Sleepy bus driver

Cleopatra12

obv the example i gave has been missed.. and the point i was trying to make, but whats new! the list is non exhaustive! But by all means, do that on a fri night..... sounds enthralling!

antoinolachtnai

You are saying that Dublin Bus got EUR 80m in operational subsidies in 2007 to run its PSO network (excluding capital grants of EUR 20m), more than that in 2008 and has the same or more coming in 2009, and not a single cent of it went towards wages?

dub_commuter

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

obv the example i gave has been missed.. and the point i was trying to make, but whats new! the list is non exhaustive! But by all means, do that on a fri night..... sounds enthralling!

Just fed up of the constant spin on this board lately and people trying to cloud issues.

I agree, not a very enthralling thing on a Friday night, personally went out to the pub. Guess it can't be very enthralling to post at 9.30pm on a Friday night - but just my two cents.

bk

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

Ok, yet again i have to point out, tax payers do not subsidise Dublin Bus wages. DB gets a subvention from the government. Its not to pay wages. I am a DB employee and am paid by Dublin Bus,they are my emplouer! I am not by the tax payer. Using your logic, since i pay tax, therefore i pay my own wages, eh????

That is BS, the subvention mightn't go directly to wages, but if it wasn't there, then a lot less could be spent on wages.

And if it doesn't go to wages, what exactly does the 80 million a year go towards? After all it doesn't include capital expense, which is a separate chuck of tax payers money DB gets.

In the end DB gets the majority of it's income (probably 90%+) from either the subvention or from the fare the customers pay.

Either way the tax payer and public transport users of Ireland deserve far better then what I'm hearing on this thread.

BTW that is no offense to the majority of excellent drivers, but you guys have to admit there are a few chancers.

Discovery

briantwin wrote: »

Well just a little annoyed thread about bus drivers. Now for the most part they are ok and do a job i know i do not envy. But this morning i was waiting for my bus which was parked beside the terminus , the stop i get on at. It was due to leave at 10.30 i was there from 10.25. It was about 10.35 and i walked over to the bus and knocked on the window, the driver was lying across the back seat asleep. So i knocked till he woke up, realised what was happening and proceeded to get into the drivers eat/area. Anyway while he was sitting there with the engine running and getting the bus ready he dozed off for a further 5 - 10 minutes. His bus left 15 minutes late and with him half asleep behind the wheel. What a pro ehhhh?

Anyone else experience anything similar.
Oh i might add he was none to pleased with me when i got on the bus.

Should have reported him and got off the bus. I would never travel on a bus if the driver looks in that state. Its your life in his hands if he dozes off whilst drving.

meanmachine3

partyguinness wrote: »

That is completely unacceptable...:mad:

I would make a formal complaint.

you can make all the complaints you like that i dont mind what i do have a problem with how ever is this.

partyguinness wrote: »

Remember we are subsidising their wages. .

this has been said in another thread recently and as already pointed out by cleo dublin bus pay our wages.T.B.H. that was just a cheap swipe at dublin bus nothing more. i could say exactly the same about everywhere that i pay for a service, dunnes ( i pay their wages), the petrol stn ( i pay their wages) the list is endless. ohhh antoin anyone that pays fares on your buses could say the same, and get stuck into your drivers should there be a problem with buses being late.

bk wrote:

Either way the tax payer and public transport users of Ireland deserve far better then what I'm hearing on this thread.

BTW that is no offense to the majority of excellent drivers, but you guys have to admit there are a few chancers.

i couldn't agree with you more and we are very well aware that the service needs vast improvements but i'd like to know bk and the rest of you what sort improvements are you looking for.B.T.W. last night one of my colleagues was stuck at the new extended taxi rank in dame street for about 5 minutes. i'm sure you all know it ,the one thats been extended right upto the traffic lights coming from georges street onto dame street, where nothing bigger than a car can make that turn. my point is 5 minutes is a long time when you have about 45-50 mins to do a run. hence it goes back to what i said earlier. buses not showing up because they're running late.
O.P. just clarify a few things for us.
was it a bus run by dublin bus
and
was it north, south or west dublin
or was it even in dublin at all.please dont mention the route as we dont have the full facts of what actually happened

shltter

dub_commuter wrote: »

Interesting...Still all the subvention seems to be a lot for that. Will have to have a look at the accounts, however I thought DB's biggest income was it's subvention, and it's biggest outgoing wages.........

Might be interesting to strip the subvention out of the income, and then see how much money is left from the last accounts income, and subtract the wages from the same year from the remaining figure and see what figure we are left with.

The subvention is for operating routes that are not commercially viable.

There is no subsidy of wages that is incorrect.

If the subvention is paying for for non commercial routes it is paying for the buses the diesel the wages and all other associated costs with operating those routes.

The subvention is no different from any company providing services to the state, they provide a service that the state thinks is necessary and the state pays them for that.

Are we subsiding the wages of people working for BT or UTV because the state pays them for providing a phone service to pensioners etc.


BTW Dublin Buses biggest source of income by far is what it takes in fares.

shltter

briantwin wrote: »

Well just a little annoyed thread about bus drivers. Now for the most part they are ok and do a job i know i do not envy. But this morning i was waiting for my bus which was parked beside the terminus , the stop i get on at. It was due to leave at 10.30 i was there from 10.25. It was about 10.35 and i walked over to the bus and knocked on the window, the driver was lying across the back seat asleep. So i knocked till he woke up, realised what was happening and proceeded to get into the drivers eat/area. Anyway while he was sitting there with the engine running and getting the bus ready he dozed off for a further 5 - 10 minutes. His bus left 15 minutes late and with him half asleep behind the wheel. What a pro ehhhh?

Anyone else experience anything similar.
Oh i might add he was none to pleased with me when i got on the bus.

As already pointed out you are presuming this bus was the 10:30 it may well have been the 10:45.

If the driver was tired he did exactly what the safety advice is to do take a nap and refresh yourself

http://www.safety.com/articles/driving-while-tired.html

Many popular methods to stay awake, such as drinking a caffeinated beverage, opening windows, turning on air conditioning, or blasting the radio. Studies have shown these to be ineffective, however. The only proven preventative measure is to pull off the road and take a nap lasting at least 20 minutes. This small break is enough to restore a driver's abilities. It’s best to nap, awaken more refreshed, and then continue on to a safe place to sleep longer.

givyjoe81

meanmachine3 wrote: »

now before you start getting on your high horse and going in all guns blazing brian let me ask you this. are you 100% certain that the sleepy driver you woke up was in fact the same driver that was supposed to leave at 10.30.
be very careful here and think about it. was there a bus another bus due to leave at 10.45/50. i'd say the same to you all about this by the way. think before you start shouting. i was going to offer my services on helping but after seeing the lovely language well i think you know where you can shove it brian. you mean the late nights spent reading crap like this. ooops i better be off to bed ,dont want to be falling asleep at the termini in the morning in case i make the likes of brian late again. nighty night
ohhhhh if he was the driver ,let me work this out. he left 15 minutes late but you still managed to be 30 minutes late
so if he had left on time you would've still been late by 15 minutes.:D
wow lets blame it all on the bus driver.

Christ almighty you need to be sacked form DB asap, you demonstrate time and time again you have not a notion of customer service and you prob wonder why no one has ANY sympahty when you lovely chaps decide to go on strike at the drop of a hat, seriously, how on earth do you defend this prime example of disgraceful conduct from yet anohter joke of a driver of DB, THE GUY WAS SLEEPING AT THE BACK OF THE BUS!! Doesnt matter if he was the 10.30 which he obviously was anyway, tiredness as others im sure have mentioned is dangerous while at the wheel, up there with using a mobile phone, under the influence etc.

How about you change your tune and actually admit that there a jokers like this working for Dublin Bus instead of trying to defend the indefensible.

Mimikyu

This post has been deleted.

givyjoe81

Captain Morgan wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

My particular issue with mean machine's post that even if it was the 10.30 one, jugding from previous issues on other posts he would still find a way for justifying it, in all likelyhood it was the 10.30 bus that was late as the poster pointed out, the driver in question was fast asleep, would he have woken up for 10.45?!

Even then the guy should be in fit condition for work, he should not be needing to sleep during his rest periods at the terminus, end of, otherwise he simply isnt in fit condition to work. Plus the chap left people standing in the rain, while he was snoozing, which is also poor form.

The full facts never seem to come out when you make any sort of complaint against DB.

Cleopatra12

givyjoe81 wrote: »

My particular issue with mean machine's post that even if it was the 10.30 one, jugding from previous issues on other posts he would still find a way for justifying it, in all likelyhood it was the 10.30 bus that was late as the poster pointed out, the driver in question was fast asleep, would he have woken up for 10.45?!

Even then the guy should be in fit condition for work, he should not be needing to sleep during his rest periods at the terminus, end of, otherwise he simply isnt in fit condition to work. Plus the chap left people standing in the rain, while he was snoozing, which is also poor form.

The full facts never seem to come out when you make any sort of complaint against DB.

And even if he was the 10:45 and let people on, no doubt someone would moan about having to sit on the bus for 15 mins waiting.... Look, its obvious nobody is going to win this argument, and seeing as nobody is in the possession of full facts, i think Driver bashing should stop....

givyjoe81

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

And even if he was the 10:45 and let people on, no doubt someone would moan about having to sit on the bus for 15 mins waiting.... Look, its obvious nobody is going to win this argument, and seeing as nobody is in the possession of full facts, i think Driver bashing should stop....

One Simple fact is the guy was asleep across the back of the bus, totally unacceptable and in the company i used to work for (privately run bus service) the driver would have been disciplined. Shocking carry on and indicative of DB's culture. Lazy.

Cleopatra12

givyjoe81 wrote: »

One Simple fact is the guy was asleep across the back of the bus, totally unacceptable and in the company i used to work for (privately run bus service) the driver would have been disciplined. Shocking carry on and indicative of DB's culture. Lazy.

Well i also know plenty of Bus Eireann drivers who have taken naps on their buses... would rather they did that than fall asleep at the wheel!

meanmachine3

givyjoe81 wrote: »

My particular issue with mean machine's post that even if it was the 10.30 one, jugding from previous issues on other posts he would still find a way for justifying it, in all likelyhood it was the 10.30 bus that was late as the poster pointed out, the driver in question was fast asleep, would he have woken up for 10.45?!

Even then the guy should be in fit condition for work, he should not be needing to sleep during his rest periods at the terminus, end of, otherwise he simply isnt in fit condition to work. Plus the chap left people standing in the rain, while he was snoozing, which is also poor form.

The full facts never seem to come out when you make any sort of complaint against DB.

how the hell would you know it was or wasn't the 10.30 even i'm not privvy to that info. i bet this is what happened. the o.p. got pissed off that the 10.30 didn't show up he went over to the other bus and had a go at the driver.
i get it all the time of toe rags that have thought i was their bus and when it was explained which one i was and i was not moving till my time came they then went of with their sorry heads between their asses full of appologies.
now that driver could've been on his break and was enjoying himself with some georgous babe when he was rudley awoken. i've taken my breaks at termini and had a lovely holiday in paradise with those lovely babes as well.
no wonder we're in foul form all the time, it's ****ing toe rages like you who think they own us thats puts us in foul form.

givyjoe81

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

Well i also know plenty of Bus Eireann drivers who have taken naps on their buses... would rather they did that than fall asleep at the wheel!

Well they would prob more often that not be on 'long haul' journeys over 2,3 hours etc, thats perfectly understandable and a different story altogether. Plus they also arent DB drivers.:P

givyjoe81

meanmachine3 wrote: »

how the hell would you know it was or wasn't the 10.30 even i'm not privvy to that info. i bet this is what happened. the o.p. got pissed off that the 10.30 didn't show up he went over to the other bus and had a go at the driver.
i get it all the time of toe rags that have thought i was their bus and when it was explained which one i was and i was not moving till my time came they then went of with their sorry heads between their asses full of appologies.
now that driver could've been on his break and was enjoying himself with some georgous babe when he was rudley awoken. i've taken my breaks at termini and had a lovely holiday in paradise with those lovely babes as well.
no wonder we're in foul form all the time, it's ****ing toe rages like you who think they own us thats puts us in foul form.

Charming, language im sure your not slow to use on the job when people complain about your wonderful customer service skills.

The point i was making that even if it was, YOU would still try and make some convoluted EXCUSE for the driver in question, god forbid you would ever hold up your admits and say you know what thats not on.

So a person is a toe rag for logically assuming that you are the bus who is late when you are the bus which arrives at a time closest to the one which they are seeking to get? Would you consider yourself the average DB employee? Or a star performer as I believe you mentioned a few weeks back.

Cleopatra12

givyjoe81 wrote: »

Well they would prob more often that not be on 'long haul' journeys over 2,3 hours etc, thats perfectly understandable and a different story altogether. Plus they also arent DB drivers.:P

The majority of DB drive for a min of 4 hours before a break. You are confusing the distance between the start and end points of a journey and the lenght of driving time. A trip on a DB route, may be shorter mileagewise, but can take longer than a BE trip.

Cleopatra12

givyjoe81 wrote: »

Charming, language im sure your not slow to use on the job when people complain about your wonderful customer service skills.

The point i was making that even if it was, YOU would still try and make some convoluted EXCUSE for the driver in question, god forbid you would ever hold up your admits and say you know what thats not on.

So a person is a toe rag for logically assuming that you are the bus who is late when you are the bus which arrives at a time closest to the one which they are seeking to get? Would you consider yourself the average DB employee?

Well i know nobody would appreciate someone coming up and banging the window of a bus and getting an earful of abuse for no reason... If you are a regular commuter you would see some of the crap DB driver take, only the other day i saw a bloke come on the bus, blow smoke in the face of the driver and then start roaring at him looking for his change.. he called the driver all names under the sun. This was a disgace. I know this driver, asked him if he was ok and he shrugged and said he is used to it.

People here bitch and moan about drivers, but please try to remember, they are only trying to do thier jobs, Driving around a poorly laid out city, in poor weather conditions (most of the time), getting earfulls from people.. and what about the responsibility of driving a bus full of people, knowing you are responsible for their safety!

Look at it this way, perhap he was being safety aware and having a nap rather than crash a bus!

meanmachine3

givyjoe81 wrote: »

Charming, language im sure your not slow to use on the job when people complain about your wonderful customer service skills.

The point i was making that even if it was, YOU would still try and make some convoluted EXCUSE for the driver in question, god forbid you would ever hold up your admits and say you know what thats not on.

So a person is a toe rag for logically assuming that you are the bus who is late when you are the bus which arrives at a time closest to the one which they are seeking to get? Would you consider yourself the average DB employee? Or a star performer as I believe you mentioned a few weeks back.

the regular posters in here know my temperment and mood. i've been honest and i have in the past lamb basted my own colleagues. anyone that thinks they can abuse us has another thing coming. we're not paid to take abuse of you or anyone else and thats exactly what i say to my passengers. or i could easily say
" i dont accept you kind gift of anger"
yes i am a model bus driver. all my passengers know me , they have great respect for me and i have higher respect for them becuase unlike some toe rags out there they put me in great form when they get on, reason: they're always polite and say thanks when getting off. damn to those passengers it's worth risking my ass getting booked to help them out.

meanmachine3

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

only the other day i saw a bloke come on the bus, blow smoke in the face of the driver and then start roaring at him looking for his change.. he called the driver all names under the sun. This was a disgace. I know this driver, asked him if he was ok and he shrugged and said he is used to it.

ahhhh here bollox to that, i'd let the **** hit me, i'd tear his head off then get him done for assault.

Cleopatra12

Fortunatly he had his safety screen up!

givyjoe81

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

Well i know nobody would appreciate someone coming up and banging the window of a bus and getting an earful of abuse for no reason... If you are a regular commuter you would see some of the crap DB driver take, only the other day i saw a bloke come on the bus, blow smoke in the face of the driver and then start roaring at him looking for his change.. he called the driver all names under the sun. This was a disgace. I know this driver, asked him if he was ok and he shrugged and said he is used to it.

People here bitch and moan about drivers, but please try to remember, they are only trying to do thier jobs, Driving around a poorly laid out city, in poor weather conditions (most of the time), getting earfulls from people.. and what about the responsibility of driving a bus full of people, knowing you are responsible for their safety!

Look at it this way, perhap he was being safety aware and having a nap rather than crash a bus!

Come off it now, your above story has nothing to do with this situation. Iv been assaulted my a customer before in a previous job, does that give me the right to dish out poor customer service to other innocent customers. Im sure DB drivers do put up with allot, no doubt, but thats no excuse for the countless shabby examples of service I personally have recieved over the 15 years or so i used to avail of DB services.

People come on here and 'bitch and moan' BECAUSE of examples like the above and they are damn entitled to do it, I think the Irish in general are far too tolerant of the poor standard of public transport we recieve, which simply isnt tolerated in countries like germany. Time after time we hear excuses and not apologies from DB staff, management and drivers alike for incidents like that above and thats why people choose to 'bitch and moan'!

Cleopatra12

I was only giving an example, but please by all means choose to ignore it.

givyjoe81

Cleopatra12 wrote: »

I was only giving an example, but please by all means choose to ignore it.

An examle of what?! How DB drivers are justified in mistreating their customers?! I didnt ignore it, i fully acknowledged it, i merely asked what it had got to do with the OP's original point?

Cleopatra12

Ah, forget about it , am off to the pub for some R&R!

givyjoe81

meanmachine3 wrote: »

the regular posters in here know my temperment and mood. i've been honest and i have in the past lamb basted my own colleagues. anyone that thinks they can abuse us has another thing coming. we're not paid to take abuse of you or anyone else and thats exactly what i say to my passengers. or i could easily say
" i dont accept you kind gift of anger"
yes i am a model bus driver. all my passengers know me , they have great respect for me and i have higher respect for them becuase unlike some toe rags out there they put me in great form when they get on, reason: they're always polite and say thanks when getting off. damn to those passengers it's worth risking my ass getting booked to help them out.

Yet you consider me or anyone else who confuses you for the guilty late driver, a toe rag? Yes a model employee. Who said anything about taking abuse, being mistakenly identified as the driver who has started his journey late, is hardly taking abuse.

Adding to your earlier definition, someone who doesnt put you in great form is a toe rag?

Just out of curiosity, one of the single worst experiences i can remember on DB was on a short journey on the 77 a few years back, getting off at the 'dip' on greenhills road the driver kindly let me jump from the moving vehicle as he had deemed it unncessary to stop the bus for me to disembark, not at full speed obviously but somewhere between 5-10 mph at a guess, fast enough that i nearly broke my neck when landing. Just curious as to your thoughts on the matter.

meanmachine3

givyjoe81 wrote: »

Iv been assaulted my a customer before in a previous job, does that give me the right to dish out poor customer service to other innocent customers. Im sure DB drivers do put up with allot, no doubt, but thats no excuse for the countless shabby examples of service I personally have recieved over the 15 years or so i used to avail of DB services.

now we're getting somewhere. theres no point in having a go at me, shltter or cleo or any of the other that post here. we're not mangement some of us are bus drivers ,some of us work in other depts. if you have a problem with the services i suggest you get onto the local area managers or someone high up in head office. they're the only ones that can improve the service you require.
as for the other stuff.
i've been threatened on numerous occasions, the most serious was a guy who said he'd wait for me outside the staff canteen and slice my face up why : becuase of a mistake i made and immediately appologised for. i know of inspectors who have had the same experience only theirs was alot worse. there are drivers in malboro street who take their life into their own hands just by working in that street. junkies pardise, same with hawkins street and talobt street. when i'm on lates my wife doesn't sleep till she hears me coming in the door at about 1-1.30am, then has to be up at 6am. these days you dont need an excuse to assault someone.

shltter

givyjoe81 wrote: »

An examle of what?! How DB drivers are justified in mistreating their customers?! I didnt ignore it, i fully acknowledged it, i merely asked what it had got to do with the OP's original point?

But you don't know if the OP had a point no one here knows if that bus was the 10:30. Maybe there is no 10:30 there have been that many timetable changes in the last month it is hard for anyone to keep up.

Lets presume that the driver was not the 10:30 and he had a 20 wait at the terminus before he was due out if he was feeling tired then he 100% did the right thing by taking a short nap to recharge the batteries.

End of the day DB drivers are human beings the same as everyone else we get disturbed nights sleep the same as everyone else because one of the children is cutting teeth or not well or because the neighbours decide to invite half the pub home and play their George Micheal collection at full volume till 4 in the morning. You can't take sick days or the company will sack you so you have to go in half way through the day it hits you and you close your eyes for a few minutes and recharge the batteries while you wait for your next departure.

meanmachine3

givyjoe81 wrote: »

Yet you consider me or anyone else who confuses you for the guilty late driver, a toe rag? Yes a model employee. Who said anything about taking abuse, being mistakenly identified as the driver who has started his journey late

Just out of curiosity, one of the single worst experiences i can remember on DB was on a short journey on the 77 a few years back, getting off at the 'dip' on greenhills road the driver kindly let me jump from the moving vehicle as he had deemed it unncessary to stop the bus for me to disembark, not at full speed obviously but somewhere between 5-10 mph at a guess, fast enough that i nearly broke my neck when landing. Just curious as to your thoughts on the matter.

firstly theres a difference between confusing then having the balls to own up to their mistakes. the o.p. didn't you'll see the word " prick" used
this is his quote yeah well his late night made me 30 minutes late for work. And the príck didnt even apologise he just sat there throwing filthies at me for waking him. There were about 5 people standing in the rain while he slept on the bus.
taken from post 5.
at for your incident. the two of you were wrong. him for opening the doors ,you for accepting and jumping. i've often offered to open the doors in between stops and the passengers has kindly refused. but all this has been stanped out due to H&S. if i'm caught doing this i get my ass kicked. in the hill they cant open the doors till the bus comes to a complete stop it's impossible to open them unless someone hit the emergency button. this known locally as a door break.