Meet Pymble’s bus drivers

Every week we will feature a profile on one of our wonderful Pymble bus drivers. This week, we learn more about Ben on Bus 2 and what makes him tick!

Please tell us your name and a little bit about yourself.

I have a French background, I grew up in Tours, France located in the Loire Valley between Paris and Bordeaux. After graduating the Baccalaureate, I graduated from business school after three years then I went to London where I met Jane, a chef by trade, my future wife. We moved back to Paris then Sydney. I have three children: Isobella who is now an exercise physiologist, Jacques who is an entrepreneur and Henri, the sportsman of the family, who graduated from Narrabeen Sports High School and isabout to start a gap year program with the ADF.

I forgot to mention, we have a six-year-old pet dog. His name is Riley, he is a hunterway breed. He can be intimidating at first but he is very friendly once he knows you.

If any, what careers did you have before becoming a bus driver?

I have a banking background of over 25 years, in London, Paris and Sydney where I worked for some merchants banks like BNP Parisbas and Deutsche Bank, then a retail bank Westpac. I had various roles in settlements of financials products and trading support for fund managers and foreign exchanges and Money Market desks.This is a high pressure environment with short dead lines to meet and attention to detail.

Which Pymble bus do you drive and how long have you been a Pymble driver?

In the morning I drive the Pymble Bus SB2 (School Bus 2) on the Lower North Shore route. The route starts off at Prince Street Mosman, then Neutral Bay, Cameray, Roseville and Killara.

You spend a great deal of your time on the road and have no doubt seen it all. What is your biggest pet peeve when it comes to Sydney drivers?

I witness a lot of incivilities on the road for futile reasons. The recurring one to me is drivers not giving way towards the bus departing the bus stop.

What is your favourite part of working at Pymble?

My favourite part of working at Pymble is taking part in charters, travelling collectively on a convoy towards the outskirts of Sydney.

Where is the best excursion/charter location you have driven to for Pymble? If new to Pymble, what other locations have you enjoyed driving to?

Webbs Creek at Wisemans Ferry, The Royal National Park in Sydney South and The Colo River.

It is hard to pick one, Sydney is blessed with so many beautiful national parks. I would say my favourite is the Royal National Park.

What was your favourite subject at school?

At school, my favourite subject was geography. I loved reading maps of worlds and countries, learning names of news places that I could visit one day.

We hope you had a good Christmas break, and maybe managed to get away for a bit. What is your favourite holiday destination and why?

My favourite holiday destination is in France, Brittany, est coast Quimiac where I spent my childhood  summer holidays doing plenty of sports. It is a small fishermen’s village located on the Atlantic Coast with weekly markets and fresh produce. I like to go back to meet my old childhood friends to talk about life and memories.