East Thames Buses

I have moved this thread into recruitment - seems more appropriate!

Whilst I can't really offer you much help, it really does show how well TfL go about their business when they telephone you to arrange a telephone interview. You couldn't make it up could you .......

When I applied for a bus position (albeit not with TfL), the keywords thay wanted to hear throughout the interview were "passenger safety" and "customer service" and I would imagine that most bus companies would want to hear the same thing.

My interview was at the depot, and lasted about 45 minutes, though I can't imagine a telephone interview lasting quite that long. Part of my interview was a written test which was basic highway code stuff and a multichoice answer sheet.

For reference, I first applied back in early July. I actually begin training on October 6th, so it's certainly not an overnight thing!

Good luck with it, let us know how you got along.

Thanks and thanks for all the responses thus far. I did wonder whether to put this into recruitment but it all seemed to be about LUL jobs in there so I didn't!

Well I actually applied at the end of July so I know these things aren't going to be all that quick but it's good to know that I should hopefully find out more or less straight away if I did pass.

I'm also glad they didn't just phone up and do the interview right away as I'd just got out of bed. They did offer to do it the same day but I wanted some time to find out about it and prepare for it so they're going to do it on the 1st.

If you get through the assessment fine, the next stage will be a medical, without which you can't apply for your provisional group D (or any PCV) license. Mine involved drink and drug screening, which (despite how it looks) I don't hammer down, and I certainly don't and haven't ever taken drugs. The Doctor in charge of examining me actually said to me before the drug test that if I had used any cannabis in the last six weeks, I might as well walk out the door there and then.

My driving assessment was on very quiet roads, although it did involve a right turn onto one of the busiest routes into The City. Half way through, I was given a score out of 30 for various aspects of driving (I scored 25 of the 30, the pass was 18) He then gave me instructions as to what I was doing that would fail a test (Using the palm of my hand to steer was one I had a right rocket on!) after which there was a drive back to the depot for another points score. I did listen to what he had told me, and scored 29 out of 30, the point dropped for cruising to a stop (Clutch in)

If the maths test I had was anything to go by, it'll be a doddle! There were questions about working out how many passengers were aboard, and how many more would be allowed to board, a bit on converting the 12 and 24 hour clock, and a bit on calculating fares (Three times a £1.50 ticket and the like) In other words, mine was VERY basic, but I am rather good with arithmetic, so perhaps it was difficult, but I never noticed.

As for the highway code bit, it'll be worth having a quick read of it, in particular rules regarding PCV drivers, because there are certain rules that as a standard car driver you possibly wouldn't be aware of. However, they do take into account that you are on a standard car licence, and wouldn't be aware of these extra rules. But there is nothing like a high score is there?

Good luck, keep us updated.

The driving assessment was in something similar to a Transit, but it was an extremely old vehicle, and a heap of junk to drive!

Just a reminder.... Keep your foot well away from the clutch when driving. How mine wasn't spotted hovering over I shall never know. Feed the wheel. Select the gear before making the move (you are not allowed to do both at the same time.) And remember about the coasting!

Good luck!

Remember this is an assessment and later, test, not the real thing! Down here (also Stagecoach as SE13 is), once you have passed the test your mentors actually show you the "correct" (i.e. safe) way to palm the wheel!!!

Personally I ALWAYS think it's unsafe but again I was brought up on manual steering and the system was far too heavy to do anything else BUT feed the wheel.

Well, I'm yet to get the official result but I don't think it went very well at all. For a start the vehicle they used was a Mercedes minibus with brakes which were, frankly, shocking and I was quite nervous to start with. I wasn't expecting to be nervous, it's just driving after all.

Not having driven anything larger than one of those little Transit vans it took a bit of getting used to, in fact to be honest I don't think I ever did get used to those breaks. It was automatic as well which I found a little surprising although I suppose thinking about it, it does make sense. Never driven an automatic before either and it was in an area of London I don't know at all.

There was no maths test which was surprising. In fact all that happened was they took copies of my driving licence and then gave me the keys. When we got back to the garage they just asked me the meaning of three road signs from the highway code and if we had encountered them, and if so where. That was it.

Ah well, never mind. If I did well enough then great but if not then it's not the end of the world. Getting to and from there from where I live every day would probably have been a bit of a nightmare anyway.

Thanks for all the help and advice though and best of luck in your training, SE13.

Good advice except I was explicitly told to put the gearbox in drive and leave it there unless stationary for a period of time in which case it was to go in neutral. I didn't expect whatever it was I was asked to drive to be perfect by the very nature of the thing but I expected it to be a bit better than that. Something where you literally have to push the brake pedal to the floor before you start to slow down meant I was more concerned about being able to stop the thing more than anything else. I assume running into the back of stationary traffic is a no no on such things!

TEST buses now have to have ABS systems, in line with an EU regulation.

Trainer buses don't need to have ABS, but in London they are mostly low floor because of the Low Emission Zone, so the Metrobus had to leave London for good!

Got a bus in Hertfordshire and it had a nice big red LEZ non compliant sticker on the windscreen ...

They should bring back early DMs as trainers.. they're exempt as historic vehicles

I suppose that's a point, especially if it's First maintenance.

The older tridents are pretty rubbish now; I say old in Edinburgh terminology, which means V/W/X reg. The 52/04 ones are pretty decent, IMO.

I find it odd that they didn't tell you there and then regarding your driving assessment. If it's any consolation, mine was in a clapped out LDV (or similar) where you needed brute force just to engage first gear!

As for getting to and from work, I don't know about East Thames, but Stagecoach provide free bus passes for myself, wife and children. I catch a bus to and from work, as most of the people there do. It's only really the people living well outside Lincoln that bring their own cars. (This last week, that bus pass has saved me about £50 in bus fares!)

I think they would provide free travel, whether it be just on their buses or otherwise, but I actually live at the non-London end of the M23 so I would have to drive there anyway. Had I got the job the plan would have been to move closer within the first year or so, I certainly can't afford to do so on what Tesco pay me.

Anyway, I received the official 'you did not pass' email yesterday as I expected to. I didn't bother to phone TfL HR the next day like they told me I could because I knew that I hadn't passed anyway.

For the record, the bus they use for training is an X reg Plaxton President bodied Volvo B7TL.

Yep, Crawley it is. I have a couple of other possibilities in the near future but if they don't work out I've noticed that Metrobus are looking for trainees here so I might just give them a go. I could definitely get there by bus, one of the routes I live near goes right past the depot, and at least I'd know the area I was driving around. I should imagine it would be possible to transfer to one of their London depots in the future.

The main attraction to East Thames (apart from the more money part) was that they were offering permanent earlies or lates rather than the usual shift work the job involves.