This year’s International Women’s Day is a prime opportunity to celebrate the achievements and contributions made by women such as
This year’s International Women’s Day is a prime opportunity to celebrate the achievements and contributions made by women such as Logan bus driver Sue Bishop.
TransLink CEO Peter Strachan says Sue, 60, had been a positive presence in the transport industry for 40 years, working as a courier, taxi and limo driver before landing her dream job behind the wheel of a bus.
“Ms Bishop has worked with TransLink operator Clarks Logan City Bus Service since 1990 and is a shining example of a woman who has forged her own path,” Strachan says.
“Ms Bishop continues to make a significant contribution to her local area of Logan as both a bus driver and a charity worker.
“International Women’s Day, to be celebrated worldwide on Sunday March 8, provides the perfect opportunity to recognise the achievements of women and to focus on working towards equality for women around the world.”
Sue says while an increasing number of women were becoming bus drivers, she would like to see even more women follow her lead and enter the profession.
“A lot more women are becoming bus drivers compared to, say, just over four years ago when TransLink formed, but they are still a minority,” Sue says.
“Like many other industries, female bus drivers are treated with much more respect these days.”
Sue says she has watched generations of people in the Logan area grow up before her very eyes during her 19 years with Clarks Logan City Bus Service.
“I’m in my sixties and have been in Logan for a long time – everywhere I go I seem to run into people I’ve met on the bus,” she says.
“I love the contact with people I have in this job because I love people – I’ve grown up with many of the people who catch the bus and I’ve met some very special people.
“I’ve had three generations of people on my bus – it’s like A Country Practice.”
Sue says she enjoyed her job immensely because it was flexible and provided her with a secure work-life balance.
“I couldn’t imagine working behind an office desk,” she says.
“I undertake a variety of morning and afternoon work shifts and each week is different – it’s a bit like a lucky dip as you may have a shift on the busway one week and then get the bus running on the local roads the next.
“Clarks is a family-owned business that I’ve worked with since its infancy and you feel like part of the family and your work colleagues are like your brothers and sisters.
“You are not just a payroll number and they were there for me when I lost my partner when he died of lung cancer in 2007.”
Sue says she has many good memories of her time as a bus driver and has even been a mentor and role model for passengers at times.
Part of the work life flexibility has allowed Sue to work on her passion, helping people through charity work.
“I’ve also done so much charity and volunteer work over many years and I’m now the fundraising co-ordinator for charity group Radio Lollipop at Logan Hospital, which gives me great personal satisfaction,” she says.
“Radio Lollipop entertains children in hospital through both the Radio Lollipop radio station that plays children’s programming, part-presented by children themselves, and volunteers who spend time with the children.”