KEY POINTS:
The Qualification
What: Work and Income Straight 2 Work bus and coach training course
Phone: Ezidrive 0800-217000, Work and Income 0800-559009
Email: admin@ezidrive.co.nz
Web: Winz.govt.nz or Busjobs.co.nz
2007 course costs: Around $1800 (includes licences). Work and Income pays for those on Straight 2 Work.
Prerequisites: To become an entry-level bus driver, you need to have held a class one driver's licence (car licence) for two years and pass a medical.
Starting salary: $30-40K for a 45-hour week.
The Straight 2 Work bus and coach training course aims to move Work and Income clients into paid employment. Zane Gray and Cushla Clarke run the courses in south Auckland for Howick & Western Buses and in west Auckland for Ritchies.
Between four and 10 trainees take part in each six-week course. They are taught core skills to gain the required licences, industry knowledge and they observe working bus drivers. During the last two weeks trainees learn bus routes, ticketing and other company requirements. Two licences are required to be a bus driver: a class two licence and a passenger (P) endorsement, which includes a police clearance. On average, bus drivers work around 45 hours a week. Most companies have their buses on the road 20 hours each day and applicants need to understand they will have to work five of any seven days of the week. "And they could be starting at two in the afternoon and finishing at midnight; or starting at 5am and finishing at 2pm," says Gray. "But the bulk of the work in the industry is split shift where you're working from 6-10am taking people to school and work, then you go home and have down time of three or four hours, which is unpaid, and then come back in the afternoon and work 2-6pm."
Bus driving is a secure career, with a growing patronage.
"These days it's a good industry for people in their late 40s onwards who may be being put out to pasture from other jobs. It's the sort of job that you can be working at 70 plus, providing on your health," says Gray.
THE GRADUATE
Raewyn Rihari (39)
Graduated October 2006
Bus driver at Howick & Eastern Buses
I chose this job because I wanted to meet people and to drive something bigger.
Howick & Eastern Buses are close to where I live and they have a good reputation for looking after their drivers. They're fair and they will work around your family. I have a 16, 14, nine and seven-year-old.
The course helped me heaps. First you've got your paperwork, how to keep a log book and the P endorsement. I was too scared to drive the bus when I got in it. It was the size that got me. I thought "I can't drive this big thing."
But the trainers were marvellous. They made me feel confident.
The qualification is a big bonus as I had been out of the workforce quite a few years.
When I really got out in my bus and started driving I thought, "Wow, this is me, I love this. I enjoy it."
I drive different routes and school runs around Auckland and south Auckland. There's a good variety.
You get some grumpy passengers. They expect you to know everything. They think bus drivers are mind readers sometimes. That's the only downfall, but you explain things to them and they're pretty good.
I think I'll be still here for a few years yet.
THE EMPLOYER
Howick & Eastern Buses
Sheryl Otway HR manager
I look for enthusiasm, a bright bubbly personality and a willingness to learn in bus drivers.
The training adds value as a lot of these people can be second or third-generation Work and Income and they feel that they haven't achieved in their lives because they left school at a young age.
We sit them down and look at what they've got - they have a family, they have children and that's an achievement.
When they come through the course and they gain this qualification, it's like somebody's getting a diploma or a bachelor degree. They are on cloud nine.
Their families are proud and they support their families, show work ethics and it builds a different life for their families, not just themselves.
The trainees do struggle halfway through the course and need to be mentored. Then all of a sudden, where Raewyn is now, it's like, "Wow, it wasn't that hard after all."
Anyone that comes through our training schools also has another month to eight weeks before they are deemed company confident.
Raewyn is a bright bubbly personality. She showed she wanted something more in her life.
Raewyn has great customer services and shows safety behind the wheel. She's working on her work ethic and she brings value to the job.
