On 16/06/2012 13:42, Robin9 wrote:
I've just been listening to Ken Livingstone and Steve Norris
on LBC chatting about the possible bus drivers' strike. This
has been brought about by the demand from the trade union
UNITE that bus drivers should be paid a bonus in recognition of
the stress and extra work during the Olympics and the bus
companies' refusal even to discuss the matter with UNITE.

The conversation was very interesting and drew a varied response
from the listeners. One point which came up repeatedly was that
of all the transport workers, bus drivers will experience the most
stress during the Olympics and that if train drivers receive a bonus,
so should bus drivers.

Any bus passengers have a view on this?

Well - it's yet to be proven how much additional ridership and effort it
will be. The other thing to note that with the increase in capacity on
certain routes I'd have assumed that there may well be greater
opportunities for drivers to earn overtime and so on (giving them
greater income anyway).

Also, given that I assume bus drivers are paid based on time rather than
miles driven then what exactly is there additional workload over and
above their potential extra time getting to their depots or other driver
changeover points (the majority of which are not in the key central
areas which are going to be heavily affected by the Olympics in general).

In fact, the people who are primarily going to be affected are the usual
passengers with journeys taking longer, less opportunity to get a seat
and so on - are we to be compensated with lower fares as our bonus?
Thought no.

Of course, absolutely the same applies to train drivers and workers on
the DLR and so on - the only rationale for the bonus is essentially a
bung to try and make sure they do their contracted job correctly and
don't attempt to cripple London by striking during a time when it is key
to showcase the City (for everyone).