up rates (and maybe improve work practices) in order to keep up with them. And then there is the whole thing that you might thing where you don't get on well with the management of your current company or don't like the company culture, but might get fit in much better at another company.

Stephen15

bk wrote: »

Yes, a whole bunch of other factors can play an important part in deciding who you work for.

Things like knowing your schedule well in advance can be very important to quality of life.

Or for instance I could imagine driving intercity coaches, with few stops and where you mostly just cruise up and and down the motorways is a lot less stressful then the constant stop/start nature of the city bus service and perhaps having to deal with the more troublesome elements of our society on a regular basis. On the other hand it might be more boring.

And of course personality can come into it, some might love the banter with tourists on tour work, others might hate that and prefer to be locked away in a Luas cab.

Sometimes it can be worth earning a few euro less to work in a job that in other ways makes you happier.

Separately, one advantage for drivers of their multiple companies is that you can also take advantage of that. If GA struggle to find drivers, then they will have to offer more to attract drivers from other companies, who in turn would need to up rates (and maybe improve work practices) in order to keep up with them. And then there is the whole thing that you might thing where you don't get on well with the management of your current company or don't like the company culture, but might get fit in much better at another company.

If it was up to me I'd think I'd prefer city bus work ahead of coach work. It seems less repitive than driving than driving along a motorway all the time see different faces work at different times of the day and all that drive different routes. Also it seems DB drivers have more workplace banter than coach drivers as coach companies tend to have smaller depots with drivers who spend most of their time on their own. I also get the impression that private hire coach drivers spend a lot of the day hanging around waiting for work on their own while tour groups are at their tours.

devnull

Hapax Legomenon wrote: »

They were still advertising for recruitment admin staff until last week.

Whether they had enough applications for the Dublin Bus routes or not they'd still be looking to recruit further since you have to remember that in recent weeks they were awarded a contract for some current Bus Eireann routes, which would mean they would need to recruit over 100 new drivers on top of the ones that had been planned for the last few months.

dublinbuster

L1011 wrote: »

They are inferior to DB marked in drivers. They do not appear inferior to DB "spare" drivers

Such a system would have been got rid of in any company without such weird and useless unions decades ago - most unions would not stand for that level of inequity.

Most people want to have proper rosters for everyone, not gold-plated ones for a lucky few and awful for the rest. And we get told that driver route knowledge is key for safety when their entire system ensures that drivers with less route knowledge get sent anywhere and everywhere...

Clueless and ignorant post, about par for the course around here

dublinbuster

Simple fact is Go Ahead are going to struggle to keep drivers.
1, paying less than rivals.
2, Ballymount depot, why is this a problem you ask, how do drivers get to and from depot to Bray/Dun Laoghaire.
Early shift drive car to depot, finish in Bray/DL at 1500 now must make own way back to depot, how long will that take, bus/DART to town, then bus to ballymount
Late shift just as bad, drive to depot, make way to Bray/DL for 1500 start, long day every day.
This will be a problem mark my words