From experience, there is nothing preventing you from leaving, except that anything you do has to be close enough to the bus lot and meticulously scheduled to allow for you to drive from the bus lot to where you need to be and back while also allowing any prep time, especially if you need to pretrip your bus.
In other words, in theory, you can do whatever you want. In practice, you’re straight up tethered to that lot. I worked out my actual pay last year. I made $22/hrs working for a major national transportation service. My average paid time was about 6.5 hours. My layover time was two separate segments. I had 2.5 hours of driving in the AM, about 1.5 in the late AM, and another 2.5 in the PM. These were separate by 2 hours, and then 2.5 hours. So, the reality of this schedule meant that I couldn’t do much of anything on my downtime. I was obligated to 11 hours, only 6.5 of which I was paid. So, the reality was that I was making $13/hr. That math convinced me not to return this year. That, and my shit benefits caused me to get a $1,400 lab bill for work that was only $45 on my previous insurance. They screw you. They screw you coming, they screw you going, and anything that goes wrong is always your fault, while they’re quick to take credit when things go well.
Unless the bus company let me drive somewhere else since I’m not being paid then I’d be filing wage complaints with the state department of labor…
From experience, there is nothing preventing you from leaving, except that anything you do has to be close enough to the bus lot and meticulously scheduled to allow for you to drive from the bus lot to where you need to be and back while also allowing any prep time, especially if you need to pretrip your bus.
In other words, in theory, you can do whatever you want. In practice, you’re straight up tethered to that lot. I worked out my actual pay last year. I made $22/hrs working for a major national transportation service. My average paid time was about 6.5 hours. My layover time was two separate segments. I had 2.5 hours of driving in the AM, about 1.5 in the late AM, and another 2.5 in the PM. These were separate by 2 hours, and then 2.5 hours. So, the reality of this schedule meant that I couldn’t do much of anything on my downtime. I was obligated to 11 hours, only 6.5 of which I was paid. So, the reality was that I was making $13/hr. That math convinced me not to return this year. That, and my shit benefits caused me to get a $1,400 lab bill for work that was only $45 on my previous insurance. They screw you. They screw you coming, they screw you going, and anything that goes wrong is always your fault, while they’re quick to take credit when things go well.
It ain’t worth it.