National Express duplicate coach query

[Martin1988]

If anyone is able to answer I would be interested in finding out, when an NX service has a duplicate coach, do the drivers get paid according to how many passengers they have on board or are they paid according to the journey they have undertaken?

As an example, when I travelled up from Bristol to Birmingham last Tuesday a duplicate coach turned up. However, there were sufficient passengers for the main service car so the duplicate was sent away empty. It then went empty up to Birmingham and worked another service back later on. Would this have technically meant that the duplicate driver/firm was paid less due to not actually carrying any passengers for the journey or would they have been paid the same amount? Similarly would the firm operating the service car get paid less if a duplicate coach had carried any of their passengers?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Firms get paid for the job as booked unless there's a material change e.g. Extending or diverting a service

 

[Martin1988]

Many thanks for confirming that.

 

[CatfordCat]

bus / coach drivers are generally paid a wage for doing the job, which is going where their employer tells them. the hourly rate does not vary depending on how many people are on the vehicle!

some operators may have variable rates depending on length of service / size of vehicle, or may pay enhanced rates for unsocial hours / overtime. Traditionally, 'one person operator' work (where driver also takes fares) got a higher rate than crew (with conductor) or contract (no fares involved) work.

Depending on the conditions of employment each operator has with its drivers, there may be a 'minimum days pay' - so that if someone is called out to do a national express duplicate, and it's then cancelled, they are entitled to (say) a minimum of 4 hours' pay for that day.

i'm aware that London Transport, many years ago when it was London Transport did have 'individual receipts' and 'garage receipts' bonus schemes where a fairly small bonus payment did reflect fares taken by individual conductors / OPO drivers and across the garage as a whole - I suspect the cost of calculating these may have been more than the amount paid out. I'm not sure how common this was elsewhere.

Broadly speaking, wage structures have been simplified over recent decades to do away with that sort of thing.

 

[ECML180]

The operator may get paid based on how many passengers they carry (to a very loose extent!), for example tonight I'm doing a workers service for a factory. At shift change times we provide 2 coaches for 2 recruitment agencies to take workers to/from nearby towns whereas another operator provides around 6 buses commercially to take them via various suburbs to a different town. Tonight they are running a limited service so none of the 6 buses will run, and we are providing a one off run from the factory to the bus station(at massively inflated prices!). We are getting paid a set amount for providing 250 seats but some flexibility is worked in to the price for them to call in an extra coach if the passenger numbers make it necessary.

Quite how 6 full size coaches will fit into one bus stop at once compared to 2 coaches and 6 buses staggered...I don't know!

 

[swifty]

Firms get paid for the job as booked unless there's a material change e.g. Extending or diverting a service

Exactly, Nat Ex agree a set price for the round trip with the operator, whether carrying passengers on one leg or both. Of course the quote will vary depending on the time of year and how desperate the need for a coach is!