On Mon, 5 May 2008 19:59:24 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote this gibberish:

On Mon, 5 May 2008, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Mon, 5 May 2008 14:02:00 +0100, Tom Anderson
wrote:

On Sat, 3 May 2008, Paul Corfield wrote:

It's when we get bus and tube strikes (both quite likely given the 3
year pay deal for LU has just ended and Unite are demanding pay parity
for bus drivers) that the fun will begin.

What? Pay parity with tube drivers? Seriously? How about starting with
professionalism parity? Bus drivers are currently a bunch of dangerous,
incompetent, passenger-hating maniacs. Well, not all of them, obviously,
but there's a huge gap in professionalism between bus and tube drivers.

I think parity with tube drivers is a long term aim.

Wow.

Their aim in this pay round is equal pay and conditions across all
companies running TfL tendered services. Can't see that happening
somehow.

That's a shame - that seems like a fair and reasonable thing to want.

I don't think I share your slightly extreme view of bus drivers'
qualities. There's the odd bad one but most do a good job in what can be
very trying circumstances.

Most do an adequate job.

The City wouldn't function without its buses and it's quite a few years
since we have lots of buses on strike - the last one I remember
coincided with tube strikes and getting anywhere was nigh on impossible.

Absolutely true. I'm not (for once!) having a go at buses, i'm just saying
that their drivers are a lot less professional than i believe those of the
tube trains to be.

tom

Purely from personal experience and what I've seen (only been in
London a couple of years), the jobs of tube and bus drivers are rather
different, the tube drivers very rarely have to deal with passengers
and I've never seen one taking any 'aggro'. Wheras bus drivers
generally deal with each and every passenger (mostly very briefly but
it puts them in the fireing line) and are the first to get an earful
(and I have seen this many times) if anything goes wrong on-route.
--
Mark Varley
www.MarkVarleyPhoto.co.uk
www.TwistedPhotography.co.uk
London, England.