Great Western Coffee Shop

first bus operations manager for Bristol has requested (back in November) to be nice to bus drivers,
 as attitudes to bus drivers is the biggest reason for bus drivers leaving the profession.

Maybe an appeal to bus drivers, don't use the horn to vent your anger on another motorist.

If you have time to sound your horn,you have time to avoid the incident.

 

That is a very serious issue.  The bus driver is the only representative of the service and the company running it that the customer (passenger) sees, and at times that the service is not delivering (for any reason) tends to be the one who has to bear the brunt of criticism at times that the customer is fraught ... even if he/she (the driver) has no personal control over the situation, and it would be even worse if he/she was not sitting in that driving seat.   But good luck in explaining that to all the customers and having them act appropriately to a staff member who is being as helpful as possible and does not deserve flack!

I have limited experience of that having driven buses occasionally in the 1980s.

Comments like “where have you been?” when the traffic is bumper to bumper as far as the eye can see.   

As usual it’s the 1 percent who cause issues. Sometimes with their attitude, occasionally with their actions.  However they tend to be the ones you remember out of all proportion. 

I have to admit that the current drivers on my only regular service from First (x4) from
Portishead to Bristol are much more customer friendly than the ones they replaced.   

Students? There was a piece in yesterday's Sunday Times about First WoE (and Stagecoach by implication) recruiting Bristol Uni students to help fill the huge number of gaps in the driving staff. The boss (Doug Claringbold) said he'd lost 150 to HGV work alone, and needed to find 200 now. At a minimum of 20 hours a week, mainly outside normal working hours, it suits the operators; and for a student job it's good money.

Isn't this similar in most customer facing jobs. You are taken to be the "company" and are blamed for any and all the problems. Problem for doctors and nurses is that, unlike bus drivers, they don't have a screen to protect tham from physical violence.

On those who complain to the driver about being late, it is the ones who take two or three minutes doing it which make the bus even later.