(24 Nov 2015, 6:23 pm)tyresmoke wrote Company policy dictates that you should wait for all passengers to be seated or securely standing before moving away. Of course when you are running late you will often find drivers pulling away before this, putting themselves at (admittedly low) risk of action being taken should anything happen. That's why some drivers will stick to the rules, especially if they are on a disciplinary tight rope should we say.That's absolutely fine. The problem isn't with drivers who run late by:
Late running occurs every day on every service, however there is clearly a divide between certain depots that is obvious when you see statistics across various services. Anything above 5 minutes late is counted as late on our statistics and counts against a drivers punctuality stats. I myself have dropped about 10% in the last few months... Purely because of the amount of roadworks on our route, I just can't be bothered any more pushing to try and stay on time when there's 3 or 4 sets of temporary lights where you can lose 2-3 minutes each time.
- Driving to road and traffic conditions within the speed limit and adjusting their speed appropriately (speeding up on faster sections of road where safe to do so or slowing down where needed for safety).
- Drivers waiting for punters to be seated.
- Drivers who get stuck in traffic or a defective vehicle.
- Extreme Weather.
The problem is with drivers who:
- Drive deliberately slow where conditions allow them to go faster (40 on an NSL dual carriage way, 20 in a 30 zone, 25-30 in a 40 zone) when already running late. Now the speed limits I have there aren't always targets (heavy traffic, counrty roads, ice, torrential rain and even standees to an extent etc) but where safe and if time is needed to be made up, then drivers should try and aim for the speed limit where possible to recover time. I'll give you an example:
Unacceptable late running:
- 17:40 X10 from M.Boro to Eldon Sq arrives at Gateshead 10 minutes late and the new driver comes on. Driver gets into Eldon Sq after the changeover at 19:15 and departs 10 minutes late at 19:25.
- The above driver then hits the A19 at roughly 19:50 on a calm and clear night with good road, traffic and weather conditions but despite the B9s being capable of 57mph (or even 62 if 6043-6048 are set to allow this), the driver only decides to do 45-50mph despite running 10 minutes late.
Acceptable late running:
- Lashing down with rain, slight winds and the driver decides to do 45-50mph to keep the vehicle under control and keep the passengers safe.
A driver putting him or herself, passengers or other road users in danger to make up time is bang out of order, but a driver failing to make up time where safe and legal to do so is unacceptable. Now what you're telling me is completely acceptable and you're making an effort to run to time despite the roadworks etc. It's the VERY small minority who do such things that cause problems, not the majority of honest hardworking lads and lasses like you and many other drivers on this forum who do their job and keep the punters happy and safe whilst trying to get them to their destinations on time in sometimes, pretty horrendous road and traffic conditions.