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Well i have a mate who is a driver for a local bus company "mahachai city bus company" all drivers work on a 6 day week there and there shift is 4am to 11pm every day with only 20 to 30 mins for a meal break 2 times in the shift. which is taken at a shop near the bus terminal.
He gets though his day drink red bull and extra strong coffee as he drives the bus. It seems to be one of these things that you get used to over time ie you don't feel so tired as you do when you 1st start out.
Also alot of drivers at this company have accommodation provided as part of there contract and this accommodation is at the back of the depot or in an apartment building near by.
also drivers at this company get assigned to the same route all the time and in most cases get the same bus.
Maintenance is done during the night by a night crew of workshop staff. They only get 4 to 5 hours to get it done ready to go out the next morning so they work really fast or do the job in stages so it can be driven then come in at night for the second half of the work.
The pay is a commission only "ie no base rate" based on the number of passengers you pick up in your shift and is paid in cash at the end of the day. The incentive is to do as many round trips as possiable on each day to get a higher pay level. There is no timetable to follow just floor it and complete the trip as quickly as possiable so you can start the next one.
Bus driving is considered a reasonable job even with these hours and conditions.
Note: Mahachai city bus company operates routes 7 (4am to 11pm), 7N (24hour/7days), 68 (4am to 11pm) and 140 (4am to 11pm)
Life on the routes:
These routes are very busy most of the day and cover around 50km one way carrying around 90 to 110 people per bus at peak and around 50 to 80 people off peak.
The drivers aim for a very short stop to pick up and drop off.
Time for a stop to Set down passengers is between 3 to 15 seconds
Time to pick up passengers is between 4 to 25 seconds. longer stops equals more passengers. Time for a full load (110 passengers) to empty out is around 30 to 60 seconds.
Drivers DO NOT collect fares a ticket lady does this so they only have to open and close doors and drive the bus. when its very full they don't close the doors anyway again to increase loading and speed up stops. "equals more money for him"
unless the bus breaks down on route or is badly damaged it will be run even with some faults such as air compressor faults, aircond failures, door issues, internal lighting issues, cracked window etc all these items don't stop the bus from running and will be fixed by the night crew after 11pm.
Most of the buses are high floor single door merc O404 bus the door is in the middle of the bus not at the front.
To put it this way these buses are worked very hard and run non stop all day. the staff work very hard at mahachai city bus company and alot enjoy there job even though its hard and tiring.
Source: Bus driver friend and the IHT/thaiday newspaper 2005
