The great big bus driver shortage. Why in the name of god would you drive a bus these days anyway...

But aren't those the types of duties that drivers voted to accept in their latest pay deal?

You're entitled to argue your opinion of course, but every job has its potential stress factors and I wouldn't consider it a highly skilled operation to navigate a fully automatic bus on the streets of Dublin City Centre where the speed limit is 30kmh. If that was the bar we aspired to call highly skilled, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that a deli worker prepping 50 baguettes and sandwiches at lunch hour was a highly skilled job. Too much ketchup on this one, not enough butter on that one and you have a potential riot on your hands.

I'm being a little satirical there, but what you are attributing to highly skilled is really just a few potential peaks of high stress moments while driving which at a stretch is a semi skilled occupation. Anyone going to drive a bus already knows how to drive, as they have a B license and in the vast majority of cases have a couple of years driving experience. To get the B license, one must complete a theory test and complete 10 x 1 hour lessons and then pass a driving test. From there, I'm not sure of the requirements to get the D license, but I suspect it's a very similar process with probably no more than the 10 lessons required.....if any at all.....I don't know. Pass the test and job done. Were there to be no backlogs or waiting lists for tests, the whole process could be done over the course of a couple of months, including the B license.

A highly skilled occupation (in my opinion) requires far more training than what is needed to get behind the wheel of a bus. Sure, if driving a bus is considered highly skilled, then what skill level are the mechanics who work on them? A mechanic is generally considered to be a medium skill role (or skilled profession) and they go through many hundreds of hours of training both in theory and practical work over several years before being qualified. If they make any mistake, there could be very serious outcomes.

What does the ethnicity and gender have to do with the accident? Sure an Irish Male bus driver receives the same sort of training as a Nigerian Female driver in order to get the license and the job, no?

Current staff levels mentioned in the Oireachtas meeting this morning:

Dublin bus:

Go Ahead:

And further on in the meeting, Go Ahead proceed to mention that they lose around 25% of drivers that they hired

Maybe for coaches but I don't see how CPC is an issue for DB drivers. It's a paid day of classroom training once a year. Yeah sure it's a bit boring but you don't have to put your hand in your pocket and are actually being paid for it instead of driving for one day a year. Hardly a big deal.

I've never heard of any DB driver and I know plenty complain of being constantly stopped by the Gardai or RSA in fact I've seen or even heard of a DB bus being pulled over by Gardai and I'm sure an operator like DB would have everything in order anyway.

Most jobs have training nowadays. I used to have to do safe pass once every three years, As ESB induction and site training course, manual handling, a roadside safety course, rooftop and working at heights, confined space, every 3 years, along with that there was online courses on data protection.

Every job has rules and regulations. If anything goes wrong it was my head on the line. Mechanics or other semi skilled jobs would pay no better than bus drivers. Many people with degree qualifications earn much the same money.

If it not for you move on. The economy is at full employment. If there is unemployment Du lin bus drivers will still have there job and the same pay. These types of jobs are below average during a boom but above average during a recession

I don't think any reasonable person, bus driver or not would have found the comment insulting unless they took it out of context. Careful now, you might have just insulted all the security guards and cleaners with one fell swoop. There are many types of each of those jobs, some requiring as much training as driving a bus depending on the site requirements. It's not all barriers and wash cloths.

Good point on DB vs GAI and other private operators. DB drivers are paid far better because they are heavily subsidised by the state. Private operators simply can't afford to pay drivers what DB pay. The drivers working for GAI can only dream about the pay and benefits received by DB drivers.

Overtime always looks nice on paper. The tax man always gets his share, but it's a poor argument to make when the OT payments are so generous. If they were not worth it, the drivers wouldn't be lining up for the OT.

You don't have to agree that DB drivers are very well paid, but the examples you gave of other bus operators here and abroad would support my argument that they are very well paid. There are few vocations where you train for less than 100 hours and receive salary higher than skilled professionals who spent years in training. It's also a very secure occupation.

So, basically GAI and other private operators are being used as a stepping stone to get into DB. Get experience driving buses for reward and then join DB for the increase in salary, benefits and working conditions. This is certainly my own observational experience, so thanks for adding to it.

I personally know 2 DB drivers and know of several others through friends and colleagues. OT is not something they are actively avoiding unless it's an undesirable run. Now, perhaps there are depots where what you say is true. It's just not what I know to be true and in my experience, when OT pay is so generous, the lads are queuing out the door for it. Most companies offer nothing close to the rates DB drivers are paid for OT. Some who work OT don't get any increase in their hourly rate and some on contracts don't get any extra pay when they work OT.

As I have repeatedly said, DB drivers are very well compensated for what is honestly a low-skilled job. Low-skilled doesn't mean easy, but it's a job one can learn over the course of a couple of months and that falls into low skilled labour. It is a stretch to call it semi-skilled and I would like to hear any argument which attempts to bump it up to that category. As an aside, static security (ie; security lifting barriers all day from a hut) and general cleaners are not low-skilled jobs, they are un-skilled jobs. If a 10 year old kid can technically do the work, it's un-skilled.

Question: are you required to return to depot? In any case, seems a bit mean to end a shift away from the depot. The 2 drivers I know one of them voted for the deal. I didn't speak to the other driver about it.

There's plenty of them around. Might be that you don't notice those lower down the pecking order.

The next part of your post is nonsensical. How about you tell me what skill level is required to drive a bus. Here's a few categories to make it simple:

Unskilled - a couple of hours training needed

Low skilled - course usually under 250 hours

Semi skilled - up to 4 years usually apprenticeship

Fully Skilled - degree level with OJT

Highly skilled - specialist training often to masters or doctorate followed by OJT and further training