Whisky Papa
Member
- Joined
- 8 Aug 2019
- Messages
- 720
I mentioned at #20 the 316 week rota covering almost every service at Princess Road garage back in the 1985, and Stockport's at the same time was 328 weeks - variety indeed!
Bee Line Buzz used to have rotas tied to a single service, clearly aimed at simplifying making service changes in a competitive market. The actual duties were pretty grim - you were guaranteed 45 hours a week, and only a handful of working weeks were actually below this. The one helpful thing they did during my year there was to 'hive off'
the split duties to a dedicated rota for the drivers who lived close by and were happy to work them instead of earlies and lates. Living an hour's drive away, a twelve hour split was not my favourite - no spreadover payments, of course!
Halifax had a multitude of different rotas loosely tied to routes or groups of routes, working in multiples of a 10 week pattern. There was generally some work on other routes on them though. There were also a few long-service rotas, often only 2 or 4 weeks long that covered some works or school swimming contracts, the early and late staff buses and for a few years the Nightrider services.
Todmorden had done away with all this, with just one main rota and one for the minibuses. Like Halifax, you were guaranteed a six-day week, and seven days occasionally.
UK North had separate day and late shifts, the latter at a higher rate of pay. Day drivers that worked a school service at the start and end of their shift tended to stick to the same duty, periodically swapping. I drove to schools in Hazel Grove, Brookhouse, Gee Cross and Wythenshawe, doing perhaps three or four months at a stretch before a change occurred.
Bee Line Buzz used to have rotas tied to a single service, clearly aimed at simplifying making service changes in a competitive market. The actual duties were pretty grim - you were guaranteed 45 hours a week, and only a handful of working weeks were actually below this. The one helpful thing they did during my year there was to 'hive off'
the split duties to a dedicated rota for the drivers who lived close by and were happy to work them instead of earlies and lates. Living an hour's drive away, a twelve hour split was not my favourite - no spreadover payments, of course!Halifax had a multitude of different rotas loosely tied to routes or groups of routes, working in multiples of a 10 week pattern. There was generally some work on other routes on them though. There were also a few long-service rotas, often only 2 or 4 weeks long that covered some works or school swimming contracts, the early and late staff buses and for a few years the Nightrider services.
Todmorden had done away with all this, with just one main rota and one for the minibuses. Like Halifax, you were guaranteed a six-day week, and seven days occasionally.
UK North had separate day and late shifts, the latter at a higher rate of pay. Day drivers that worked a school service at the start and end of their shift tended to stick to the same duty, periodically swapping. I drove to schools in Hazel Grove, Brookhouse, Gee Cross and Wythenshawe, doing perhaps three or four months at a stretch before a change occurred.
