Can I get a supersize quarter pounder meal?

Only kingsleys there LMT. Mrs Mælinar witnessed the event.

Is this really one of the new routes Action was proposing?

I hear it’s about the only way you can get into that doctor’s surgery without an appointment

One of those new drivers?!

Skills shortage strikes again.

never seen a ram raid with a bus before, not very subtle.

And not a scratch on her!

After seeing these photos I guess its not surprising that ACTION is short of drivers…

While the price of petrol might force more Canberrans on to buses there are very few drivers to run extra routes, so there will be some squashy peak hour trips in future.

Maybe the driver was delivering patrons to the shopping centre door?

How in the hell did the driver manage that??

@Cameron – The driver wasn’t in the bus when it hit the building.

Ah so he’d left the handbrake off?

That’s what happened to me on Tuesday.

It’s a union stunt to highlight the desperate plight of bus drivers against the rising cost of living – resorting to desperate ram raids!

More exciting than a strike anyway.

Hahahah Kippax Fair, take that! What the hell is a fair anyway? I mean in relation to a shopping centre I would hardly call it a fair. Where are the rides!!!!!!

They have a tiny littler merry go round in the centre !?! Will that classify it as a fair. ? I think it cost $2 to ride.

I knew we’d find a use for an ACTION bus one day..

They seem to be better at crashing these buses than driving them lately, I’ve heard about up towards 10 accidents involving buses on the radio and other media in the past few months.

(looks around furtively) the driver was a cop, moonlighting for extra money, and he thought there were doughnuts in there (runs away).

Haha pwned. Nice shots.

Was it mechanical error…

Walked past that busstop and the breeze gave a faint smell of burnt wiring. That was before the accident, at around 3.20 thursday arvo.

I hope that nobody was hurt … is this an approved ‘express’ route?

[rolls eyes disparingly] knowing ACTION driving is “main job” status. And has anyone bothered to check out (application forms)just to see what they have to go thru to get a part time job?! Kind of explains why they are so short (not the driver themselves). Saw a bit in CT saying the info sessions for recruitment normally get 200 people; last one got 21. So, they are really only short of drivers to do the shifts that the fulltimers don’t want. Composite wage too. One pay for any day, or shift. ACT prison officers have that too; union trying to dump it. Do ACTION buses have ‘hand’ brakes?

The ads for drivers I saw said you had to have a truck-type licence. That screens out many potential applicants right there. In the current labour market, you’d really think they’d understand that, to get good people, yes ACTION you will have to actually train them.

I’m disappointed he didn’t try to jump a couple of cars first…

I can’t believe that I have missed the annual Kippax Fair extravaganza exciting event for the 2nd year in a row (I have only been in Canberra 12 months). The event last year was a wash-out I gather, the flooding of the shops in November.

I had to work late on Thursday and missed out on all the latest excitement. So I guess I have to wair until 2009 now for something interesting to happen out this way.

ant said :

The ads for drivers I saw said you had to have a truck-type licence. That screens out many potential applicants right there. In the current labour market, you’d really think they’d understand that, to get good people, yes ACTION you will have to actually train them.

I believe ACTION will train you (and pay for said training) if you are going for a full-time bus driver job but you need to DIY if going for part-time work.
I know an ex-work collegue left and went driving buses for a while, reckons it was good money with all the penalty rates (shift allowance, meal allowance etc). The downside that I see to it is that your hours aren’t standard. This week you might be doing 7-4 and the next you might be doing 12 midday-8 and the following week something different again.

Yeah, I knew a guy who applied for a bus driving job with ACTION 3 years ago. (He had been a van driver in Sydney)

6 months after he put in his application they contacted him. Then over the next 18months he had an interview, driving test and a physical (with approved GP). Then they told him he could start on a (low) trainee wage with a guaranteed 20 hours a week (?) for a year.

In the 2 years from when he put in his ACTION application to when they finally offered some trainee work he had found a high paying job elsewhere. Not a shock that ACTION is having trouble recruiting. You make more money driving politicans in Comcars and the hours are only bad during sitting weeks. Apparently Aust Post is having similar trouble to ACTION recruiting postie bike riders.

Lol… Oh so that’s what happened… I thought that pathology place was getting a refurb…

I’m constantly astonished by the ineptitude of people doing recruiting in this town. they have NO idea. They somehow think that you can shove people into boxes and stick them on the shelf, and when you finally require them, they’ll be patiently sitting there, waiting for your call. NOT!

ant said :

(looks around furtively) the driver was a cop, moonlighting for extra money, and he thought there were doughnuts in there (runs away).

As the crow flies, he only missed the donuts by 10 metres. At least by the direct route he was taking, 20 metres if you have to walk around the obstacles.