Dublin Bus Driver Salaries.

JustMary wrote: »

Now I'm not saying that the current bus-driver workforce meets all my expectations. In fact, I've often wanted to plant a foot in the backside of certain state-owned-operator employees who won't help an elderly person put their bag into the luggage compartment, no matter how old they are

Unfortunately Mary, it not that simple. I do a bit of part time work for a private operator. One of the first thing I was told was not, under any circumstances, to assist any passengers with baggage. With the 'compo' culture, employers don't want to be responsible for paying out for drivers who are claiming injuries from lifting heavy luggage.

You might'nt like to hear it but there are lots of people who can do lower skilled jobs (Which driving is one as it doesnt require year's of study to be able to do). So then the wages need to come down. This can happen quite easily in the private sector through redundancy/pay cuts, but if you try to do that in the public sector then they try to bring the country to a halt to get what they want. The public sector is going to get very little sympathy from the general public overpay cuts/redundancies (Especially CIE).

What I would "like to hear" is irrelevant to the thread as it has developed.

I (Personally) am acutely aware that there are higher skilled people able to perform more menial tasks,its not really an issue for me at any rate.

I`m aware of several colleagues over the years who tried Bus driving and went back to their old positions as well as the aforementioned PhD`s who remained at the Busdriving,because it suited THEM personally.
Whether it serves any real purpose to grade them or otherwise quantify their new "worth" as Busdrivers is open to arguement.

but if you try to do that in the public sector then they try to bring the country to a halt to get what they want

I suppose the definition of that is what will decide the reaction of any sector be it private or public.
Certainly I see no problem with ANY group attempting to secure the best result for themselves as was witnessed by the Waterford Crystal and Thomas Cook staff here and by many and varied European Worker groups (Particularly French)

What Irishguy appears to be telling me is that because I work for an odd hybrid Public/Private employer I must immediately acceed to whatever cutbacks are presented without question ?

For what it`s worth,my current earning capacity is now far below what it was 12 months ago but,hey it`s a recession so I`ll have to grin and bear it.

The public sector is going to get very little sympathy from the general public overpay cuts/redundancies (Especially CIE).

Again,I`m not sure that sympathy is relevant to the discussion at all unless Irishguy is suggesting the establishment of some form of cheering mob to throw rotting fruit at the tumbril as it passes by stuffed with Busdrivers headed for the gallows ?

Also Tax evasion is hardly an excuse for earning more money and if Dublin Bus drivers think they can earn more in the private sector then no one is stopping them handing in their notice.

Nowhere did I suggest the Taxation element was an excuse for anything.
I merely included it as something I PERSONALLY had come across (In better(?) times)

Several of my former colleagues did indeed make the move to the Private Sector due to what they perceived as the low basic rate in Dublin Bus and were not behind the door about meeting up later and waving their Big-Bag for us all to see.

This thread has taken the traditional route (!) in being hi-jacked into a "Grumpy DublinBus Drivers vs The Rest" when in fact it needed to develop into a discussion on the mechaincs of how UBS conducts such surveys and what conclusions it can draw from them.

Hopefully it still can....

A person who drives a bus for 5 years has pretty much mastered the job (they cant really get that much better)

Famous last words for many a Busdriver....:(

Rockshamrover displays a good grasp of how stuff like experience and adequate renumeration actually works,as opposed to merely stating sound-bytes about how individuals believe they should work.

I just have to read and re-read this simply to ensure I`m not hallucinating ...
A person who drives a bus for 5 years has pretty much mastered the job (they cant really get that much better)

I`m reminded of this lad`s very full demonstration of his "jobsworth" .

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/24/chesley-sully-sullenberge_0_n_169512.html

Doing one`s job well and with a degree of professionalism is not ALL about being the sixth best paid in the world...:)

In the current Irish domestic environment there is NO relativity or relevance attaching to ANY monetary sums in ANY sector..be that wages,salaries or commodity prices...not forgetting PROPERTY.

We may as well discuss the earning potential of Leprechauns on Alpha Centaurii.
The current Administrative meltdown has left us with a Societal Structure on the verge of collapse and essentially worthless

The sight of some of the lead players in this Twilight of the Gods high-tailing it to Switzerland only serves to underline that the iniquities go far deeper than paying a Busdriver €33,000 for a (Very) full years work.

And please please PLEEEEASE Mods....edit the title of this thread.....us Busdrivers are members of the CIE WAGES Grade Pension Scheme because we earn a WAGE rather than a salary....

crocro wrote: »

an average primary school teacher 58K, would you expect them to be thrifty when they go shopping?


QUOTE]


The truth is primary school teachers are massively overpaid. Teh 58k average quoted here does not surprise me - and I know we are always comparing ourselves with the UK someone I know in the UK with 30 years primary teaching experience and a senior teaching position in a reasonable size primary school in the south of englands gets 32 k sterling a year - about 36 Euro - here she would be on about 65K. OP its not just bus drivers it is the entire public sector - we know it they know it the dogs on the street know it - We have set up a monstrous system in which the public sector is destroying this country, the private sector is crumbling in the recession and the whole edifice is going to come tumbling down.

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

also, imagine the poor sod who drivers the Air link having to help people with bags.... So its not quite as simple as you make it seem.

Guess what: I've traveled overseas quite a bit, and I've never seen drivers so unhelpful. I can't see that something which is simple overseas can be difficult in Ireland.

In fact, some even take responsibility for how luggage is packed into their bus - something to do with making sure the load is evenly balanced, and also minimizing delays at stops down the road, when Granny Jones has to haul out half the luggage in order to get to her own case, and then repack it all herself before the bus can leave. That doesn't mean they do all the lifting, rather that they direct what goes where, and ensure that people who need help get it.

Guess what: I've traveled overseas quite a bit, and I've never seen drivers so unhelpful. I can't see that something which is simple overseas can be difficult in Ireland.

In fact, some even take responsibility for how luggage is packed into their bus - something to do with making sure the load is evenly balanced, and also minimizing delays at stops down the road, when Granny Jones has to haul out half the luggage in order to get to her own case, and then repack it all herself before the bus can leave. That doesn't mean they do all the lifting, rather that they direct what goes where, and ensure that people who need help get it.

JustMary,forgive me but I`m wondering if you are posting here regarding Dublin Bus or Bus Eireann services ?

I have also travelled widely in Europe,specifically on occasion for comparitive purposes and found little essential difference between the attitiude of DRIVERS.

In London,for example it wouldbe rare for a Driver in the CEntral zone to take ANY notice of whats going on behind him/her as the entire process is TOTALLY automated.

Parisian busdrivers do astually accept cash and give change BUT you will rarely see such a transaction and when you do the locals will engage in much eye rolling and shoulder shrugging as they mutter darkly about bloody-foreigners holding up the bus.

Some years ago while travelling on a Parisian bus and elderly lady fell from her perch as the Bus traversed a roundabout at speed.
The driver gazed at her prone body and without stopping roared at the other passengers to pick her up and sit her back down...WHICH THEY DID.
The old lady thanked them all profusely and continued her journey,even giving the Driver an Apple as she got off !!

If such an event occurred on my Bus today,it would involve the attendance of the emergency services,the cessation of my days work and a months worth of form filling and managers interviews.

That little occurrence aside however,what I do constantly note is the VAST difference in the Environment in which those Busdrivers actually work.

One only has to take on board the entirely different perspective with which a mainland European citizen regards the term "INFRASTRUCTURE" to understand this difference.

Take for example Wheelchair Accessible Bus-Stops (Expensively retro-fitted with special raised and profiled kerbing to allow seamless access for wheelchair bound persons.)

The installation of these was the easy bit,and we could bask in how widespread these now are.
However,I will NEVER complete a day/nights work in Dublin where I have full access to utilize these facilities due to indiscriminate,illegal and now the latest semi-legal parking of all manner of vehicles at or on the approach to the stop.
Taxi operations,for example since the establishment of the Taxi Regulator have descended in a mess of totally chaotic proportions..how can ANYBODY claim what we witness daily in Dublin is "regulated" ?

This attitude (or lack of) is now regularly leading to confrontational situations between Busdrivers,Passengers,Gardai and Motorists as NOBODY appears to be prepared to accept that Laws apply to us all FOR THE GREATER GOOD.

It`s not in our physche to think that way.

So JustMary,please..pretty-please...pause for a moment in your anger at how your Bus/Coach driver seemingly ignores YOUR situation and consider the greater picture of how WE all have embraced a half-cut version of efficiency and customer service due largely to our refusal to recognise a need to act as a group rather than as angry self centred individuals.

Many many times I have operated inter-urban services and attempted to assist persons with luggage,only to find myself frustrated by somebody else who had differing requirements and wanted THEIR bag in a particular location.
Other times we recieve accusations that items were broken DUE TO THE DRIVERS ROUGH HANDLING of the bag.

It`s not for nothing that the darling of all Private Sector enthusiasts Mick O Leary and his Airline have targeted Luggage as THE major impediment to THEM maintaining THEIR efficiency ratings and the needs or preferences of the customer don`t enter into it.

Remember, I'm one who doesn't think you're overpaid, just that certain aspects of the way you're currently trained/instructed/required to do your job don't meet my expectations of the levels of service that public-transport operators (no matter who owns 'em) should deliver.

In Ireland we are ALL overpaid and have been for a long time now,however it`s not the actual level of renumeration that is the problem but the relative worth of the tasks we perform.

The capitalized aspect of your post may well be so very true BUT that is most certainly something for my MOST senior management to mull over and perhaps consider re-introducing Conductors or Baggage Boys to look after the non-driving aspects,as for example the Patton Flyer does

dwcommuter u started this tread

u seem to think u know exactly what a bus driver gets paid and think they get paid to much. what do u work at so we can go have a look at what u get paid and then tell u you dont deserve it which u proberly dont, 4 all we know u dont even have a job. why are picking SORRY who do u think u are ?ing how much a bus driver gets paid getting up as early as 3am and finnishing at all sorts of times getting out of bed to bring everybody else to work and then bring them home imo drivers dont get paid enough to get spat at cursed at have u tryed to breaking down 33k its crap pay 4 the unsociable hours and putting up with crap

€220,000 per year what ever cant just be honest good luck

lol