Veteran drivers are
I’ll carry on working as long as I’m happy to come to work and my health stays good.’ TOM DRUSKOVICH
VETERAN coach driver David McGregor says there is no shortage of work for ‘‘geriatric’’ drivers who want it.
‘‘If they’ve retired or decided to go casual, the phone never stops ringing.’’
The 71-year-old knows of at least a dozen coach drivers in his age bracket and statistics show they are part of a growing trend.
According to the New Zealand Transport Agency, drivers aged 60-plus now make up 40 per cent of the 10,676 licensed to drive vehicles carrying 12 or more passengers. And the 1313 ‘‘large P’’ licence holders aged 70 and over are more than triple the number in 2005. 459 are even aged 75-plus.
NZTA makes the point that not all those with large P endorsements are actually employed. But the Bus and Coach Association (BCA) has noted a significant rise in drivers working well past retirement age as the sector struggles to recruit staff.
Chief executive Barry Kidd is looking at launching a campaign to attract a younger generation of drivers.
He says the number of large P licence holders has dropped over the past decade, while tourism boomed, with more than 1000 new buses and coaches registered since the beginning of 2016.
The dearth of experienced drivers in the tourism sector is a problem because not everyone has the skills to keep a 20 tonne bus load of passengers happy and on schedule for up to three weeks.
Urban bus services are recruiting hundreds of drivers to fulfil contracts, and the cruise market is also sucking up drivers for transfers and day excursions, Kidd says.
‘‘When cruise ships are in town and you want to hire a bus for anything at the same time, most parts of New Zealand you’d struggle to get one. ‘‘
Strathmore Coaches owner Susan Sheppard is so desperate for drivers, she has turned away work from schools.
‘‘Drivers are getting older, and because of that we’re losing them, and there are no young ones coming on simply because the pay is not worth it. I pay $20 an hour,