Working and wages as bus driver in Malta

spandy61 wrote:

well reading between the lines, to sum up wages are rubbish and you have to work long long hours for it? and so on 1 income it will be a struggle to survive? I am a bus driver in the uk, my wife cant work because of her illness, but we were thinking of coming over realising that i would still have to work hard, but that hopefully in-between we could have a better quality of life, I.E on days off enjoy the climate and go for walks by the coast? we have been to malta many many times but now beginning to think it may be a mistake?

we survive on one wage my husband gets about 1400 euros a month and works 9-5 monday to friday  .... we are off course an exception to the rule it seems lol

if your a bus driver you may wish to apply to public transport malta i know they are looking for a whole lot of new bus drivers.

Thanks, yes MPT are one of those i contacted, but like they say they cannot offer me a job until i am actually in malta. 1,400 would be fine im sure we could manage on that but from what little i have been able to find out it seems Bus drivers are not on that sort of wage? i noticed you said you live comfortably on 800/900 a month is that figure including some spending money? or is that figure what you actually pay out on rent and bills? if so then you need to be earning at least a 1000 a month?

spandy61 wrote:

Thanks, yes MPT are one of those i contacted, but like they say they cannot offer me a job until i am actually in malta. 1,400 would be fine im sure we could manage on that but from what little i have been able to find out it seems Bus drivers are not on that sort of wage? i noticed you said you live comfortably on 800/900 a month is that figure including some spending money? or is that figure what you actually pay out on rent and bills? if so then you need to be earning at least a 1000 a month?

i posted on your other thread given you some ideas of costs and figuires based on what we have paid

I've known a few british bus drivers working in Malta and most had to or still are working long hours and doing overtime to make ends meet - some made the decision and have left the island.

Toon wrote:

I've known a few british bus drivers working in Malta and most had to or still are working long hours and doing overtime to make ends meet - some made the decision and have left the island.

Thanks for the reply, having to do overtime to make ends meet is usual for me ;-) with only one wage coming in and the very high costs of living in york ( £5 a pint £12 for a basic back and sides hair cut ) im used to doing overtime.

We met a bus driver when we came over to Malta & Gozo in Feb for a look at the islands with a view to moving and he had been working for aviva before the last company took over, he was looking to move off the island as he said he could not support his family on his wages, he said his wages had not gone up for ages and he could not find any other work.
He did say that he did not want to leave but needs must.

I think Arriva has been replaced by a Spanish company now - but i suspect the basic working conditions are no different and the bosses are (I am told) difficult to work with...

Sadly G4JNW  what you describe is all to common - but it is realistic....

Thanks.

Thankfully no family just me and the wife, i also know that arriva made a rights pigs ear of running the buses and were ripping the drivers off in various ways, hopefully things may have improved under the new owners Autobus de leon, a spanish company owned by National express in England.  will have to find out, but thanks for your reply.

Vacancies for bus drivers with Malta Public Transport Services

People required: 400    what the f*** is going on ?
Experience: No Experience Required.    of course not, you are only carrying 100 persons ...
40-48 hours on a 5/6 day week. Flexible hours. Wage up to 6 euro hourly ... min. 240,- per week for work between 5am and 11pm Monday to Sunday ... not really attractive ...

matm911 wrote:

Vacancies for bus drivers with Malta Public Transport Services

People required: 400    what the f*** is going on ?
Experience: No Experience Required.    of course not, you are only carrying 100 persons ...
40-48 hours on a 5/6 day week. Flexible hours. Wage up to 6 euro hourly ... min. 240,- per week for work between 5am and 11pm Monday to Sunday ... not really attractive ...

interesting that, as their official website states NO VACANCIES?
By no experience i presume they mean no experience of driving in malta? as you have to have a pcv license to drive a bus like you need a hgv to drive a lorry.
yes all bus driving jobs are done on a shift pattern between 5am and midnight in uk, for instance tomorrow i start at 5.30am and finish at 1pm.
Thanks for that very interesting

Do not expect websites to be updated out here. Not even 'official' ones.
Don't expect replies to emails either.

GOOD LUCK IN WHATEVER YOU DECIDE TO DO

matm911 wrote:

Experience: No Experience Required.    of course not, you are only carrying 100 persons ...

That doesn't surprise me, I haven't used the buses a lot in Malta but I've been involved in 3 accidents / incidents. No physical injuries fortunately, just the mental scars. Some of the drivers here think they're related to the Schumacher brothers. Some of them drive like they've left their guide dog at home. And I see drivers every day sending emails and playing with their smartphones as they drive along.

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/vi … ths.426097

An old story, but backs up my point of view. 1294 accidents in 10 months is an average of 4.25 a day!! 

spandy61 wrote:

matm911 wrote:

Vacancies for bus drivers with Malta Public Transport Services

People required: 400    what the f*** is going on ?
Experience: No Experience Required.    of course not, you are only carrying 100 persons ...
40-48 hours on a 5/6 day week. Flexible hours. Wage up to 6 euro hourly ... min. 240,- per week for work between 5am and 11pm Monday to Sunday ... not really attractive ...

interesting that, as their official website states NO VACANCIES?
By no experience i presume they mean no experience of driving in malta? as you have to have a pcv license to drive a bus like you need a hgv to drive a lorry.
yes all bus driving jobs are done on a shift pattern between 5am and midnight in uk, for instance tomorrow i start at 5.30am and finish at 1pm.
Thanks for that very interesting

they are training people in there category d licence i only know because we saw it on malta park and matt rang up to ask  ( but only if you apply for full time positions)

its well worth doing if you want to learn to drive a bus (for free)  and money isnt something you need

Was this new company not supposed to be bringing a lot of drivers across from Spain to work here?? I'm sure I read that somewhere.

Hi Spandy,

We moved to Malta from York 5 weeks ago and sold up there before moving here. Take the advice from all the ex pat regulars as they have bought the T shirt etc. Work is around, I am looking and have got 3 interviews but the money isn't what you receive at home , thats a fact but if you can live on what is on offer then I am sure you will be great.

We just want part time to be fair as luckily have bought ( or unluckily if you read some of the posts on here ! ) our apartment so no maortgae rent to pay, hope to meet up if you decide the move is for you.

Regards

Carl

afaik all companies which are partly owned by government (Public Transport, Air Malta, Enemalta, Wasteserv, etc) must publish their vacancies on ETC website and local newspapers. So no surprise that there's no notice on their own website.

no experience really means no experience, you not even need to have B licence.

the new operator is supposed to bring some 200 or 300 new busses (plus drivers - not necessarily from Spain) to replace the private busses leased from government ... good that I have my garage full of own vehicles ;-)

matm911 wrote:

afaik all companies which are partly owned by government (Public Transport, Air Malta, Enemalta, Wasteserv, etc) must publish their vacancies on ETC website and local newspapers. So no surprise that there's no notice on their own website.

no experience really means no experience, you not even need to have B licence.

the new operator is supposed to bring some 200 or 300 new busses (plus drivers - not necessarily from Spain) to replace the private busses leased from government ... good that I have my garage full of own vehicles ;-)

so they would teach you how to drive as well ? thats hillarious ..

do not send me no more emails

Who? Us? If you don't want email notifications then turn it off in your settings.
Glad we have been able to help you.
We have appreciated the opportunity.
We hope you have too.

robpw2 wrote:

so they would teach you how to drive as well ? thats hillarious ..

There's some program on TV at the moment called Double Decker Driving School, I haven't seen any of it. But they should do a Maltese version, now that would be worth watching. 

how to drive a bus while drinking water, smoking, taking phone call  - texting, listening to there mp3 player eating a pastizzi.. just for starters the there is the advanced course in abusive language, and stopping in the middle of the road to talk to drivers on the opposite carriageway.... FFs lol

lmao X4 I was on yesterday turned wrong way between airport and marsa and went to Valetta via triq aldo moro. I asked him if he was going to marsa park and ride he said yes on way back from Valetta lol  quite an adventure and at hal far he kept moving bus a bit to get the people to jump on. I do like the way they drive though I think its better than all the PC rubbish in UK.

redders_61 wrote:

I do like the way they drive though I think its better than all the PC rubbish in UK.

That just does not make any sense to me at all. How can one drive in a 'politically correct' manner?
And, if anyone thinks driving is bad here now, should have experienced it some 37 - 10 years ago!!

theyre simply not passenger safety  focused

redders_61 wrote:

I do like the way they drive though I think its better than all the PC rubbish in UK.

Your attitude will change when you start having near death experiences. Your attitude will change when you start worrying that you've boarded the bus and you don't have a spare pair of underpants with you. The novelty will soon wear off.

I normally go on a bus to get to somewhere, if I wanted some excitement and a cheap thrill, I would go to a theme park. The general population would probably agree with me.

If the statistics haven't changed, there are more than 4 bus accidents a day in this country. I bet you there aren't that many in the whole of the UK every day.

Toon wrote:

theyre simply not passenger safety  focused

Imagine if it was a pilot doing that, eating a sausage roll, smoking a fag, playing on his iPhone as he was preparing to land his 737. Would that be a classified a fun experience too?

spandy61 wrote:

Thanks.

Thankfully no family just me and the wife, i also know that arriva made a rights pigs ear of running the buses and were ripping the drivers off in various ways, hopefully things may have improved under the new owners Autobus de leon, a spanish company owned by National express in England.  will have to find out, but thanks for your reply.

Actually given the circumstances Arriva made a pretty good job of starting a bus service from  scratch.
Considering the obstacles put in their way, forced to take on the old drivers who then drove off and dumped the busses on the first day and routes planned by a government that ensured that as many of their supporters had  a bus that went passed their houses as possible (complicated and meandering routes).

They were also given inaccurate figures regarding passenger numbers (that's when they found out that under the old system drivers had been under reporting the number of passengers carried to avoid paying tax)!.
This resulted in busses being full within a couple of stops of the departure point.

Bendy busses were blamed for a lot of the problems but they moved a lot of passengers and were only let down by poor maintenance and the governments failure to enforce parking laws.

Its still jury out on whether the new company will do any better.

Terry

Great post tearnet, I do feel really sorry for Arriva. They will no doubt look back on their time in Malta as a bad mistake. I don't think any of their management could have foreseen what they were going to be up against. They did as good a job as was possible with so many people and things against them. A lot of people and organisations seemed to want them to fail. It's no surprise they bit the bullet and pulled out.

There was a Scottish company who were looking at the new contract for a while, but they weren't getting any straight answers from anybody in power and sensibly walked away after doing their research. Good luck to the new Spanish guys, they will probably need it. They do seem to be coming up with some good ideas and improvements so far though.

On An Island wrote:

Great post tearnet, I do feel really sorry for Arriva. They will no doubt look back on their time in Malta as a bad mistake. I don't think any of their management could have foreseen what they were going to be up against. They did as good a job as was possible with so many people and things against them. A lot of people and organisations seemed to want them to fail. It's no surprise they bit the bullet and pulled out.

There was a Scottish company who were looking at the new contract for a while, but they weren't getting any straight answers from anybody in power and sensibly walked away after doing their research. Good luck to the new Spanish guys, they will probably need it. They do seem to be coming up with some good ideas and improvements so far though.

Only time will tell but it will require very strict parking enforcement, no government interference and not letting drivers sell tickets!
Tickets should be available in booklet form or oyster card  from  everywhere (shops /hotels/ postoffice etc) but not on the bus!
Buses my then start to run to the time table, its not rocket science and most major towns and cities in Europe do it day in day out.

Terry

Bendy buses... OMG they were allowed to have 94 people standing......and at breakneck speeds on maltas narrow roads and hills

Good luck to the Spanish company I hope they "fare" better

I can only speak of when we were on Malta in February as we used the buses quite a bit, can't speak of Gozo as we had a car there.
I saw numerous times bus drivers stopping and loading far too many passengers and then saying "I shouldn't do this but you were waiting"
NOT good if you have been called to an overloaded bus thats had an accident - I have and its not pleasant and certainly NOT a joke.
I realise there is a lot of pressure on the drivers and probably they do that to stop getting complaints from passengers that don't get picked up and more than likely the company like this but of course won't admit it.
I can imagine also that if a driver goes to court after having an accident causing fatalities that the company won't stand by them as they post a restriction on the bus.

My guess is there won't be much comparison between being a bus driver in the UK and being a bus driver in Malta as rules would go out of the window - unless you break them!!

tearnet wrote:

On An Island wrote:

Great post tearnet, I do feel really sorry for Arriva. They will no doubt look back on their time in Malta as a bad mistake. I don't think any of their management could have foreseen what they were going to be up against. They did as good a job as was possible with so many people and things against them. A lot of people and organisations seemed to want them to fail. It's no surprise they bit the bullet and pulled out.

There was a Scottish company who were looking at the new contract for a while, but they weren't getting any straight answers from anybody in power and sensibly walked away after doing their research. Good luck to the new Spanish guys, they will probably need it. They do seem to be coming up with some good ideas and improvements so far though.

Only time will tell but it will require very strict parking enforcement, no government interference and not letting drivers sell tickets!
Tickets should be available in booklet form or oyster card  from  everywhere (shops /hotels/ postoffice etc) but not on the bus!
Buses my then start to run to the time table, its not rocket science and most major towns and cities in Europe do it day in day out.

Terry

This is what they are intending to implement you buy your tickets before you board or you pay more

tearnet wrote:

Only time will tell but it will require very strict parking enforcement, no government interference and not letting drivers sell tickets!
Tickets should be available in booklet form or oyster card  from  everywhere (shops /hotels/ postoffice etc) but not on the bus!
Buses my then start to run to the time table, its not rocket science and most major towns and cities in Europe do it day in day out.

Terry

That's Europe though, this is Malta. It's clinging on to Europe by its fingernails at times.

Completely agree though, Oyster Cards or something similar would make everything 10 times quicker. Some buses sit for ages when they stop and 10 people need to get on and buy tickets. It's even worse for the rest of the drivers when it happens in the middle of the road because there isn't a real bus stop. Cue some arsehole trying to overtake the parked bus on a blind piece of road.

On An Island wrote:

tearnet wrote:

Only time will tell but it will require very strict parking enforcement, no government interference and not letting drivers sell tickets!
Tickets should be available in booklet form or oyster card  from  everywhere (shops /hotels/ postoffice etc) but not on the bus!
Buses my then start to run to the time table, its not rocket science and most major towns and cities in Europe do it day in day out.

Terry

That's Europe though, this is Malta. It's clinging on to Europe by its fingernails at times.

Completely agree though, Oyster Cards or something similar would make everything 10 times quicker. Some buses sit for ages when they stop and 10 people need to get on and buy tickets. It's even worse for the rest of the drivers when it happens in the middle of the road because there isn't a real bus stop. Cue some arsehole trying to overtake the parked bus on a blind piece of road.

i have a smart card for the bus i can top-up from any machine  - its really easy to use and i just tap on when i get on the bus .
i got it from valletta take your address and e-residence card plus  photo and they produce it there and then you can get 30 day or 90 day tickets currently on it or you can just buy 1.50 day tickets 11 day tickets 30 day from the machine

robpw2 wrote:

On An Island wrote:

tearnet wrote:

Only time will tell but it will require very strict parking enforcement, no government interference and not letting drivers sell tickets!
Tickets should be available in booklet form or oyster card  from  everywhere (shops /hotels/ postoffice etc) but not on the bus!
Buses my then start to run to the time table, its not rocket science and most major towns and cities in Europe do it day in day out.

Terry

That's Europe though, this is Malta. It's clinging on to Europe by its fingernails at times.

Completely agree though, Oyster Cards or something similar would make everything 10 times quicker. Some buses sit for ages when they stop and 10 people need to get on and buy tickets. It's even worse for the rest of the drivers when it happens in the middle of the road because there isn't a real bus stop. Cue some arsehole trying to overtake the parked bus on a blind piece of road.

i have a smart card for the bus i can top-up from any machine  - its really easy to use and i just tap on when i get on the bus .
i got it from valletta take your address and e-residence card plus  photo and they produce it there and then you can get 30 day or 90 day tickets currently on it or you can just buy 1.50 day tickets 11 day tickets 30 day from the machine

Not practical for tourists who on some routes make up the bulk of passengers.
A ten trip book of daily tickets or a scratch cards system is required for tourists / casual users.

Terry

The Scottish company, McGills, that conducted a feasibility study heavily criticised the infrastructure (or more correctly, the lack of it) and stated that unless the Government invested and that was improved they would not continue. There was also a lack of information made available to them. They were and are right. It is not the companies per se which are at fault, it is the lack of adequate facilities , procedures, training and excessive Government interference over the years.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/business/ … s.23500643

I also believe that the Government here also changed some of the requirements for the bid after it was awarded to the current company.

It will end in tears.