Pay Comparisson - Bus Drivers

[Barney]

RE: Pay Comparisson - Bus Drivers

(19/11/2014 08:35)Penny Return Wrote:  Correct,very little difference between the big two,blair is a bigger tory than thatcher was,no wonder
ukip are gaining ground people are sick of the same old garbage

Unbelievable! As this site is concerned with issues pertaining to all things buses are you aware that Ukip's avowed intention is to reduce to zero the government's financial support given to all forms of public transport? I doubt very much whether Nigel Farage lies in bed at night worrying how he can improve the lot of those poor people who don't own their own Bentley.

Anyway, back to reality. By chance I found an interesting and very readable article called Memoirs of a Buck King on a site called Busset. The guy who wrote it recounts his experiences of working as a conductor, then driver, out of LCPT Speke depot in the early 1960s. It gives a fascinating insight into how things were in those days but the fact that stands out is the rates of pay at that time. Basic pay was slightly less than £10 for a 42 hour week which roughly equates to £190 per week today. In order to survive many busmen worked double and, on one occasion, triple shifts, something that is now quite rightly illegal under EU employment law

I accept that inflation as measured against CPI and RPI on a range of goods in the last fifty years varies widely but if you make a crude comparison between 1963 and 2014, bus drivers are generally better paid now than then. If I was to hazard a guess, I would suggest that, in real terms the best time to be a bus driver was just before Deregulation. Can anybody verify that?

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Pay Comparisson - Bus Drivers

(19/11/2014 08:35)Penny Return Wrote:  Correct,very little difference between the big two,blair is a bigger tory than thatcher was,no wonder
ukip are gaining ground people are sick of the same old garbage

UKIP won't change anything, if antthing pay & conditions will just deteriorate further. They are not the second coming as people are making out. Nr Farage himself is a former Conservative MP and just look at all the Tory defecters they have gained. The only organised alternative voice in this country at present is the Greens. Polls show that their support stands a good chance of overtaking the Lib Dems, so they could be a valuable coalition partner with Labour if required.

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Pay Comparisson - Bus Drivers
Can I ask that we keep to the thread subject please and that any further political comments are taken to the off topic section of the forum. Thanks.

[Mayneway]

RE: Pay Comparisson - Bus Drivers

(19/11/2014 21:12)Dentonian Wrote:  I suspect that you are pretty much correct. It was also probably the best time to be a bus passenger, as well.

Could it also be the case then that drivers that began driving before de-reg and are still driving today (probably not that many now) are better off now than a new rookie driver beginning his/her career now?