One Belgrade bus driver hopes for the return of mandatory military service, because at least the army would train drivers and there would be more.
At the bus interchange, the break time is short, it's barely a break. Someone manages to smoke a cigarette or go to the toilet if there is one, and our driver from Belgrade rests in the cabin.
We would not publish his name because he is afraid of losing this job as well.
And the work, he says, is difficult. Shifts in busy city transport in Belgrade used to be around seven hours, now they are eight and a half with that break. "It's a very stressful job and these shifts are killer for a driver in the city," he says our newsletter Medjuvreme.
People don't pay attention to buses.
Those who drive a bus, tram or trolleybus are granted 12 months of seniority for 14 months of work.
He says he still loves his job, but he lists the hardships - he drives children, pregnant women, immobile people, but other road users seem not to care, they cut off the bus on the road, brake suddenly, drive violently.
"We have to stop at the curb so passengers can get off the bus. But people leave their vehicles in the middle of the station and finish their work, while ignoring the buses," explains the driver.
Turnpikes are sad places, even that supposed break. "On Glumčevo brdo, where there is a turnpike, in Ripnje, in Block 72, there is nothing. No toilet, no water, and no kiosk to buy something to eat."
Then passing the driver's test at your own expense, and then rigorous medical examinations. Whoever does not pass, he can no longer drive and does not know his fate. May work in warehouse or vehicle control.
"Earlier, our people were at the entrance gate as porters, and now that job is done by private security," he adds.
The driver is nowhere to be found.
The salaries of drivers in the Belgrade GSP have increased to around one hundred thousand dinars - if they work at night, on holidays and overtime. But the chauffeur is nowhere to be found.
Estimates say that Serbia lacks at least ten thousand bus and truck drivers. Last year, the criteria were loosened - you can apply for a truck at the age of 18, and for a bus at the age of 21.
It's a matter of working conditions and earnings, says our interlocutor. "That's why people leave us. If the salary was like in the West, people wouldn't leave, so we have to get drivers from Sri Lanka, whose salary there is around 300 euros," he explains.
He says that foreign drivers in Belgrade may work for less money, but they get accommodation. Previously, there were criticisms that in Serbia, driver's licenses from the Far East were accepted without any verification.
"Our people are motivated to work," says our driver, "but someone who is in debt has to look for additional work. The same if he has higher expenses for his children who are students."
And anyone who drives for more than eight hours a day is already in various legal violations and a safety risk.
Army as salvation?
It annoys him that party cadres with marketed diplomas enter the company, so they have higher salaries than the drivers on whom everything rests.
It may seem strange, but he hopes for the return of mandatory military service because, he says, the army would also train chauffeurs for free. That's how it was before.
And he told us all that over the phone because when we met him during the break - there was no time for a big story. He turned the key, the machine roared, and a new tour through the wild streets began.
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