Why don't we tip bus drivers?

Auckland is yet again facing having public transport disrupted due to disputes with the drivers.

As I have mentioned in past blog posts, public transport isn't going to be fully utilised till business people can rely on them to get to meetings - on time.

Interruptions only increase the perception of unreliability.

So what can we do to fix it up? This was the question I was pondering... and I thought, why don't we tip the bus drivers? Serious.

Now I know (I am a kiwi) that we aren't really a tipping country - but I do believe we are in a position where tipping may be appropriate.

Tipping is supposed to be reward for stellar service and encourages people to provide just that.

However with bus drivers the range of service is quite vast, some are rude, others are warm and nice. Yet they all get similar pay?

If you were one of the better bus drivers would you stick around getting the same remuneration as those that don't put the same effort in? I doubt it.

So why not have an extra coin tin on the bus, if you have a pleasant journey you can tip the bus driver, or if he was kind enough to give you directions or waited for you to run up to the bus just as it was about to leave.

If you don't want to you don't have to.

This would also enable drivers' performance to be gauged very quickly, what was their average tips versus the norm.

I would imagine it could be quite a pay boost to those working the peak hour shifts (the most stressful too) and remind bus drivers at the end of the day it's all about the patrons that jump on and jump off.

It's just a thought, what do you think? Is there a better way?

Would tipping reward the exceptional bus drivers and filter the bad ones out (thus improving service overall)?

* Ben Young of bwagy.com is the author of The Best Ideas are Free.