Bus Driving Assessment.

[MiniClubmanEstate]

I'm off for a little assessment drive with Lothian Buses on Tuesday. They have paid for my medical and provisional license so I'm now going for the last assessment. I will be doing an hour long drive in a double-decker bus. If I pass this assessment I will be taken into Lothian Buses driver training school where they will prepare me for the tests and my new career.
What will they be looking for in my assessment drive? what should I look out for?. ROG gave me some advice on using only the door mirrors in my car when I'm about to do anything, my interviewer was impressed with my mirror use in the assessment with the Transit van, Cheers Rog.

[ROG]

You are welcome.
Shows that a site like this is woth its weight in gold.
Next tip - HAZARD, BOTH MIRRORS, then....................(unless the hazard is a person who runs out in front of you without warning - BRAKE - MIRRORS - SWERVE?

[stephenperry]

good luck

just out of interest how much is the typical wage for a bus driver?

[jasonh]

Oxford Bus Company was advertising £18k on its buses in about 2004.

[jibberjabber25]

Did you have to meet the compulsary speeding criteria to pass this test?
(I ask, because most coaches I see break the speed limit by a large margin on D/C and Motorways). Then again is this a public bus or a coach clubman?

Regardless, well done, and hope you enjoy your new career.

[rodericksdad]

Good luck with your assesment i started down the same road as yourself nearly two years ago and havnt looked back since,pays not brilliant for the responsabilities that you have but i like getting paid for something i like doing,good luck.

[MGF]

How to vehicles with limiters manage to break the speed limit (unless they are going downhill)?

[ScoobyChris]

(I ask, because most coaches I see break the speed limit by a large margin on D/C and Motorways)

What's a large margin? I can't imagine most of the coaches will do much more than NSL?!

Chris

[ROG]

How to vehicles with limiters manage to break the speed limit (unless they are going downhill)?

Remove the fuse

[MiniClubmanEstate]

For the pay It is a guaranteed 18k without overtime, 22 average and 25k max. It's considerably more than Morrisons pay me even with the slight promotion my manager tried to offer me, he got a bit of a shock when he heard am at the last stage of a new start. It all comes down to this drive on Tuesday. I will be driving a Leyland Olympian/Alexander R-type.
It's a Leyland like my car and the steering wheel is the same size as the one in my car, the vehicle is just a little bit bigger.

[rodericksdad]

For the pay It is a guaranteed 18k without overtime, 22 average and 25k max. It's considerably more than Morrisons pay me even with the slight promotion my manager tried to offer me, he got a bit of a shock when he heard am at the last stage of a new start. It all comes down to this drive on Tuesday. I will be driving a Leyland Olympian/Alexander R-type.
It's a Leyland like my car and the steering wheel is the same size as the one in my car, the vehicle is just a little bit bigger.

dont forget if its raining to check the internal windscreen wipers are fitted and working ,on ours theres more water on the inside of the screeen than out ,
i think i was lucky i had an assesment drive in a pick-up truck and then went on to be trained by the in house training school that they have,we were given two trys if needed to pass the test,possibly three if they thought that you had some real bad luck on the day,they were in leyland nationals mk11,s semi automatics,now they have changed them when we got took over by a large national company and they do all their training in fully automatics,then they found out that the new trainees were been sent out after passing their tests on fully auto,s to depots which still had semi automatics,ooooops,back came a bus with a semi automatic box,i actually enjoy driving them to the fully automatics you seem to have a bit more flexibility when you want to change gear,
good luck again,

[jibberjabber25]

(I ask, because most coaches I see break the speed limit by a large margin on D/C and Motorways)

What's a large margin? I can't imagine most of the coaches will do much more than NSL?!

Chris

I don't mean NSL, I mean when the limit is 50 for e.g. (in London lots of D/Cs and Motorways are that or less!).

Anyway, it doesn't matter, I'm sure MiniClubman will be remaining legal.

[MGF]

dont forget if its raining to check the internal windscreen wipers are fitted and working ,on ours theres more water on the inside of the screeen than out

I could do with these on the F with the amount of condensation it has!

[Stephen]

One of the routes they will take you if its a double decker bus will be where there is either a low bridge,or an arched one to see how you will approach. So, the key will be to know the height of your vehicle and look for the road signs along they way, also the overhang at the front when turning or pulling up / into bus stops. Good Luck
Stephen

[7db]

I'm amazed. They actually test bus drivers? No evidence of that in London...

Good luck - remember to use your massive size to bully other motorists out of the way, regardless of rights of way or legal priority.