After more than three decades behind the wheel, May’s driver of the month still loves the bus driving life
Driving kids to and from school every day for more than 30 years is enough to make any man lose his sense of humour.
But after 31 years – roughly 93 bus-driver-years – driving for Logan Coaches, May’s driver of the month, Trevor Strickland, not only has his sense of humour, he still loves what he does.
If you ask Trevor what his secret is, the 67 year old will tell you simply: “Just don’t work too hard”.
That sounds easy enough, but after talking to Trevor for a while you get the impression maybe it’s not quite that simple.
Because driving a bus doesn’t seem to be just ‘work’ for Trevor.
For Trevor, it’s much more.
“It’s just a job for a lot of the blokes here,” he says.
“But for me it’s been my life. So I take a different view.”
Trevor says in more than three decades he has only ever had to ban two school boys from the bus.
“Kids are pretty good,” he says.
“The kids I used to take to school years ago now have kids of their own catching the bus.
“So they just grab them before they get on and say: ‘behave yourself for Trevor’.”
Trevor is the longest serving driver at Logan Coaches, despite being only the sixth oldest out of more than 80 drivers at the company.
During his time with the bus line, he has outlasted three bosses and has seen the fleet grow from just three buses to more than 80 buses, a good deal of which he personally ran-in.
Trevor started work on a casual basis at Logan Coaches in 1981 after moving from Sydney where he had driven buses for Dick Rowe for 8 years.
He became a permanent employee a year later.
“I moved up here with my missus and kids and just poked my head into Logan Coaches one day and the old boss ended up putting me on,” he says.
“He was a good boss, the old fella. He used to threaten to sack me all the time. But he would have had to find out what I did first to replace me.”
Trevor remained permanent at the company up until recently, when he decided it was time to take it easy and drive on a more casual basis.
“I’m 67 now, so I thought I’d put my feet up for a bit and just work here part time now,” he says.
“I might just keep doing 15 hours a week, just to keep myself going. It’s been a fun ride.”
Logan Coaches Assistant Manager Greg Hand says Trevor might be getting older, but he is still an asset to the company.
“He is getting on a bit now and that’s why we look after him,” Hand says.
“From what I can see some of the older drivers are much better than the younger ones.
“They are quite willing to take their time, whereas the others are always pushing for time.
“Trevor’s in no hurry, he’s got plenty of time.”
Logan Coaches General Manager Peter Bowerman agrees.
“The old fellers are the reliable ones,” he says.
PHOTO: Trevor Strickland is pictured here taking a drive down memory lane in Bus 54, which he ran-in 21 years ago