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Go-Ahead Dublin City Routes - Updates and Discussion

Stephen15

So since the last thread on this got closed and dosen't appear to be reopening any time soon. Heres a new one for you.

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monument

Dr Brown wrote: »

I'd imagine go ahead will probably take on a lot of non-national drivers to keep costs down.

comments like this about “non-national” drivers are not welcome here.

— moderator

end of the road

CeilingFly wrote: »

Finally a company not beset by unionisation and the ridiculous overpayment to drivers like Dublin Bus / Bus Eireann / Irish Rail who take the absolute p1ss in terms of screwing the fare paying passengers.

Reasonable basic salary + plenty of opportunity for overtime.

I'll assume that they'll do heath checks on their drivers - so that they don't suffer the mandatory average 4 weeks of paid sick leave a year just like Dublin bus?

go ahead are unionised in the uk i believe, and will likely be unionised here as well.
there is no ridiculous over-payment in dublin bus or bus eireann or irish rail, and chances are go ahead will eventually be paying similar wages to bus eireann and dublin bus.

Xterminator wrote: »

no, your completely wrong.

companies like transdev come in, create a lean operation that can operate the service without the management heavy, overly unionised workforce.

Xterminator wrote: »

there are no overly unionised company in ireland now. companies like transdev are themselves unionised.

Xterminator wrote: »

This cost saving is passed onto the taxpayer via a smaller subvention, and to a lesser extend the fare paying public by not needed inflation busting fare increases every year to cover spiralling costs.

Xterminator wrote: »

IMO that's a theoretical viewpoint only, as transdev have operated luas from the start and we have no other companies to compare it's operation to as the state companies operate different forms of transport and have never operated luas.
for what it's worth though, the uk railway which is operated by private companies may be a better comparison between state and private operations, however it shows that your statements long term turn out not to be true.

Xterminator wrote: »

In addition you are likely to get a service run for the convenience of the customer with targets published on quality of service provided etc.

yes it's called contractual obligations.

Contrails

GM228 wrote: »

GA may not even recognise unions.

Doesn't really matter whether they do or don't. Employees have a right to unionize and should they decide to take action in great enough numbers, they'll be fairly quick to get "recognised". I'm sure no senior manager wants to recognise unions but they often have to. Even the great Michael O'Leary is having to bow to some union pressure these days.

Personally I think it's great. In my field of work the union is a shadow of what it once was. Every year what is expected of us is rising to no end, and turnover is high, and wages have flatlined. It's beyond depressing. Maybe I should be a bus driver.......

dfx-

GM228 wrote: »

GA may not even recognise unions.

if Ryanair have, everyone will.

Mass exoduses of staff because of working conditions and pay plus their own staff shortages, couldn't possibly happen to GA/NTA..

dublinbuster

CeilingFly wrote: »

Finally a company not beset by unionisation and the ridiculous overpayment to drivers like Dublin Bus / Bus Eireann / Irish Rail who take the absolute p1ss in terms of screwing the fare paying passengers.

Reasonable basic salary + plenty of opportunity for overtime.

I'll assume that they'll do heath checks on their drivers - so that they don't suffer the mandatory average 4 weeks of paid sick leave a year just like Dublin bus?

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

*deep inhale*

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

ITV2

CeilingFly wrote: »

Finally a company not beset by unionisation and the ridiculous overpayment to drivers like Dublin Bus / Bus Eireann / Irish Rail who take the absolute p1ss in terms of screwing the fare paying passengers.

Reasonable basic salary + plenty of opportunity for overtime.

I'll assume that they'll do heath checks on their drivers - so that they don't suffer the mandatory average 4 weeks of paid sick leave a year just like Dublin bus?

that is not the case.

[Deleted User]

markodaly wrote: »

Or maybe it will give someone a leg up, to improve their lot and get themselves a job. You know, what most normal people do.

For people who seem to care about DB and their own (NRBU & SIPTU lads), you sure love to hate those just a rung below you on the social ladder.

Well actually , only for Dublin bus and bus Eireann already done that I'd agree with you

But no

The social have already sent hundreds of claimants to Dublin bus since 2014 and more recently bus Eireann and speaking from experience this is exactly what already happened

People from the social were going to the interviews for the job and purposely messing them up. On the driving assesments they were purposely breaking mirrors .

One person crashed a van into a wall on exiting the depot just so he wouldnt get the job. He was boasting to the drivers in the job that he was on the dole full time and had no intention of working.

So sadly , as much as I'd like to see a decent worker get off the dole and make something of themselves, this isint the case.

As for the other poster asking about jobsplus. I'm not sure if it's under that or not

The general thing seems to be when these people go in to sign on at their monthly / bi monthly interview, they are being told to go apply and try get the job.

Stephen15

It's a race to bottom. Go-Ahead drivers will be paid less than DB/BE staff but by the sounds of things their entry requirements will be much lower as applicants can have up to 6 penalty points on their licence which is riddiculous for such a responsible job. No mention of Garda vetting for drivers either. They will attract good and bad drivers.

The good drivers will use GA as a stepping stone and get a job with DB or BE for better pay and conditions. The bad ones will cause accidents and get the sack so staff retention rates will be low.

Xterminator

end of the road wrote: »

go ahead are unionised in the uk i believe, and will likely be unionised here as well.
there is no ridiculous over-payment in dublin bus or bus eireann or irish rail, and chances are go ahead will eventually be paying similar wages to bus eireann and dublin bus.

yes it's called contractual obligations.

You missed my point i am not anti union.

i am against the incumbent semi state organisations

where the overly powerful unions can used their power to hold up the training of new recruits,
where they can deliberately involve Bus Eireann/Irish Rail staff in dublin bus strikes to maximise disruption to customers.
where they can demand extra payments to drive longer trains
where they can refuse to implement rosters agreed in the labour court/ arbitration etc

i don't see a problem if new bus drivers are paid the going rate. my point was the organisations are leaner, have less overheads and are more customer oriented.

Yer Da sells Avon

Stephen15 wrote: »

No mention of Garda vetting for drivers either. They will attract good and bad drivers.

Drivers will be subject to Garda vetting. From the application form:

All employment is subject to satisfactory references, medical examination, Garda Siochána vetting, signing a
contract of employment and a period of probation determined by the Company. Please note that as a condition of
employment you will be required to sign a Training Indemnity Bond (should you not already hold a Bus licence) and a
CPC Training Bond to cover ongoing periodic training.

Stephen15

Xterminator wrote: »

You missed my point i am not anti union.

i am against the incumbent semi state organisations
where the overly powerful unions can used their power to hold up the training of new recruits,

where they can deliberately involve Bus Eireann/Irish Rail staff in dublin bus strikes to maximise disruption to customers.

where they can demand extra payments to drive longer trains

where they can refuse to implement rosters agreed in the labour court/ arbitration etc

i don't see a problem if new bus drivers are paid the going rate. my point was the organisations are leaner, have less overheads and are more customer oriented.

The workers are just looking out for their own benefits ie. they want more money for various different things. At the end of the day who isn't, if your union could get you more money would you say thanks but no thanks. We all have our own interests at heart first no matter how generous you like to think you are.

The workers do it because they can if they want extra money and they think they can get it then they will look for it purely out of human nature. Everyone wants more money.

punisher5112

Garda vetting is taking months to clear.

brokenarms

They are training their drivers today in this. Absolute joke of a company. I would ask any who thinks its completely inappropriate, to let the NTA know.

Fizzy Duck

brokenarms wrote: »

They are training their drivers today in this. Absolute joke of a company. I would ask any who thinks its completely inappropriate, to let the NTA know.

Its awaiting repaint. Bus is perfectly fine and was recently handed over by db. Once the other bus comes back from repaint that will be used also.

Stephen15

brokenarms wrote: »

They are training their drivers today in this. Absolute joke of a company. I would ask any who thinks its completely inappropriate, to let the NTA know.

What GT is that?

brokenarms

Fizzy Duck wrote: »

Its awaiting repaint. Bus is perfectly fine and was recently handed over by db. Once the other bus comes back from repaint that will be used also.

It not perfectly fine by me. It looks like a wreck that DB would never put into service , even for learning.
It can easily be identified as Dublin Bus . Just because the logo is no longer there, the branding colours are.

Stephen15 wrote: »

What GT is that?

GT83

Yer Da sells Avon

brokenarms wrote: »

It not perfectly fine by me. It looks like a wreck that DB would never put into service , even for learning.
It can easily be identified as Dublin Bus . Just because the logo is no longer there, the branding colours are.

It looks like a bus that's had bumps and scratches repaired in advance of a repaint. I don't really see the problem. If Dublin Bus didn't want Go-Ahead using their branding, they should have painted it white before handing it over.

dublinman1990

brokenarms wrote: »

They are training their drivers today in this. Absolute joke of a company. I would ask any who thinks its completely inappropriate, to let the NTA know.

Why would you notify the NTA about it. They have approved this process already.

Some of the GT's in Donnybrook were already being resprayed in advance for their switch to GA.

The GT's at Donnybrook for GA were all lined up for their respray and modification work in their shed before they went to their paint shop.

This information was only mentioned from another website only a few weeks ago.

brokenarms

I was under the impression that it was a legal requirement for a bus to have its owners name and address on the side, as well as weight and other info, like master cut off and emergency exit.

ted1

brokenarms wrote: »

They are training their drivers today in this. Absolute joke of a company. I would ask any who thinks its completely inappropriate, to let the NTA know.

Sorry what’s the issue ?

Stephen15

brokenarms wrote: »

It not perfectly fine by me. It looks like a wreck that DB would never put into service , even for learning.
It can easily be identified as Dublin Bus . Just because the logo is no longer there, the branding colours are.

I don't know if you've seen the bus in full but it looks road worthy to me to be fair. It's just the paintwork that's messy as the DB branding on it has been removed as it's awaiting respray it looks like some kind white undercoat is about to be applied. Don't see any issues with any essential components or any safety issues with that bus but then again I haven't inspected the bus in full.

Creative83

Is 32k not a reasonable salary for driving a bus or am I missing something here

Stephen15

Go-Ahead should have bought up a few older second-hand buses to train up drivers on rather than use newish NTA owned GTs. Most operators including DB use old buses that are no longer fit for passenger service for driver training. Also are learner buses not fitted with dual control for the instructor?

Stephen15

Creative83 wrote: »

Is 32k not a reasonable salary for driving a bus or am I missing something here

Drivers will receive up to 32k not a guaranteed 32k that's the maximum drivers will receive per year.

punisher5112

Creative83 wrote: »

Is 32k not a reasonable salary for driving a bus or am I missing something here

Try live in Dublin on that

To answer your question no as it won't be 32k

moonship

punisher5112 wrote: »

Try live in Dublin on that

To answer your question no as it won't be 32k

How much then

Stephen15

moonship wrote: »

How much then

Not clear but I'd give a guess and say about €28k

devnull

GM228 wrote: »

Bit late on reporting from the media I think considering GA announced recruitment some time ago.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2018/0607/968783-go-ahead-ireland/

http://www.thejournal.ie/go-ahead-ireland-jobs-4057205-Jun2018/

I don't understand why some people are surprised about this recruitment plan. Go-Ahead had a plan for many months that they would need to hire 300 staff based on winning the contract but they since have won another contract that has a shorter lead time which involves hiring further staff.

It doesn't necessarily mean that they are having trouble recruiting, simply that they need to increase their recruiting efforts since another contract win has meant that they needed more staff than they initially projected.

Stephen15 wrote: »

Apparently they don't mind now if you have up to 6 penalty points on your licence. They are desparate for staff.

Are there no staff in Dublin Bus with penalty points?

Kopparberg Strawberry and Lime wrote: »

It's better again

We have it confirmed, people on the dole long term are being sent to go ahead for jobs because they are providing training for them.

So what you're essentially saying is we should just resign ourselves to the fact that the long term unemployed should be written off and we should just accept they are going to collect their €200 every week and writing off any chance of getting them into the workplace?

I've worked with people who need help getting into the workplace and getting a fresh start and contrary to popular speculation, not all of them are lazy people who don't want to work. There are some of the long term unemployed who have many different situations that have led them to that situation.

I think helping them get a rung on the ladder and provide them with training they could not otherwise afford to help them into a job that they may well be very grateful for and therefore become a contributor via tax rather than someone we dish out 200 quid a week for the rest of their life is a good thing.

dublinman1990

Just an update on Go Ahead's online web services.

They have updated their Twitter account to be renamed as Go Ahead Ireland. Their previous name Go Ahead Dublin on Twitter has been removed.

Their main website address has been swapped to goaheadireland.ie. GA still has their Go Ahead Dublin logo displayed on the website.

Their Head office addresses & email addresses are still displayed as Go Ahead Dublin.

There was a news report on the RTÉ 6.1 news there. It was done by Joe Mag Raollaigh.

Stephen15

"devnull wrote: »

Are there no staff in Dublin Bus with penalty points?

I'm sure there are but they have likely picked since they have started working with DB. DB require a full clean licence when applying for a job with them I think they may allow 1 or 2 but not 6.