Boxing day tube strikes

wealdroam

torontoboy45 wrote: »

...a lot of engineering work takes place this time of yr.

no-one complaining about the inconvenience boris and tfl create.

strange, that.

Could the reason be that a lot of people understand that engineering work has do be done at sometime?

Of course, that in turn could be because 'the management' have explained the reasons for those travel interruptions quite well.

On the other hand...

alastairq

believe it or not, coach driving was once...and maybe still is, very much the realm of the cowboy and part-timer.....all on the very minimum of wages..

Often a plumbers' mate, or a bookie, would do a spot of coach driving on a night, or on a weekend, to earn pocket money..simply because they had acquired a PCV licence at some point.


When I was bus driving [which is a totally different sort of job to coach driving..there is even a legal difference.......]........the company I worked for also did National Express.....at the time there was a huge controversy over the standard of driver doing such express work.....on the one hand, a driver could be a full-time professional, working for a major bus company...and on the other, the driver could be a week-end part-timer doing a bit for a small coach company who had a contract to run duplicate National Express services...only criteria being, the coach must be white!

The full-time guy got paid almost twice as much as the part-timer....so imagine the economic pressures exerted against them when part-timers were willing to do the job for half the price......and as long as they didn't crash, Joe public was none the wiser....and ....more importantly....couldn't care less!

part-timers working for pocket money..cheapskate labour.....and especially agencies..all conspire to de-value far too many jobs out there....especially where professional driving jobs are concerned.

Livingthedream

Stigy wrote: »

I was replying directly to mjm3346, who stated that being a train driver is 'child's play' compared to that of a Coach Driver. Utter rubbish.

I don't want to get in to a "my dad's harder than your dad" type discussion here, and maybe I was a little harsh, but I feel it was well justified given the post I was responding to.

Rereading the thread again I can see where your coming from. However, your reply to mjm3346 could have been a bit more sensitive, as you implied that train driving was more difficult than coach driving, that is always going to provoke a coach driver.

As torontoboy45 sums it different jobs, different skillset, don't agree with his competence/renumeration calculations but that's something for another thread.

torontoboy45 wrote: »

different jobs, different skillsets. the levels of competence are different, which is reflected in the renumeration but this isn't a !!!!-measuring contest - all jobs come with their own problems.

mjm3346

richardvc wrote: »

By that quote you have proved that you have absolutely no credibility in this argument.

Tube drivers have to worry about and respond to the actions of other drivers all the time, no I didn't think so.
Tube drivers decide their route, no I don't think so.
Tube drivers who hit someone will generally only do so when they are already slowing down to enter a station, not high speed impacts.

Does the technology exist to replace tube drivers-yes already exists and is in use.
Does the technology exist to replace coach drivers-no

Much easier for a computer to run a tube train than a coach.

Stigy

Livingthedream wrote: »

Rereading the thread again I can see where your coming from. However, your reply to mjm3346 could have been a bit more sensitive, as you implied that train driving was more difficult than coach driving, that is always going to provoke a coach driver.

Becasue this thread has been so sensitive thus far...;)

So it's okay for a Tube Train Driver to be riled and slagged off to the extent that posters are suggesting his job is unskilled and he's paid far too much, and also that Coach Driving is a far superior occupation that takes much more skill to undertake, but when little old me suggests that anybody with a driving licence should be able to drive which is effectively a large car, I'm being harsh?

Not having ago at you, Livingthedream, but I'm sure you can appreciate where I'm coming from here.

mjm3346

torontoboy45 wrote: »

j.christ. ignorance or what?

your real beef here is with p.sector workers, right?

when I worked in this sector I bet you (and a good few here) woke every morning and thought: 'I pay their wages'.

when you can answer the questions 'fair day's work?' and 'fair day's pay?' I'll listen.

Nothing against p.sector workers (been there, done that), there many who perform difficult jobs for small reward.
I don't consider tube drivers are paid too little and they certainly shouldn't get anymore.

mjm3346

Stigy wrote: »

Becasue this thread has been so sensitive thus far...;)

So it's okay for a Tube Train Driver to be riled and slagged off to the extent that posters are suggesting his job is unskilled and he's paid far too much, and also that Coach Driving is a far superior occupation that takes much more skill to undertake, but when little old me suggests that anybody with a driving licence should be able to drive which is effectively a large car, I'm being harsh?

Not having ago at you, Livingthedream, but I'm sure you can appreciate where I'm coming from here.

The thread was not started by any "anti tube driver faction", the op was "talking up" the justifaction for a strike, which some support and some do not.
The risks and need for awareness of what is going on around them are much greater for coach drivers than tube drivers.
A tube driver is very unlikely to meet oncoming traffic, have traffic veering across in front of them, breaking without warning etc etc all things a coach driver needs to be aware of.

Livingthedream

Stigy wrote: »

Becasue this thread has been so sensitive thus far...;)

Lol, point taken +1

Stigy wrote: »

So it's okay for a Tube Train Driver to be riled and slagged off to the extent that posters are suggesting his job is unskilled and he's paid far too much, and also that Coach Driving is a far superior occupation that takes much more skill to undertake, but when little old me suggests that anybody with a driving licence should be able to drive which is effectively a large car, I'm being harsh?

I didn't say that and others who state that are wrong, both jobs require different skillset and competencies and to compare both jobs on this thread is an act of a WUM.

Stigy wrote: »

Not having ago at you, Livingthedream, but I'm sure you can appreciate where I'm coming from here.

I know your not having a go, your just defending the industry that you love. :beer:

FlameCloud

I cannot wait for the days of DLR - esque driverless trains to arrive and the drivers made redundant. I think the majority of Londoners would support this view.

Stigy

mjm3346 wrote: »

The thread was not started by any "anti tube driver faction", the op was "talking up" the justifaction for a strike, which some support and some do not.

Ryan was just explaining why the strike was taking place, I don't believe he was trying to 'big it up' or 'justify' it.

mjm3346 wrote:

The risks and need for awareness of what is going on around them are much greater for coach drivers than tube drivers.
A tube driver is very unlikely to meet oncoming traffic, have traffic veering across in front of them, breaking without warning etc etc all things a coach driver needs to be aware of.

As do car drivers, motorcyclists, van driver, HGV drivers and any other drivers of road vehicles.

The rules of the road remain pretty much the same regardless of what class of vehicle you drive (one exception being speed limits and another being Tachos), the rules train drivers have to follow (that being tube or mainline) are far more stringent generally speaking, and this is why tube/mainline drivers saleries are so high.

mjm3346 wrote:

Tube drivers who hit someone will generally only do so when they are already slowing down to enter a station, not high speed impacts.

Yes, but that's arguably worse, is it not? If a mainline driver hits somebody travelling at 100-mph+ he's probably not going to see as much as the tube driver. Nonetheless, stopping before you hit the person would be extremely difficult.