not yet 100% reliable on times, but not there fault .
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
As an employee for travel west midlands and working at travel Coventry, I will be telling my thoughts feelings and experiences.
Cleanliness
I have read the other reviews on the subject and I would agree with all of them. The busses do smell from time to time and are often untidy. The fact of the matter in the cleanliness concern is due to the passengers just as much as the staff. How many passengers get on and leave all of there food wrappings and drinks bottles on there seats instead of taking them with them, saying which there shouldn't be food or drink consumed on board any way. Also the free newspapers are just left lying around, and tickets are not thrown in provided bins.
As a driver I personally don't have to and hate to pick up rubbish that ignorant passengers have left behind although I do anyway, this is also a reason for mess. If a passenger boards towards the end of the day, then there would be a build up of any rubbish throughout the day still there, due to the fact that the busses can only be cleaned at night when out of service.
Timings
The single most annoying thing about my job is being late! I cannot stand being late. But when there is heavy traffic or an RTA ( Road Traffic Accident) or any other sort of unforeseeable delay there is NOTHING we can do about it. We can only sit in the traffic and wait and we can only stick to one rout at a time. People don't seem to understand that when they board a bus that is running late, when they tell the driver we are late it only holds us up even more because we have to explain why to 30 + people along the way.
As far as the bus timetables work, each driver is given what is called a running bored so he/she knows where to be and when on that individual bus for the time they are on, we don't know the exact time for every stop on every service for every day of the week. We are only late according to your timetables due to the above mentioned.
Drivers
As a new driver and a not so long ago passenger on the bus I see both sides of the story. When a passenger boards a bus expecting a lovely smile and a great big hello, please don't! we see up to 1000 passengers a day, and believe me when you have been at work driving in stressful situations for a few hours and you have seen up to 200 people already and said the same thing to all of them, the last thing you want to do is smile and say hello, especially when running late. Its usually a case of get on get where you want to go and get off. I know that sounds really nasty and it is, but it is only human nature to get fed up. Just imagine going round in circles and being paid peanuts to do it!
As somebody in another review put, if we are going to moan about being paid peanuts and being treated badly then that's what the union is for………. Our union is trying to negotiate a pay deal at the moment and from my knowledge the starting rate for a bus driver, somebody with the responsibility of up to 90 lives on a full double Decker is going to go up to £7.10 an hour! That is still a pretty pathetic wage for the responsibility involved. And as far as being treated badly I don't know where that has come from because I have had nothing but friendliness and help in my 5 months there.
Busses
As you all have realised by now, some of the busses are starting to become a little dated but some are really new. Not many people know this but a new double Decker bus costs the company around about £180K, and the bend-bus £250K. Im not sure how correct my figures are but I will try and find out, but it takes the company around 10 years of a new bus being in service on the road everyday just to make there money back on the cost of the bus, then after that is when they start to make profit.
Prices
OOOhh my god! How many complaints need to be made? The bus fairs went up, as most people know back in January 2nd 2006. People they went from £1.00 max fair to £1.10, a £0.75 short hop, to £0.80…. its not like its just jumped by an extra £10 or something. It is still a good deal for a journey more than 2-5 miles, if you ran a car that distance you are probably looking at around £2, or a taxi £5, its still cheaper than any other transport. (Besides on a cheeky note, they need more if our pay rise goes through)
Conclusion
I don't personally in my own opinion think that Travel West Midlands and there surrounding transport companies are doing as bad of a job as people make out. They are providing a service that 1000s upon 1000s of people need and use regardless of weather they like it or not and I think they are doing well. Ok so things can be improved, but they are trying. My last comment to anybody who doubts them is: why don't you try and cater for the needs and desires of over 200 thousand people on a day-to-day basis.
Thank you all for any r/r/c, if anybody has any questions please ask me in my guest book and if any body currently holding a PCV licence is looking for work then defiantly contact me as I would get £200 upon your completion of interviews and once a job has been given!
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