Geemon Manthra has driven buses through the congested streets of Dubai, so negotiating his way around Richmond and Nelson is an easy day out.
He is one of 30 new bus drivers who have been sourced from around the globe to handle the increased routes and timetables of the eBus service that kicked into action at the beginning of August.
Born in Kerala in southern India, Geemon has spent the past 20 years driving buses in India, Dubai, Quatar and Saudi Arabia, then a stint as a courier driver in Malta.
It was while he was in Malta that he applied for the Nelson bus-driving job, and when he received an email from SBL Group (who operate Nelson Coachlines) to say he had been accepted, he thought it was just another scam and pretty much ignored it.
Even when he followed the process and applied for a visa, he was still doubtful because New Zealand had always been too hard to get jobs in and visas to.
“When I got my visa I could not believe I had a New Zealand visa. I didn’t inform my wife and family because I did not trust it.”
Then he began getting emails from SBL Group’s recruitment project manager, Jo Rainey, describing Nelson and its culture and preparing him for his move to New Zealand.
It had all happened in less than a month and he arrived in Nelson on 12 April to begin training for the new buses on new routes and driving on the other side of the road.
He was the first of the new drivers to arrive in Nelson and soon after he was joined by two colleagues from Dubai who had applied for the jobs without knowing the others were also heading to the deep south. Others have arrived from India, Morocco, South Africa, Pakistan, Philippines and Mexico.
After living a lifetime in crowded cities, Geemon says that everything is on a smaller scale here – even the flight from Auckland to Nelson.
“I had never been in such a small plane and there was a propeller out the window.”
He is more than happy to swap the stressful driving of cities such as Dubai with the streets of Nelson and Richmond, especially as he drove double-decker and articulated buses.
“It was very stressful driving in Dubai. Here there is no driving tension. It is calm, so I have no grumblings and I am enjoying it.”
Geemon’s wife Smitha is still waiting for her visa before she joins him and when they are both living in New Zealand they will be closer to their two adult daughters who are studying in Australia. He says the only challenge so far is finding affordable rental accommodation.
SBL Group’s business development and compliance manager, Jono Cleaver, says the company had nine months to double the number of bus drivers at a time there was a shortage in New Zealand. Just six drivers were sourced from around the country before going global, and that changed everything.
“We were flooded, pretty much. We got hundreds of applicants that we had to filter through and we wanted the personal approach rather than going through immigration or consultants. It was massive.”
It required Zoom interviews at all times of the night to ensure applicants could speak English well enough to converse with bus passengers. Then changing their licensing in New Zealand before they could begin their training on the buses and learn the routes.
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The new bus drivers were initially given accommodation in Fell House at Nelson College and have been in the process of finding more permanent accommodation. The company also gave them vehicles to get around initially and offered them trips around New Zealand while they waited for their licences to be approved.
“They have been so positive and so happy that it has made the process really easy. All in all, it has been quite a success and a great experience for us.”
