Sydney is in the midst of a massive bus driver shortage, with hundreds of jobs on offer touting a salary of up to $100,000 — but no one seems to want the job.
The glaring problem is that the promised salary — via overtime and other extra duties — is far from the reality, those inside the industry say.
Buses in the Greater Sydney Area are run by private contractors. The majority do not advertise a salary, but U-Go Mobility advertises an hourly rate for drivers of $28 to $36, while Busways advertises an hourly rate of $31 to $38 and Keolis Downer advertises a yearly salary of $70k to $90k.
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Sign-on bonuses of up to $6000 are also on offer.
But actually earning $100,000 as a driver is unrealistic, Peter Grech from the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) said.
To earn that much, drivers would have to work “24 out of 28 days and probably around 12 hours a day”, he said.
With a driver shortage, Sydney’s bus services are desperately struggling to meet demand.
Across the northern beaches and lower north shore in August, 2012 services were cancelled.
Bus contractors are expected to deliver 95 per cent of their services on time, but in August four companies failed to meet that benchmark in the east, upper north shore, Blacktown, Penrith and across the southern suburbs.
Private contractors have not delivered on multi-million-dollar agreements, Grech alleged.
“I think these contracts are absolute lemons,” he said.
Struggling to fill jobs
Operators say they’ve still struggling to hire drivers, despite an advertising blitz.
About 450 new bus driver authorities have been issued since the start of the recruitment drive, the government said in a release earlier this month.
There have also been more than 56,000 visits to Transport for NSW’s recruitment page.
But filling the remaining vacancies is proving tough.
The government is providing a number of incentives in an attempt to get more drivers on the road, NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said.
This includes waiving the $70 application fee, she said, and trying to make it “easier, quicker, (and) cheaper to become a bus driver”.
Drivers will also be able to travel for free on public transport as part of the recent push to fill jobs.
“We are doing everything we can to attract new bus drivers and support our current workforce in NSW,” Haylen said.
-With Taylor Aiken
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