How Long Is A Coach Driver’s Day?

When we’re finally done with work for the day, the question “when did you start this morning?” is one all coach drivers love to ask each other. Why? Well, most of us are still part of the generation that likes to brag about working long hours. And as long as you’re doing it for a larger purpose – such as the better life of your family, there’s nothing wrong with that.

I’m gonna go straight ahead and say outside people think we just drive and that’s it. This once went as far as a passenger telling me my logging device is only on while driving (he was piss drunk so we should forgive him for his blissful ignorance) and that I’m doing nothing but sitting down for most of the day. He was trying to have this argument with me because they needed somebody to drive them at 5 AM after we started the trip at 8 in the morning the day before and ended around 10 PM. Long story short, the guy ended up returning home from the trip with somebody else in the car (thank goodness).

When do coach drivers start their day?

I can only speak for myself and the company I work for in this case. But depending on the line of work, the drives usually don’t start too early. Let’s say most departures are between 7 and 8 and our depot is a 15 minute drive from the city. That is, if the pickup location is in the city. We even have pickup locations as far as a day’s drive.

And even those are fun because:

• Its just us and the road
• We sleep in a hotel room and get to be fully rested before the morning drive.

However, it’s not always like this. What you’re looking at below is an overview of all of my alarms. I used every single one of these at least once – yep, even the afternoon ones.

Sometimes, everything is alright and there is really not much to do. We do a quick inspection of the coach, put the card into the logging device and as soon as it loads up and the air pressure is high enough, we’re good to go.

What should you inspect before every drive?

I really recommend having a post-it or a memo, either near the steering wheel or in your phone because otherwise you’ll forget half of the things.

Coach Interior

First I inspect the interior, both the cleanliness and if there’s any damage on the interior. The colleague who drove the coach the day before (or the cleaning person) do the cleaning. However, we’re all human and it’s really easy to miss a spot here and there.

Sometimes I’m really tired and just couldn’t be bothered to do a full clean. In this case I text the colleague who’s driving tomorrow to come a bit earlier and tell him to grab a beer from the refrigerator. Its really all about them knowing upfront, because anybody would be pissed off if you didn’t tell them they had to wash the windows.

Depending on the dynamics in your company, refrigerators may be a real issue. I always keep mine fully stocked with water and a few after-ride beers here and there. However when somebody else drives my coach, I’d like them to restock what they drank. I do the same, and if not I just use my stainless steel bottle which I fill up at home.

Any damage on the exterior?

One really important thing most of us overlook is doing a walk around the coach. I don’t know where you guys are from, but here where I live there are loads of narrow streets, tight corners and its just a general nuisance to drive sometimes. Sometimes I see a scratch and go “was that me? hm”.

You’ll obviously hear if the damage is bigger but some spots you won’t notice in months. Do yourself a favour and inspect the exterior every day, not just because of yourself, but also because of your colleagues. I hate getting somebody else in trouble, but I hate getting in trouble BECAUSE of somebody else too.

Is your coach liquid?

Open the hood at least once a week (or when heading on multi-day trips) and check the coolant and oil levels. If the coach is known to use more than usual – don’t risk it and fill up a canister or two.

The same goes with AdBlue or DEF (which you can check on the dashboard). Always fill it up before a trip and know how large is your reservoir. The only thing that’s worse than running out of DEF is running out of diesel. Get below 10% and see your coach going into safe mode faster than you say “thrive2drive” – you’ll be forced to drive an embarassingly slow speed while your passengers ask you what happened and you have to call the depot. Thinking about it, it’s even worse than running out of gas.

Don’t forget about the “less important” ones such as water for washing your coach or waste liquid for your on board toilet.

Also, if you’re going on a long trip – plan your rest stops around preferred gas stations where you can refuel.

Good old downtime

One thing a lot of drivers can’t stand about the job is the downtime. We usually have at least a few hours every day when we’re waiting for our passengers. It really all boils down to your time management skills and preparation you’ve done at home. Sometimes you’ll be stuck at a parking lot in the middle of nowhere and for days like those, you’ll just have to prepare.

I’ve spoken about things you can do in your downtime quite a few times now, but to mention it again – get some rest (sleep, don’t watch facebook videos), clean or wash your coach, or go for a walk.

If I have nothing else to do (or if it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity) I’ll go with my group. Never going to forget that time me and my colleague just returned from a boat trip to Venice (Italy). This is how to conversation between us and the other crew (which was on the same trip) went:

Other crew: Hey! Where have you guys been for the whole day?

Me: Well we went to Venice!

Other crew: Venice? What’s over there?

My colleague mutters in his beard something that is best not to be translated.

Both our crew and the other crew spent the day (around 9 hours) in the best way imaginable. I just hope they’re happy with theirs.

I’m going to be honest with you guys, the downtime was a problem for quite a while. Its not until you see that you really have no other choice but to adapt to it and bend the company time to your free will that you will make the best out of it. I write these blog posts, for example.

It’s been a long day in the coach

Does arriving at the parking lot mean that the day is finally over? Nah, the party is just getting started. If you’re working for a small company who cannot afford cleaning staff its at least another hour of work after we’re parked.

I did a really thorough article on keeping your coach clean if that’s what you’re interested in, including sharing this awesome thing i use for mopping.

How long it takes you to clean really depends on three things:

• How clean your passengers were
• What kind of equipment you have
• Most importantly: How fast you are

The last point is a really funny one because I’ve seen 75 year old drivers doing the cleaning much faster than their 25 year old counterparts (including me). It’s probably like that because they cherish their time more.

On a lighter note, the best part of arriving to the parking lot is by far meeting up with my colleagues and opening a can of beer. After all, the laughs and stories from here are the only ones you’ll really remember.

That is how long a coach driver’s day really is.

The beer cans are empty, the coaches are all locked up and you’re off to go. If we’re in any luck our wife and kids are still awake to see us (I always give mine a kiss to wake her up). Hopefully we don’t have an early morning and get some sleep for the following day. To answer the question I started the blog post with: Our days are long 5 hours at the very least, but average about 12 hours, 5-6 days a week.

Thanks for reading and see you next week!