By BRIAN RUDMAN
There's nothing like a non-showing bus to jaundice one's view of public transport.
You while away the long minutes dredging up bad experiences, like the time a month or three back when the half-empty bus sailed past, ignoring your little band of regulars.
Repressed memories of missing buses during the last wage-round disputes suddenly surface.
Then you start having dark thoughts about local politicians who preach the glories of bus travel from the convenience of their air-conditioned cars.
Finally, after much watch-checking and fruitless gazing down the street, you take the gamble that the 9 am from Herne Bay is missing without trace and strike out on foot.
The Stagecoach "customer support" phone robot tells me that while this was going on, "all services should be operating to their normal timetable. Any delays experienced will be caused by traffic or weather conditions."
There's no place for discussion. I redial and discover how to find lost property, to become a bus driver or to charter a bus, then finally, "If you would like to make a commendation, complain or general inquiry, press six."
Tracey at button six cannot help and puts me through to John, who feels "it should be all right at that time of the morning."
He takes my number and says he will get back. By 6 pm Friday I have not heard back from him, or from Harold Williams, Stagecoach's operations director.
Perhaps the latter was out driving buses, because if what Tramways Union spokesman Peter Cross tells me is even half true, it is a case of every staffer to the steering wheel at Stagecoach.
In March, Mr Cross told me that Stagecoach's complement of around 750 drivers was 50 to 60 short. Mr Williams responded to that by reorganising the bus fleet and claiming as a result that few if any services were being missed.
Mr Cross now reckons Stagecoach could be as many as 100 drivers short.
Whatever the exact number, the resultant cuts in service have generated enough complaints to spur the Auckland Regional Council into beginning spot checks on whether the services it is paying for are actually running.
Barry Mein, the ARC transport manager, says he has told Stagecoach that "the council is pretty unhappy with the situation" and is "very keen that they are able to make some positive changes before too long."
Mr Mein is worried that all the good work done by the ARC and the Auckland City Council in improving the major isthmus bus routes is in danger of being undone.
"I'm a bus user on those routes as well and I've had a few full buses go past me and other people standing at the stop. You can see by the body language that they are not too impressed."
Now in other parts of the economy where there is a labour shortage, be it in the field of television newsreaders or of Y2K computer expertise, the answer has been to attract staff with better pay and conditions. Something to do with the free market and all that.
Nothing like that has been forthcoming on the buses. If anything, the reverse has applied. According to Mr Cross, for the past year the bus company has taken new drivers on only as part-timers, to gain more flexibility in their use.
Even for fulltimers, the practice of broken shifts can make hours long. Under their contract, drivers can be brought in to work the morning rush hour then stood down on no pay for some hours before being reactivated on pay for the afternoon or evening.
Around 70 per cent of drivers do these broken shifts, the reward for which is an extra $3.50 a day. A driver's hourly rate is $12.44. These days there is plenty of overtime at time-and-a-half. But taken at the end of a split shift it makes for a very long day. For drivers, it is obviously less than attractive.
If we want to attract passengers to public transport we are going to have to provide a reliable and regular service. For that, we will need enough safe and willing drivers. Why should anyone leave their cars at home for less?
<i>Rudman's city:</i> Bus shenanigans leave sour taste
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