ALL ABOUT THE LOVE
Bus drivers needed
You don’t need to be a bus driver to become a bus driver in Windsor, you just need to really love people and love Windsor.
“We can take a person off the street who has excellent interpersonal skills,” said Transit Windsor executive director Pat Delmore.
Windsor’s public transportation provider is in the market for up to 16 new bus drivers. And don’t worry about bus driving experience, Transit Windsor is licensed by the province to train and certify its own chauffeurs.
“We can license our drivers,” said Delmore.
You get your own uniform and the hourly pay starts at $21.79, reaching $29.05 per hour with experience and seniority.
The job involves eight-hour shifts of ferrying passengers around the city while operating a big vehicle with limited supervision.
“It’s a great job for the right person, someone who enjoys people — people interaction is key,” said Delmore, who began his own Transit Windsor career 30 years ago this week.
Delmore said there is “a lot of very positive interaction” with passengers but that those being sought for hire also “need to be able to react to negative situations and be able to turn them around.”
With buses seating up to 40 passengers with standing room for up to another 15, and people coming and going with each stop, “you’re interacting with many, many people during an eight-hour shift,” he said.
Transit Windsor has 185 fulltime drivers — members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 616 — and a fleet of 112 buses. During afternoon peak periods, about 85 buses are rolling on the streets at the same time.
So-called “temporary operators” — like those currently being sought — are hired annually to fill in for vacations and other times when the full-time employees aren’t available. Delmore said the new operators, after a monthlong training period, are hired as full-time drivers on eight-month contracts, and also form a pool to replace retirees.
The four weeks of training include route recognition, learning the rules of the road and “learning to drive a 40-foot vehicle,” said Delmore.
Applicants, who have until Tuesday at noon to apply, must possess a Class G driver’s licence, be a minimum of 21 years old and have a Canadian passport. Driver abstracts will be verified and a police clearance is required, and those who survive the initial cut will be interviewed and tested, including undergoing psychometric testing.
Check out the City of Windsor’s website for more details on how to become a Transit Windsor bus driver or to find out about other current employment opportunities.