It was all change on the My
bus yellow bus to Cockburn High and Fountain Primary
in Leeds recently as regular driver Ann Bell gave up her place at
the wheel to Metro Education Team member and former bus driver
Billy Haw.
But there was no chance of Billy getting lost. Cockburn High is
his old school.
Ann rode the route with Billy and spent the following week at
his desk at Metro's behind-the-scenes Education Call Centre,
finding out just what the Metro Education Team does to ensure that
over 20,000 West Yorkshire pupils get to and from school every
day.
After their job swap, Billy and Ann will be feeding back what
they have learned, as part of Metro's ongoing drive to ensure the
county's school transport is as good as it can be.
"I'm really enjoying getting back behind the wheel and seeing
what the demands are on My bus drivers,"
said Billy "The My bus service is
drastically different to the service I used to drive on 10 years
ago and it has been interesting to see the impact the scheme has
had."
I'll really miss all the children, while I'm at Metro as they're
all real characters," said Ann. "But it will be interesting to see
what goes on behind the scenes and how the call centre works."
Metro's Education Team Manager, Alison Pilling said "Although
this may seem like a bit of fun for Billy and Ann to swap jobs, it
is a serious part of our commitment to improving school bus
services, by encouraging better understanding of people's roles and
how they fit in to the system.
"It is an opportunity for one of the drivers to experience the
demands on the office team and for one of the office staff to see
what a driver has to deal with over the course of a week.
Billy and Ann will be recounting their experiences at the next
My bus conference for everyone involved
in the scheme.