News, Bus driver made Nelson earned $159,258 in 2009, including $109,892 in overtime and other pay. (employee, highest)

[JD59]

Madison Wisconsin highest paid city government employee last year wasn't the mayor. It wasn't the police chief. It wasn't even the head of Metro Transit.

It was bus driver John E. Nelson.


Madison Metro driver highest paid city employee

[Irishtom29]

Good for him. He worked hard and made good dough; that's the American way.

[mcb1025]

I drove a bus for 2 years. Sounds like I need to switch back into that field.

[MKE-Ed]

I know some bus drivers that drive for the Milwaukee County Transit System that make $70,000-$85,000 per year with overtime. Overtime is given out to the most senior drivers and its only a small number of drivers that can make that kind of money. I have been told that they are expected to lose a lot of their drivers within the next 3-5 years due to retirements. Not a bad job, but it has it's share of risk. Drivers have to bid on the routes that they want to drive and this is done according to one's seniority in the system. It's all governed by the local bus drivers union.

[7G9C4J2]

The downside of that statistic is the question of the safety of the passengers on his bus.

That fellow has been averaging 80-hour weeks all year long to earn that kind of income, and I have to wonder at what point it's all going to catch up with him. The NTSA limits long-haul bus drivers to no more than 70 hours of work in a single week, and I can't imagine that driving in this city is any easier driving on the highway. I sure hope I don't happen to be on his bus when the exhaustion catches up to him.

I don't have a problem with people earning big bucks for hard work, but when you think about it, this guy basically had two people's jobs for the past year, his own and someone else's. There's someone out there pounding the pavements looking for work because the city would rather let the guys they've got work 80-hour weeks than hire someone to work the other 40 hours. That made sense when Madison's unemployment rate was hovering around 2%, which was the case prior to the recession, but at this point, it's just plain dumb.

[annerk]

In many areas the transit agencies can't hire enough drivers. The applicants either don't qualify for a CDL-B due to previous driving/criminal records, or wash out of driving school. Driving a transit bus isn't an easy job--the risk of personal injury from passengers is relatively high. I have a friend who drives for one of the largest transit agencies in north America. He has been spit on, cussed at, and physically attacked by a deranged man who attacked him for no reason--causing injuries that required surgery. If other passengers hadn't come to assist, he would likely have been killed.

[annerk]

By the way, sometimes it is more cost effective to pay overtime than to hire another worker. There are no additional benefits that have to be paid, and if the overtime isn't expected to continue long term, it's definitely the smarter way to operate.