Coast Mountain Bus Company Employee Reviews

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3.8Work-Life Balance

4.4Pay & Benefits

4.1Job Security & Advancement

3.3Management

3.7Culture

Found 42 reviews matching the search See all 43 reviews

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2.0

Not as good as advertised. Boring, repetitive and no life

Conventional Operator (Former Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 20 December 2018

I don't understand some of the 4 or 5 star reviews. They must either be written by management or some employees who've never had any other good job.

Pros:
Pay is decent after 2 years, but take home is only average because of a lot of deductions. You’ll make money if you do lots of overtime, which means you’ll basically be driving all day. (Can’t do OT on your days off, only same day)

Cons:
Everything else.
-Terrible shifts, terrible work/life balance. You'll have no life during your work days. Majority of the work is Split shifts, which means your day will atleast be 12 hours. If you live close by, you can go home, if you live far away, well then you can sit at the depot and kill time there without getting paid.

-No official breaks other than your split (which you don’t get paid for). You might have some recovery time after finishing a trip, but if you're already running late (which you always will be) then you're outta luck. You MIGHT have enough time just to go pi-pi.

-Not enough running time which means you’ll be always late. Run times are constantly being cut down. (They say safety is their no.1 priority but how can you be safe when you're constantly under duress and there are no breaks?)

-If anything goes wrong, management will always try to find some way to blame you and tell you what you could’ve/should’ve done and discipline you. (You're expected to keep notes from each shift and if something comes back after months, i.e a complaint, you're expected to remember it all and you cannot claim you don't remember).

-Benefits are average at best. Most more... of the stuff is not covered a 100%.

-Only get 6 sick days a year, which are not enough considering you basically work in a germ factory. Sick days are not covered 100% unless you take all 6 at once.

-Have to call in twice (once to operations, then your supervisor) if you’re sick. Getting paid for sick days is even harder as you have to get forms from your supervisor, which you need to fill out and send to Great West Life. It takes almost a month to get paid for sick time. Extremely outdated system, like mostly everything with this company.

-Operator is basically responsible for EVERYTHING. You'll get called in for just about every complaint, even if it's something unreasonable. You'll have to explain yourself to your supervisor who'll act like a judge.

-Union is weak. A lot of the union reps are clueless, most of them are in management's back pocket.

-This might've been a good job 15-20 years ago and it seems its carried that reputation amongst the public. However, thats no longer the case as operators have less and less rights and benefits.

-There's a reason they're having trouble finding people. A lot of people realize how bad it is during training or soon thereafter once you're on your own. A lot of people quit, and a lot get fired during probation over the slightest mistakes.

-If having a life doesn’t matter to you and If a paycheque is all you care about and you're really desperate, then go ahead do it. Consider yourself warned. less

Pros

Decent pay but takes 2 years to reach top rate

Cons

Just about everything else.

Was this review helpful?Yes 8 No 1Report

5.0

Great environment

Occupational Health and Safety Officer (Current Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 17 July 2018

Good place to work, lots of autonomy, great people, management are great, a hard working culture. I had lots of opportunity to move around within the organization.

Pros

wonderful people

Cons

long hours

Was this review helpful?Yes 4 No 2Report

5.0

Best place

Acting Security Operation Coordinator (Current Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 31 May 2018

This company is great. Best benefits, pay is good very good opportunity to move up in the company. Many different positions to work and good employees.

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3.0

Stressful, weird hours, safe secure job, with good benefits

Public Transit Operator (Former Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 23 May 2018

Lots of split shifts and/or late nights. Management and drivers antagonistic. Decent pay and good benefits though. If having a good job is more important to you than having free time, or the energy to do anything, you'll probably like it better than I did.

Was this review helpful?Yes 17 No 2Report

1.0

terrible management. lousy working conditions

Transit Operator (Former Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 17 April 2018

Terrible company to work for. Management seems to exist only to harass workers. General Public has little to no respect for the system, or employees of the system, resulting in plenty of abuse.

Was this review helpful?Yes 27 No 5Report

4.0

Very enjoyable ,especially working with regular passengers

Bus Driver, Richmond Depot (Former Employee) – Richmond, BC – 24 March 2018

Great coworkers, great passengers,wide variety of driving conditions, good vacation time. Pay rate was good. Benefits were not 100% covered(ie prescriptions, dental, etc.) Union is weak.

Pros

Ride transit for free

Cons

Supervisor had no experience driving bus, so no awareness of job stressors

Was this review helpful?Yes 6 No 11Report

5.0

Flexible

City Transit Operator (Former Employee) – Lower Mainland, BC – 27 February 2018

The movement of the public on a wide variety of transit routes throughout the lower mainland in highly populated and heavy traffic areas.Dealing directly with the public in a professional manner and providing customer service throughout the day

Pros

Flexibility

Cons

Split Shifts

Was this review helpful?Yes 6 No 8Report

5.0

Good company to work for!

Confidential Assistant to the Director (Former Employee) – Burnaby, BC – 21 February 2018

Difficult to obtain a full time position as a lot of admin are on contract and not full time.

The work was great and the people that I worked with in my division were excellent and very supportive.

Was this review helpful?Yes 4 No 8Report

2.0

Transit Operator not as fun as it used to be

Transit Operator (Current Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 11 February 2018

It is a very difficult and stressful job. In an effort to increase service the job of Transit Operator has become increasingly difficult. Running time, the time it takes to complete a trip has been cut and Recovery time, the time between trips has been slashed leaving very little time to eat or go to the washroom between trips. This leads to service running late and passengers getting grumpy, angry or worse.

If you are considering this job be aware that you must be prepared to be verbally or physically assaulted by passengers. I am verbally assaulted on a weekly basis and in my 10+ year career I had a passenger spit in my face. The company has shown signs of becoming more proactive in protecting bus drivers but it is very slow in coming. More security is needed and barriers to protect drivers.

After all that if you are still interested I must say that the Transit Operators I work with are some of the finest people I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. We all share a bond and consider ourselves brothers and sisters regardless of race or religion. It is a very challenging and stressful job, but a few minutes with another driver between trips can be an absolute joy.

We also have the opportunity to help people, in my career I have found several runaway children, lost seniors and one robbery suspect. If you like a challenge, diversity in your day, and the thrill of not knowing whats coming next, then this is your job. You also must like driving.

The salary is very good, training is paid, benefits are excellent. Starting vacation time can be five weeks more... if you choose to bank your stat holidays, which is very nice. Be Aware - if you want to start with full time work DO NOT apply for Community Shuttle. Apply for Conventional (aka Big Buses). Conventional bus drivers are paid better and have more benefits (travel time, Sunday shift premium) than Shuttle drivers and receive full time hours right away. Shuttle drivers start on-call or part time. less

Pros

Salary, Vacation Time, flexible shift work, amazing bus driver co-workers

Cons

Stress and more stress, traffic, grumpy passengers, no breaks unless you have a split shift

Was this review helpful?Yes 28 No 4Report

4.0

Challenging work atmosphere.

Heavy Duty Mechanic (Current Employee) – Surrey, BC – 3 January 2018

Challenging work atmosphere. Training on new equipment always provided. Good health and retirement plan. Exercise facilities available. Transit travel passes for employees.

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2.0

Used to be good

Transit Operator (bus driver) (Current Employee) – Surrey, BC – 19 December 2017

Over the last few years routes have been "streamlined" What this means is that you have to drive hard and fast to make it to your next terminal on time. Coffee breaks or lunch are a thing of the past. If you leave a minute early you will be called on it. Road supervisors will harass u over the smallest items. Middle management have no idea what it is like to drive a bus. They don't give a hoot about you, your life or your health. You are accountable for anything that happens in your bus and they will always try to find fault with the operator. You will be dealing with a lot of mentally ill people, being spit on or assualted will happen to you. Until you get a few years seniority you will get the worst hours, the worst routes, long split shifts. Forget about Sat or Sunday off for 10 or so years.

Pros

Routes, day's off and hours are all way's changing.

Cons

management, rude people

Was this review helpful?Yes 38 No 7Report

5.0

Great employer

Transit Operator (Current Employee) – New Westminster, BC – 19 December 2017

CMBC is a great place to work. The supervisors care about the employees, and do what they can to make sure that any issues are satisfactorily resolved

Was this review helpful?Yes 1 No 22Report

5.0

Fast-paced busy work environment

Confidential Assistant (Current Employee) – Surrey, BC – 7 November 2017

CMBC is a diverse and complicated business with many moving pieces. Everyday has a challenge and that's what I love! There are so many opportunities within the enterprise - unionized or exempt.

Pros

Benefits

Was this review helpful?Yes 3 No 12Report

5.0

Top rated company to work for

Operations Supervisor (Former Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 11 September 2017

I had Excellent job security, advancement, benefits. assistance with education, meeting people, teamwork. Did not like split shifts. Supervised drivers

Pros

Job security

Cons

Working in a union is not for everyone

Was this review helpful?Yes 4 No 20Report

3.0

not easy for newcomers and pay less.

Transit Operator (Current Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 15 June 2017

Newcomers get stuck what's left in the schedule, split shifts, no designated lunch breaks, running time pressure if you get late because of traffic it consumes your break time.

Pros

union job

Was this review helpful?Yes 20 No 3Report

3.0

Options and a need for patience

Transit Operator (Current Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 4 June 2017

Good job! Can be very difficult dealing with all sorts of situations that can cause passengers grief: problems with schedules, mechanical break downs, late or missing buses. Overall as a driver I have always tried to create a pleasant experience for my passengers. I try to give them a positive part to their day. As your seniority builds your choices and experience as a driver should improve.

Pros

Schedule and location choices

Cons

Slow to improve bus service/schedules for passengers

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5.0

excellent work place

Temp Clerk - Materials Control Department (Former Employee) – Burnaby, BC – 1 June 2017

allows you to grow and be part of the team... you just need to be a member of the union so that you can join and apply within..
excellent work environment

Was this review helpful?Yes 5 No 14Report

5.0

positive

1st Year Apprentice (Current Employee) – Vancouver, BC – 1 June 2017

no better place to do an commercial transport apprenticeship, pay is good, benefits are ok, people are great, and a 4 day work week is hard to beat. really happy to be working ther

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4.0

good secure career

Transit operator / city bus operator (Former Employee) – Lower Mainland, BC – 27 February 2017

good job, good benefits, flexible work schedule.
good union. lots of holiday weeks.
room for advancement and training

Was this review helpful?Yes 11 No 24Report

3.0

Public Transit operation, shift work. Stressful daily environment.

Transit Operator (Former Employee) – Port Coquitlam, BC – 17 November 2016

Public transit in the Lower Mainland with its many facets ie. Bus, Skytrain, Seabus, West Coast Express is always a focus of intense public scrutiny and everyone has an opinion which is more often than not negative.
As a front line worker dealing with the public in all its variance and differences can be at times streeful and difficult.

Pros

Good hours compensation and benefits

Cons

Ever changing management and public transportation policy

Was this review helpful?Yes 6 No 1Report

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