[boardsuser1]

Originally Posted by Matthew Gleeson

Nice! Was on the chinese import today 'Kinglong' I think, was no legroom on it and I'm not tall haha. Whats the process out of interest to get into driving buses?

I actually like the King long's from a driver point of view.

Never a passenger on one.

To get the licence you need the following;

Full category B licence.

Do theory test for category D (ensure you have 2 passport photos + public services card).

Get medical completed by your GP.

Apply for category D learner permit.

Do 2 driver CPC theory tests, one is 100 questions, the other is multiple choice case studies.

Driving lessons.

Sit and pass driving test + cpc show and tell (walk around checks).

Apply for full driving licence for category D

Apply for digital tachograph card.

All in it cost me €2500 when i did it 5 years ago.

Licence for professional drivers is only valid for 5 years, cost €55 euro.

CPC's annually for the rest of your professional driving career average €50 per module.

As i have a dual licence (bus and truck) it costs me €300 in cpc's alone every 5 years

Once you complete all of the above you can then apply for your driver cpc card to the RSA, it's free of charge for a first one. €50 for a replacement.

[devnull]

Originally Posted by Matthew Gleeson

Nice! Was on the chinese import today 'Kinglong' I think, was no legroom on it and I'm not tall haha.

The King Long has an interesting story behind it, being that Dublin Coach ordered it and stated what colour they wanted and it was delivered in completely the wrong colour so they had to re-paint it it themselves, unsure if they paid or they made King Long do it.

Thing that always got me about that bus is the orange stripe going the whole way along the bus on the side of it that lights up in the dark, and the many needless LEDs and blue lights that are on the coach, it looks very tacky in my opinion and the leg-room is bad as you say.

King Longs are very cheap though and generally their exterior designs are based on copying other brands exteriors quite closely, their attraction is that on the face of it at first glance, they offer a premium looking and specified coach at a very good price.

[boardsuser1]

Originally Posted by devnull

The King Long has an interesting story behind it, being that Dublin Coach ordered it and stated what colour they wanted and it was delivered in completely the wrong colour so they had to re-paint it it themselves, unsure if they paid or they made King Long do it.

Thing that always got me about that bus is the orange stripe going the whole way along the bus on the side of it that lights up in the dark, and the many needless LEDs and blue lights that are on the coach, it looks very tacky in my opinion and the leg-room is bad as you say.

King Longs are very cheap though and generally their exterior designs are based on copying other brands exteriors quite closely, their attraction is that on the face of it at first glance, they offer a premium looking and specified coach at a very good price.

The power plant in them is great though, a Cummins engine.

The same as the Former Bus Eireann Bombardier/GAC city type KC class.

[john boye]

One of the 03 tridents on tours downed tools outside AIB on Dame Street this evening. That and the maintenance van parked in behind it brought traffic to a crawl and caused a lot of strife for DB drivers trying to access the stop there.

[Stephen15]

I find odd that everyone complains about they're the fact that the buses are ancient 03 or 04 when DB and BE's older vehicles of a similar vintage and no one complains about them

[boardsuser1]

Originally Posted by Stephen15

I find odd that everyone complains about they're the fact that the buses are ancient 03 or 04 when DB and BE's older vehicles of a similar vintage and no one complains about them

The BE ones are in better nick thanks to the tax payer. Dublin Coach aren't so fortunate to have a bottomless pit of money effectively.

[schemingbohemia]

Originally Posted by Cork Truck Driver

As i have a dual licence (bus and truck) it costs me €300 in cpc's alone every 5 years

Or 16 cent a day......

[boardsuser1]

Originally Posted by schemingbohemia

Or 16 cent a day......

You actually went to the bother of working that out

Factor in the €55 for the licence every 5 years.

€50 for the medical.

€45 for the digi card if online or €60 in the post which i do.

€6 for passport photos for the cpc card.

It's still cheap, are we up to the 20c per day mark yet

[bk]

Originally Posted by Stephen15

I find odd that everyone complains about they're the fact that the buses are ancient 03 or 04 when DB and BE's older vehicles of a similar vintage and no one complains about them

In fairness there are so many 03 and 04's left, DB has a pretty young fleet overall and the older coaches mostly only a few hours a day (peak times) and of course city services put on far less mileage (lots of stuck in traffic).

These intercity coaches on the other hand work very hard lives, running intercity distances 24/7 for years on Aircoach/Stagecoach and now continue to work long distance all day long.

I'd imagine the mileage on these is in the millions and many times higher then a DB bus. Not really an apples to oranges comparison.

[devnull]

Originally Posted by Stephen15

I find odd that everyone complains about they're the fact that the buses are ancient 03 or 04 when DB and BE's older vehicles of a similar vintage and no one complains about them

I don't think there is much of a comparison.

The mileage on Dublin Bus and Bus Eireann vehicles would be quite a bit less than the vehicles of a similar age operating for private operators, and the private operators would almost fully operate the same timetable 7 days a week, 364 days a year and are operating 24 hours a day in the case of Aircoach and can be doing approx 1,000km a day.

Compare that to Dublin Bus who would have a large number of vehicles off the road at weekends and bank holidays and don't operate at all between midnight and 6am apart from a dozen buses doing a couple of journeys a week on a nitelink and the fact that outside peak a fair percentage of their fleet is also off the road, and you have a totally different situation.

[soundman45]

I applied for a job as a driver with them months ago. Heard nothing back for a few weeks then got a call one afternoon looking for me to attend an interview at 9am next day. I said I couldn't make it due to commitments in my current job, they guy lost the plot with me and slammed down the phone and I never heard from them again, can only imagine how they treat guys that work there and they have adds on jobs website almost every day looking for drivers.

[boardsuser1]

Originally Posted by soundman45

I applied for a job as a driver with them months ago. Heard nothing back for a few weeks then got a call one afternoon looking for me to attend an interview at 9am next day. I said I couldn't make it due to commitments in my current job, they guy lost the plot with me and slammed down the phone and I never heard from them again, can only imagine how they treat guys that work there and they have adds on jobs website almost every day looking for drivers.

Yes Stephen isn't a nice person.

[dense]

Originally Posted by schemingbohemia

Are people standing? That's illegal on those buses as far as i'm aware.

They're not licensed for standing passengers.
Sounds like maintenance is an issue too.
And adherence to route licensing criteria sounds woeful.

The RSA is supposed to audit their maintenance regime and vehicle servic history and the NTA their route obligations. Doesn't look like any of it's being done from the reports here.

[punisher5112]

I wish they would turn off their engines when sitting at terminus anything up to 40 minutes early.

I'm actually surprised with a company on the big for cost savings that they don't have them make sure its off to save on fuel....


Quite possible if they do turn them off though it would be an inevitable break down maybe.

[boardsuser1]

Originally Posted by punisher5112

I wish they would turn off their engines when sitting at terminus anything up to 40 minutes early.

I'm actually surprised with a company on the big for cost savings that they don't have them make sure its off to save on fuel....


Quite possible if they do turn them off though it would be an inevitable break down maybe.

When i worked in the buses that was a big issue with my employer.

If i went as much as a mile off route on a private hire i'd be asked questions and told pay for the diesel.