Love people-watching and need work? Transit Windsor is on a hiring spree

As Transit Windsor goes on a hiring spree, one veteran bus driver has advice for interested applicants.

"If you don't like to drive and if you don't like people, this is the worst job on the face of the planet,"he said. "But if you're good with people and you love to drive, this is an awesome job," said Craig Morrison, a Transit Windsor bus driver of 15 years.

Transit Windsoris in the midst of hiring more than two dozen bus drivers. Itreturned to full service on Sunday, Sept.5,after operating on enhanced Saturday services for nearly a year.

The city-wide bus servicealso introducedRoute 518X anda limited-stop express route from Tecumseh Mall to St. Clair College via Devonshire Mall.

To meet the needof its restored and expanded services, Transit Windsor said itis looking to hire 25 to 30 more drivers by the end of November. The wages range between $23 to $31 an hour and applicants needa "G" license and strong social skills.

The best partsof the jobare being able to people watch, socializeand drivearound the city, saidMorrison, who isalso known as "The Skipper" to his colleagues.

"I would go crazy being trapped in an office all day," he said.

"This is the greatest job on a good day," says a veteran bus driver.

3 years ago

Duration 2:17

A Transit Windsor bus driver explains the the ins and outs of his career as a bus driver.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, he said the jobcan become "very stressful" when the bus gets overcrowded, adding time tothe routes. It can also be hard to witness poverty and homelessness downtown.

"You see the homeless, you see the people on assistance. You'd like to reach out and help them all but you can't," he said.

"You see it day in and day out and it seems like there's more and more everyday in Windsor."

Jannette Greenfield, an operations supervisor with Transit Windsor, spent six years behind the wheel. She now helps train the new recruits.

"You can look at the 40-foot bus and think, there's no way I'm able to drive that big unit, but once you get behind the seat and we train you properly to set up your mirrors, you'll be just as comfortable on that 40-foot bus as you would be in your car," she said.

The training, as Greenfield explained on CBC Radio's Windsor Morning on Friday, starts in the classroom. Then the trainees get in the driver's seat.

"We start you out in a parking lot so that you're comfortable with the accelerator and the use of the brakes," she said.

"And then we start making simple turns in the parking lot, and when we see that you're comfortable enough to manoeuvre the bus in a parking lot making turns left and right then we venture out onto our smaller routes."

Drivers also get training on how to communicate with the public.

Pandemic drivingwas 'a breeze'

During the pandemic, Transit Windsor reduced its hours and services. In February of this year, ridership was down by 85 per cent compared to the previous year, pre-pandemic.

According to Morrison, the low numbers and reduced services made his job feel like "a breeze."

"The last year and a half has actually been the easiest driving I've done since I've been here," he said.

Morrison has one request for passengers, and that is to remember that bus drivers are people too.

"We're people. Be nice to us," he said.