Driver Diversions

Started by Sir Pompously, December 09, 2007, 08:00:41 PM

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Sir Pompously

Admin Note: Split from General Discussion Thread

Well a complaint went in about a driver today on a 42 (I think) on BUS-118, who was pissed off about having to drive to Civic as, by the looks of it, he wanted to end his shift early (Which technically he can't do). He used a torrent of swear words, including F**k many times, and drove off giving us the rude finger. ACTION was promptly rung and a complaint was placecd in about the driver. Me using the 'he is in a customer service industry, no matter the siuation he should never swear in the prescence of a customer'.

O305

What did he look like? I know of at least one Belconnen driver who has done similiar things, wonder if it was the same person!

Busnerd

he was a fat, i think he was kiwi

Buzz Killington

if he said "choice, bro!" when you asked "how's it goin? when you got on, then you've got a kiwi.

Irisbus Rider

I see where the driver was coming from, but then again, I guess it was sorta inappropriate.

Busnerd

Quote from: Renault Rider on December 12, 2007, 08:38:25 PM
I see where the driver was coming from, but then again, I guess it was sorta inappropriate.

Sorta see where he is coming from? Are you insane?

The route is BELCONNEN - cook/aranda/macquarie - CITY

The service is there to be caught, we were scoping out the Gungahlin Drive Extension which is why we caught the service, what if hargreaves was doing the same thing? Or any adult for that matter. No, he was just picking on us cause we're 'kids' even though we are both 19 and very much adults. The way he acted was in no way appropriate. If you have problems with people you complain later, as soon as they leave. At work if we have a dickhead customer, as soon as they are out of earshot we complain about them. He should have done that, or at least controlled himself, but swearing at us and giving offensive gestures is, face it, worth a warning for loss of employment, or as john calls them 'blueies' this behaviour should not take place, anywhere except the home, it is not accepted ini public under any situation and i hope he was sent to desk work for a week as punishment as it was just offensive.

Take it easy, take action, ride any route for its entirety, get abused.

Irisbus Rider

The depot is in Belconnen, the run ends in City, it was his last run, he wanted to go home, I don't blame him, I would want to go home too, lol, but then again, we come to the intention of passengers, now, the bus service is to be used to go from place to place, on business, not joyriding, but if I were to say that, I'd be hypocritical.

I think the fact that you weren't "using" the service, just joyriding, that probably pissed him off, as well as outside influences that may not be known to you, he may have been having a particularly bad day, or he had to be somewhere, who knows, whilst what he did was wrong, lets not jump to hasty conclusions over this.

And I think he would have been pissed off if it were anyone doing what you did.

Busnerd

Quote from: Renault Rider on December 12, 2007, 09:24:54 PM
The depot is in Belconnen, the run ends in City, it was his last run, he wanted to go home, I don't blame him, I would want to go home too, lol, but then again, we come to the intention of passengers, now, the bus service is to be used to go from place to place, on business, not joyriding, but if I were to say that, I'd be hypocritical.

I think the fact that you weren't "using" the service, just joyriding, that probably pissed him off, as well as outside influences that may not be known to you, he may have been having a particularly bad day, or he had to be somewhere, who knows, whilst what he did was wrong, lets not jump to hasty conclusions over this.

And I think he would have been pissed off if it were anyone doing what you did.

1. It doesnt matter if its his last run. It just proves he wanted to cut corners on his runs. Plus, what sunday shift is 9 - 5 anyway, why not do one more route to end the day?

2. bus services are to get ppl from place to place, we got it from belco to city, if anyone asks its because 'we have some time to waste and dont like hanging around those dodgy interchanges.'

3. It doesnt matter if he had a bad day, either call in sick or jus hold it in.

O305

John, you say the stupidest things sometimes.

Sir Pompously

Unfortunently John, if a service is from Belconnen to City he still must run the full length of that route. From end to end. Joyriding is still using the service, you are still using that route to be at a certain place. If it is at that routes destination, then you are still using that service. And in any, and I mean any, customer service industry you never ever swear or make rude gestures towards a customer, no matter what they have done.

Once again, if a service runs from one place to another, a customer has every right to catch that route no matter where it goes or how long it takes. It is a sacrifice the customer makes in doing this. There is no rule, unlike CityRail, where you must catch the fastest/easiest service to your destination. i.e, if I was going from Kogarah to Central, I can't hop off at Wolli Creek and get a Millennium. Thats not allowed. In ACTION, there is no rule and you can catch any sevrice available to you aslong as you have a valid ticket. And a Public bus service is to provide a service to the public, no matter what the purpose is of their trip. It does not have to be business of any kind. Joyriding, Social Events or important business, it still provides a service for people no matter what their purpose of travel.

Irisbus Rider

You all have good points, I guess, but still, how do you know his wife wasn't in the hospital giving birth to a child at the time, and he wanted to be there, and then he got two people unnecessarily riding his last run of the day further and further away from his final destination. You have to take into consideration why he did that, and I'm sure when you do, you'll find a very valid reason.

1. As I told you Busnerd, some shifts end in middle of the day, on a saturday, thats just bad planning by ACTION.

2. I'm suprised you didn't use the "out of town sightseeing" line, lol. Seriously though, yeah, you have a point, but what non-gunzel (normal person) would do that?

3. Had he called in sick, with these driver shortages, there would be a chance would be no replacement driver.

And yes, a driver does have a responsibility to operate the full service, but they don't always do, and thats life. If he gets back to the depot half an hour earlier, thats half an hour less pay, his problem, not anyone elses.
One particular thing with joyriding is the inconvinience caused to other regular passengers. One particular example is the "Amazing Bus Race", now this happened sometime in the old network with few intertowns, which the bus race was centred around. While I caught buses that day, I saw regular elderly passengers being stranded at stops because the intertown was packed wih at least 20 to 30 teenagers participating in the amazing bus race.
Once again, I'd be a hypocrite if I said that though.....

Sir Pompously

The driver, John, must complete his shift. That little GPS gadget on the roof tracks the buses route, what do you think would be a consequence? It would be pretty heavy.

Sorry John, but the route is there for everyone, we are paying passengers and therefore have every right to ride any route we want to at any point. Aslong as you hold that valid, payed for ticket, then you are a paying passenger no matter what. If thedrivers wife was in hospital, it takes a simple comment! And ACTION would need to replace that route, or bring in a replacement. And how do you know that John? How do you know the driver just wanted to go home early? None, and I mean none of these 'theories' will ever make language and gestures acceptable towards your customers. It is rude, offensive and plain wrong. That should be, and is in some companies, a sacakble offence. It is in no way justifiable, and ACTION Customer Service agree with me on that. And believe me, I am a passenger first and a gunzel second. If I joyride, I joyride as a passenger. I will catch the 34 from Woden to Civic to 'Sightsee' if I am not due in Civic for some time. And I have had passengers get told by drivers 'its quicker to catch blah blah blah' and those passengers normally don't care as they have time on their side. Whether or not a person is a Gunzel, aslong as they pay that fare they are a passenger and are entitled to any route that every other passenger is entitled on the network.

Busnerd

Quote from: Renault Rider on December 12, 2007, 09:56:28 PM
You all have good points, I guess, but still, how do you know his wife wasn't in the hospital giving birth to a child at the time, and he wanted to be there, and then he got two people unnecessarily riding his last run of the day further and further away from his final destination. You have to take into consideration why he did that, and I'm sure when you do, you'll find a very valid reason.

I told you that his wife was giving birth, i said it would be the only excuse, but if that were the case he would be allowed to take paid paternity leave with hardly any notice to action at all. He wasnt getting further and further from his final destination as his final destination was civic! And he didnt get less pay, its not like a supermarket where you sign on and off, its a set driving shift and he would get paid for the days work. Imagine if it was by time, imagine how much richer riad would be for all that time spend driving around after his shift finished before returning to the depot. He had no valid reason to do that except that he had a long day and wanted to go home, which he clearly usually does. This happens to all drivers, i was on dales 915 one night, the last one on a saturday night, arriving at tugg at like 10.58pm and someone got on! one person! sure he still detoured to my house to drop me off, but one person, going to tugg at 11pm on a saturday, dale was annoyed only because he wanted to drop me off then go to the depot and not the interchange but he didnt mind. plus the person got a detour story to tell his friends.

Its not life that the service doesnt operate fully, its the driver not doing his job properly and he should be spoken to that if he is going to cut corners this will not be on! To use dale again, the only corners he cut was an 8am 39 to the railway, he didnt go via the causeway, but who would go from there to the railway anyway? He did go in there on his inward trip though, but he was smart and didnt change his route over until the time, cuts like that are fine, but ending 20 minutes early of his destination? how did he think to get away with it? maybe he wanted kingsleys..


The bus race wasnt joyriding, joyriding would be stealing the bus and driving it around. That was a community event held by youth groups to try and teach kids how to work together and solve puzzles etc. Its just that most of them were retards and were yahooing on the bus, ESPECIALLY BUBZIE!  :o Anyone who abides by the rules and has a valid ticket may catch any bus they like for whatever length without being questioned. Now something else, should drivers be allowed to ask 'where ya going mate' usually its to cut the trip short but its embarrasing some times.

Irisbus Rider

Kingsleys Weston? Yeah..... ;D

Look, you're all right, I'm not disputing any of this, just some of the cases I've seen, as Busnerd brought up, many drivers we all know skip runs and it's acceptable, and why not in his case. I just think, yes he should not have made a verbal outburst, but I would share his frustration and anger. Maybe he's very open about his feelings, I'm not sure.

But yes, my original comments were blown massively out of proportion in my opinion, here's what I said;

Quote from: Renault Rider on December 12, 2007, 08:38:25 PM
I see where the driver was coming from, but then again, I guess it was sorta inappropriate.
If I were a driver, and I wanted to skip the route to finish earlier, acknowledging I would be doing the wrong thing, I would be upset if my plans were not carried out the way I wanted. Thats all, we all do it sometimes, but I'll re-iterate what I also said, his verbal and physical outburst was probably innappropriate, but maybe he's a really open guy, I dunno.

Sir Pompously

John, once again, Skipping your route (Especially by that much) is unacceptable. Skipping the Causeway when going to the railway station is fine, but not Aranda to City. Thats a huge gap. That is the only example of route cutting that is acceptable. The only other example Mat posted was about detouring the route to give someone a better service, take a friend home, or into the depot if you forget the little card in the wayfarer (Happened to me once).

Bus 400

#15
I've had a driver like that when I caught the 63 from Wanniassa to Tuggeranong one afternoon. In Monash he asked me where I was going & I just said Tuggers & he got all crappy. Now if he had asked me nicely if I wanted to wait for the 312 I would of agreed. But I said nothing, he dropped me off & went up to Civic to do a 788. There was another time on a 66 when at the intersection of Reed St North/Anketel St, the driver asked (nicely) if I didn't mind walking the rest of the way as he wanted to return to the depot. I agreed as I was going to Tuggers College & it was easier to walk. There have also been times when the drivers been on a 162 & was his last for the day that I've got off on Learmonth & walked to Athllon Dr & caught a 300 bus.
But missing The Causeway is a good thing, who would won't to go through there at night?
But in Perth, the busses are all tracked by GPS & they get in trouble if they don't do the full route/miss stops.

Busnerd

Well basically, if you have pax still on, drop them off then do your shortcut if there are no more stops, but asking pax to alight early is rude. If they say, do you mind, i wanna knock off early you should say, do i get my fare back?

Irisbus Rider

If no-one is on it, and it's a late time of day, it's fine. Skipping the Causeway in peak hour is fairly bad, but on a Sunday evening, thats usually acceptable, in the drivers community.

If there is a passenger, you have to drop them off, thats a given, but if there's no-one on, it's useless to drive a ghost bus around a ghost town that Canberra is on a Sunday night.

Sir Pompously

Ah, no. Causeway to Railway is fine. As it is a short section, where no one really gets on and no one really wastes the time unless they are at the railway museum. Very few people live in the Causeway, and seeing as the route ends at the railways station the inbound leg to the city is all that is needed to run through there. Whether no one is on a route or not, you still run the route to its destination or to atleast the last few stops before the destination. Ending a route in Aranda is a no-no, as the route still has a few stops inbetween (Whether the intertown serves the stops is also not a point) there and the city. A driver, last I checked, can and will get in trouble for ending a route early. And it is not useless to drive a Ghost bus, suprisingly they get payed to run that route to its end, and not halfway into it.

Busnerd

Quote from: Renault Rider on December 12, 2007, 10:50:29 PM
If no-one is on it, and it's a late time of day, it's fine. Skipping the Causeway in peak hour is fairly bad, but on a Sunday evening, thats usually acceptable, in the drivers community.

If there is a passenger, you have to drop them off, thats a given, but if there's no-one on, it's useless to drive a ghost bus around a ghost town that Canberra is on a Sunday night.


AH HA! Sunday nightriders ay? you just proved yourself wrong!

Jack Bauer

Speaking of Causeway, I had to laugh the other day when I saw an Iris -- who had no pax -- come back out onto Wentworth Ave from the Causeway -- with the Railway Station desto -- to head to the Railway to terminate. I remember doing a 39 with my uncle once and we stopped and got something to eat in Kingston cause we had no one else on, and naturally, who else along the route wanted to go to teh Railway Station. Once we even did the first southbound 39 of the day, which was pretty busy through Watson to Civic, but after that it was pretty dead, so we juist skipped Kingston all together and layed over before commencing a short 38, that fondly enough would begin in Kingston.

O305

I wonder if the drivers will miss skipping Warramoo Crescent on route 35/935 in Network '08 when those streets lose their service! Not to mention parking the bus on the wrong side of the terminus there.

Irisbus Rider

Yeah, look, still, I think skipping a route in peak hour is worse than in off-peak.
Especially if it's getting towards the end of the night, on a Sunday.

And yes, Busnerd, I was wrong.

Barry Drive

I've had two examples of short-running. Once was on my morning bus to work - it showed 16 on the desto, but I thought it was a mistake. When we got to Belconnen Interchange the driver then kicked everyone out rather than continue to City / Barton. She did claim to have permission to do this.

Another time I was just travelling around - I caught the 33 from City (south) to go to Campbell Park and catch the 40. Once we got to Russell Offices, I was the only one left on the bus - the driver then politely asked where I was going and explained it was his last run before his lunch break and he wanted to return to the depot (Tugg) early. Not being able to justify why I needed to go to Campbell Park (since 33 is not the quickest way there), I just agreed to get off at Russell. [BTW, in my Network 08 suggestions, I propose to terminate 33 at the Hospice - I've never seen anyone on the 33 past Russell, except for me.]

I also had a diversion recently - I caught the 30 and wanted to do the full Giralang loop before going to Kaleen Plaza. Unforunately the driver didn't know I was still on the bus - he was taking some women down to Kaleen who got the wrong bus (serviced by 31) and then noticed I was still up the back. So he did a full circuit of Maribyrnong Av to take me to the terminus.

Buzz Killington

in year seven i caught the school bus from mackillop wanniassa to isaacs. needed to get off on bromby st, and the route (694) was meant to up yamba drive then (R) Hindmarsh (R) Tyagarah (R) Culgoa (R) Kareelah (R) Ngunnawal (C) Bromby (L) Julia Flynn, but the driver cut off that whole portion and turned right off yamba onto Dorsch St, then planned to go right onto Julia Flynn. I went up the front and told him that i neede to get off on Bromby Street, which was on the route. He actually flat out refused to take me down there! i was only 12 years old at the time. I had no choice but to get off and walk. Imagine if that happened today, the media would've kicked up a huge stink, back then a complaint to ACTION didnt acheive much.

bubzie

Quote from: Busnerd on December 12, 2007, 10:12:06 PM
Its just that most of them were retards and were yahooing on the bus, ESPECIALLY BUBZIE!  :o

what'd i do now?  ::)

anyway, i've once had a 315 just forget about doing the casey cresent bit, and just turn left after calwell shops, going straight through to calwell. boy was i pissed.

Bus 400

#26
Quote from: Martin on December 16, 2007, 02:30:56 PM
Another time I was just travelling around - I caught the 33 from City (south) to go to Campbell Park and catch the 40. Once we got to Russell Offices, I was the only one left on the bus - the driver then politely asked where I was going and explained it was his last run before his lunch break and he wanted to return to the depot (Tugg) early. Not being able to justify why I needed to go to Campbell Park (since 33 is not the quickest way there), I just agreed to get off at Russell. [BTW, in my Network 08 suggestions, I propose to terminate 33 at the Hospice - I've never seen anyone on the 33 past Russell, except for me.]

I've had that happen to me once, when at Russel, he asked where I was going. I said Campbell Park & he bitched on & told me to catch the next 33, so I not so happily obliged & got off at Russel. This was just after peak hour, so he probably wanted to go for a smoko. This did happen a year or so ago, so I just dismissed it & caught a bus to Civic-I wasn't waiting ages for the next 33 just to go to Campbell Park. Nowadays I would of complained to ACTION & gave them all that garbage about poor PR & may of implied that I was a young teenager from another City with my mates with plans to move to Canberra but not anymore.

Busnerd

When complaining to action about things like driver diversions dont add in crap like, i was going to mvoe to canberra but not now! they wont take you seriously then. its best to type in a proper manor and consider what you are saying as if they think your young they wont give a rats and will make up some excuse. Ive emailed them before and spoken in very well written english, i considered the whole thing ebfore sending it and i got a proper response.

I say just stay on the bus if they try to kick you off because they arent doing theyre job properly. They have no reason to kick you off and arent allowed to, just stay on and get your free express to tuggeranong depot and walk straight in the doors to the boss and tell them why you are there. Drivers trying to make you get off early by intimidating you is not on.

I once was on a 785 which stated it ended at lanyon marketplace, i needed to get my 313 home however i just missed one when it first went past lanyon and the next one was ages away so i stayed on to get off at lanyon, he got to banks and said, its the last stop, where were you going i said lanyon marketplace he said he'd already been through, i said i didnt notice, he said, well this is the last stop, so i pulled out the timetable and pointed out the route and timing points, he agreed to take me up there and then explained that i could get off before hand, i pretending to be a typical passenger and thanked him for the advice, he dropped me off across the road from there but didnt go back in, which is ok seeing as its just pointless for someone to get off the 2nd time past, but still i politely refused to be dumped down the bottom of banks. and pressured him to take me back up.

You need to take a stand when you know theyre in the wrong.

Buzz Killington

eaxctly right. it's their job to drive the route in full. TS if they want an early mark or a longer lunch.

Busnerd

its the same as me looking at a large trolley, sorry i cant serve you, i will serve that small trolley, i want a longer lunch break.

Buzz Killington

the woolies tradition is to chuck up your closed sign a good seven to eight minutes before lunch so you get away on time

Busnerd

unless they try to send you early and you dont want to go in which you dont close or put the sign where no one will see it and then say 'i DID have the sign there' when the supervisor comes over, or questions your late return later on.

bubzie

or you could always be cool enough *cough* to not do registers, and can take longer lunch breaks :-P

anyway, i've had the 313 driver go skits at me because i 'didnt get off at lanyon marketplace, didnt you see everyone else get off??' (those words!!) and fuck i wasnt getting abandoned in banks..

Jack Bauer

Quote from: Busnerd on December 17, 2007, 07:41:56 PM
When complaining to action about things like driver diversions dont add in crap like, i was going to mvoe to canberra but not now! they wont take you seriously then. its best to type in a proper manor and consider what you are saying as if they think your young they wont give a rats and will make up some excuse. Ive emailed them before and spoken in very well written english, i considered the whole thing ebfore sending it and i got a proper response.

I say just stay on the bus if they try to kick you off because they arent doing theyre job properly. They have no reason to kick you off and arent allowed to, just stay on and get your free express to tuggeranong depot and walk straight in the doors to the boss and tell them why you are there. Drivers trying to make you get off early by intimidating you is not on.

I once was on a 785 which stated it ended at lanyon marketplace, i needed to get my 313 home however i just missed one when it first went past lanyon and the next one was ages away so i stayed on to get off at lanyon, he got to banks and said, its the last stop, where were you going i said lanyon marketplace he said he'd already been through, i said i didnt notice, he said, well this is the last stop, so i pulled out the timetable and pointed out the route and timing points, he agreed to take me up there and then explained that i could get off before hand, i pretending to be a typical passenger and thanked him for the advice, he dropped me off across the road from there but didnt go back in, which is ok seeing as its just pointless for someone to get off the 2nd time past, but still i politely refused to be dumped down the bottom of banks. and pressured him to take me back up.

You need to take a stand when you know theyre in the wrong.

Well said. Who would take it seriously if you said "I'm not moving to Canberra because of the public transport...!! They'd think you're some nut.

bubzie

or for that matter "I'm leaving canberra because of the public transport!!"

Buzz Killington

hahahaha!

bus 400, get some ice on that burrrrnn

Irisbus Rider

Awwww, come on. Lets be fair, the Gov't has a responsibility to provide a service to the public (including not skipping a route without significant patronage), and if, say, electricity provided by the gov't is lacking, it'd be a turn off for residents, similarly, this is the case with public transport, but claiming that you'd leave a city due to the lack of public transport is a bit extreme.

Sir Pompously

Well, transport is one of the major things which draws people to a city as studies have shown. I would presume it would also work the other way around, but think about this my good people. If Canberra had, lets say Light Rail, well that would be a huge drawcard for persons to move to this city as it has a more sustainable public transport system which is not entirely road based. An entirely road based transport system as Canberra currently is is more of a turnoff for people to move here due to congestion. Heavy and Light rail systems run on their own dedicated reserves away from Traffic, and therefore are not subject to congestion and can move more people. It doesn't have to be quicker, but without congestion it normally is.

I had to do a research assignment on this at school, and these are the results I found from many websites and other information resources.

Also, Electricity is a necessity in this day and age, and for any company or Government to not supply it in a first world country would be appaling (Whether it is Nuclear, Coal, Hydro, Wind or whatever). It is the same for a public transport company owned and operated by a Government. It is there to service to people, and not to service the pockets of the Government. Hardly any public transport systems will run at a profit unless they are managed correctly. Some aspect's is that each route will be ontime, will operate frequently, and will run without fault or diveation from the aligned route. This instills confidence in the user, and therefore they can recommend to their mates tht public transport is the way to go. If you don't do any of this, this creates a lack of trust with the user which will lead to complaints and downfall in the services, which then will decrease patronage as the service no longer becomes user friendly. Combine this with rude or lazy frontline staff and you have yourself one shambles of a system.

Irisbus Rider

Precisely Todd, I agree with you 100% there, when people look to move to a city, they consider all factors including transpoort, which can be a major factor indeed.

Well said Todd.

Jack Bauer

Yes, you both make sense. But further to my point, no one would take you seriously if you said something along the lines of "I'm not moving there/I'm moving away because of the inconsistencies in your bus network." It especially depends on how your words come across, e.g. if that is your sole reason for not moving to/or moving away from Canberra, then they would be a bit perplexed.



Irisbus Rider

Yeah, definately, but sorry Bus400, ACTION_MAN is right, it's quite far fetched, lol. Anyway, Perths too hot and firery. I'll stick with the East coast thanks.