Where do bus drivers in London get their attitude from?

Question

I find bus drivers in London rude and miserable. No please or thank you. They also are very good at curtailing their route early so I have to get off and wait ten minutes for the next bus which is already full to the rafters, yet they never apologise or say why. If you don't like your job, do something else!

Answer 1

Can't be easy doing their job. Having to put up with the increasing amount of assaults and everyday verbal abuse they receive. Your absolutely right about them being total misery-guts!! but like I say, can you blame them?
Scares me to think that these dishevelled drivers have hundreds of peoples lives in their hands everyday. That's one good reason why I don't use public transport. Here's something to consider, Who's got more responsibility, a surgeon or a bus driver?

Answer 2

I think you might find the answer if you were a London bus driver. Just as a matter of interest I recall the days of dense smogs in London when the Conductor walked in front to guide the driver. I wonder if anyone else remembers that. But handling a bus in London in any conditions must be very taxing.

Answer 3

hi Claire, I'm the guy who posted the question about facial piercings on the underground i asked it because i was sacked from Liverpool st station as i have 2 facial piercings with 3 mm balls the standard size is 6mm i offered to remove balls but leave the bars in so holes would remain open gsm there refused that or to transfer me to bank group where the gsm was OK with my piercings, as for the answer to this question as i know work for another tfl company as a bus driver ( exactly the same uniform so i still get asked questions asked about LU and happy to answer if i can ) i don't have an attitude as a driver but i know people who do and they tend to be the drivers that get assaulted, as i let them on the bus weather they pay or not, its not my job to be revenue and most of the said drivers are a**holes who i wouldn't talk to anyway. sometimes a bus is curtailed at the last minute and beyond the drivers control but there is no excuse for not apologising to passengers but you cant always tell them why as centercom or the garage don't tell the driver, sometimes an RTA or just traffic a bus driver can only drive continuously for 6and a 1/2 hours if longer he/ she can actually leave the bus ( in a safe place) as for the one behind being full not surprising if the one in front didn't turn up, i like my job however preferred my job at LU hence why I'm going to an industrial tribunal

Dave

Answer 4

Try driving through London in a car then multiply the size 4-6 times and see how you feel. Their driving hours are strictly enforced by the government using tachometers which measure the time and speed of their driving. These can be inspected by the boys in blue at any time. They must be submitted tacho sheets for inspection regularly, they can then be fined or banned on that evidence alone.

Like everyone else,

Wife/Husband + kids + mortgage = Can't always tell the boss to F*** Off and stuff the miserable job whenever you feel like it.

Answer 5

I couldn't agree more that they cut corners, seem thoroughly miserable with their job, and couldn't care less about their customers even though I thought the customer was always right.....especially in a service business like theirs...

Having said that.....people try and con their way on buses all the time.....and the new rules on allowing kids on for free is the worst thought out bit of legislation ever.....this has given kids something to get on which is warm in the winter and act like louts and make people's journey miserable...

Add to that shift work, poor pay, stigma etc....and I can understand their misery. I hear you say that they have a choice and they could get another job.....but I am sure with all respect to bus drivers that circumstances dictate that they probably haven't got a lot of options as to where or at what they could work at.

Answer 6

The bus drivers in Harrogate are mostly excellent (and mostly Polish) and always say thankyou when I get off the bus (I always thank them too). A lot of the train ticket collectors around here are jolly too.
Nottingham bus drivers are usually as miserable as sin - perhaps they are friends of the London crew.

Answer 7

I live in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, where most of the bus drivers are cheerful and polite, mainly because all the commuters say good morning as they get on and thank you when they get off the bus. Perhaps London bus drivers reflect the attitudes of the people who get on their buses? Try a smile and a cheerful "good day" to the driver as you get on and you might get a smile back

Answer 8

It's called living in the South East, best thing i ever did was move as far away as possible from that part of the world.
I spent 16 years there, the people are so unfriendly, wouldn't give you the time of day. Everyone's miserable, you have to add at least an hour on to your journey time no matter where you are going, London and the M25 get in the way of everything!!
I love my new life in the beautiful Aberdeenshire countryside!

Answer 9

I think that is true for bus drivers around the world we have the same problem in the States or at least CA. I don't think it is because they hate there job i think it is because people do not respect them If every day all day at work you were being told how to do your job by some one that has no idea about your job or tells you are stupid and stuff like that. you would hate the people you deal with not your job

Answer 10

London