Curious to know a more about the driver's job coach specifically, I decided last June to make a second EMT with a bus in my area. One who accepted my request makes sightseeing transportation, regular lines and extra-urban transport for school kids in the countryside. I could not accompany the driver engaged in tourism because of découchage, the company obviously did not pay me as a mere "observer trainee. So on routes from the outback to the city center, on-line education, and transportation of kids to the gym I had the opportunity to accompany drivers.
Day : Kids
Taking early service is less than for urban routes, it does not start until about 7am. The company is much smaller and the atmosphere is pot luck: my tutor, also very nice, sometimes almost in slippers with curlers on her head. I kindly caricature of course, to illustrate the relaxation of this company, instead of the mandatory uniform in the urban transport company, its work to the minute and generally severe in their interventions.
Here you drive a car, even if it is not prime, it is true that it still has quite a pace, it requires more than the most beautiful and newest of the buses. Height issue probably because the length of 12 meters is ultimately the same. It feels good on the bus, it can also bring its own music, and it is generally more relaxed. The driving position of the bus, more cramped and austere (although this technology on board), somewhat reminiscent of the driver that he is ultimately one of the last links of society ...
The kids know all my tutor and she greets most by name. It's fun, time flies, especially since there is no need to pay our small school bus passengers since the fact subject to an annual subscription. It changes a lot the report we have with customers. However, it should remind them that sometimes the driver is the leader board and he must obey him no question of standing in the aisle or put feet on seats.
The route passes through several hamlets and borrows a number of country roads, between fields. It's nice, you wonder if it's work or vacation. It's nice, we are in June and this is my only day on this route. I suspect that every day do the exact same line in the dead of winter should be less fulfilling.
We're back deposit shortly after 9am. I come home, see you at 14:30 to bring other kids from their school to the gym before moving to the school office at night.
At 14:30 we found the deposit to get the kids in their schools. Once deposited in the gym, we leave the bus and we'll drink a coffee for an hour waiting for them. They then returned to their college before moving on the same line school this morning but the other way. The buses are already lined up outside schools and I understand that there is for them a certain hierarchy, a certain order of arrival and starting to follow, but in all honesty they totally escape me ... all I ask to understand the caste system in India!
Once accomplished our task, we're back to the filing shortly after 18h. The day is over, but before leaving the bus we go outside to the rollers and give it a clean sweep inside. About once a week, plus rolls, it is the responsibility of the driver make a phone karcher corners.
As you will understand, my tutor and working hours cut to part time. Most drivers of this company (and others in the region, I had to quickly learn) are half-time but can be often required to work overtime. Much in total that number as their standard of living is that of a full-time. The problem of the sector is not a lack of work but the irregularity of it. The workload depends on the schools that choose to do particular activities, reservations for sightseeing tours, seasons, etc. ... not to mention the last minute cancellations, apparently frequent. Difficult in these conditions to guarantee X hours of work per week to each driver. So it's usually after several years in the business we can claim a full-time.
Day Two: Line extra-urban
I still do not grasp the profound difference between the terms sub, extra and inter-city but that does not worry me too much: the operations manager does to understand anything either! We laugh together ...
I start to 6:20, this time with another tutor. We take a bus to make 2 round trips between downtown and the regional capital of a little town located about fifteen miles to the south. As for the school service, my guardian made every day the same route in the same vehicle (a Setra bus which almost looks like a car). My tutor leads every day the same line and the clientele is composed largely of regulars which one gets to know the routes, what they do in life, etc.. The atmosphere here is also quite relaxing , there are few customers and they have the word easy.
We return the deposit to 9.30. The line only operates during peak morning and evening. Here too, no full-time for my guardian.
Conclusion
Unable to accompany a driver in tourism, I can not say that the practice of the profession of conductor has a lot of difference between urban and extra-urban. Some aspects give me more desire to work in the city (full time, good salary package, variety of lines), others inspire me otherwise (attitude and customer coolest pleasant country roads). It is, after these two EMT, very difficult for me to choose exactly what type of business direct me to start my career.
Not yet licensed, I decide simply to try both options to knock on every door, and then ... come what may! I any case the idea of taste in all aspects of the profession throughout my career. I like variety, and once the license in hand I can not imagine not to try my hand at both the urban than international tourism, seasonal shuttle to the mountain or school transportation, to name some possible examples.
in future articles I will discuss the steps taken to find funding for my license ...
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