Kerre Woodham: Bus drivers are worth the extra

Go the bus drivers, I say! I don't use the buses very often - mainly because I work odd hours. I always use the buses around Christmas though - it's so much easier to hop on a bus and go into town to do the shopping than cruising 'round and 'round the mall car parks trying to find a space that hasn't already been 'bagsed' by some sociopath who's willing to shoot you to save it for their friend.

Continents can drift and civilisations have risen and fallen in the time it takes to drive, park, shop and return home. So, although I'm not a frequent flyer, I do appreciate the service the buses provide.

And the drivers sure as hell deserve their pay increase. Their call for $16 an hour, even taking into account holiday pay and sick leave, is peanuts, and if Stagecoach can't afford to pay that, then maybe they shouldn't be in business. The Stagecoach management claims they have offered the drivers an increase of almost 15 per cent - but let's face it guys, that's over three years, and 15 per cent of bugger all is still bugger all.

While Stagecoach's parent company is a filthy-rich multinational, New Zealand Stagecoach management claim they're the humble little forgotten son, barely able to get by on the tens of millions of dollars of subsidies they receive from the public purse. And to be fair, in a recent British article, the New Zealand bus operation was quoted as being the weak link of the successful company.

But that's not the drivers' fault. They're the ones working nasty split shifts; they're the ones having to deal with Auckland traffic, and the Auckland public; they're the ones who are the shopfront for Stagecoach.

It's all very well pointing to the $80 million that's been invested in a new bus fleet - investing in people might bring about bigger and better returns. 

- HERALD ON SUNDAY