“There’s nothing unusual about my profession”, says Marina Bykova, a Russian tram driver in Melbourne.
She comes from a family that believes there is nothing a woman can’t do. Her mother worked as a crane operator while studying architecture at university.
Unsurprisingly, Marina inherited a strong character and the same attitude.
“Also, when I went to Russia last time, all the tram drivers there were women," she says. "They probably don’t trust men with such a supreme job.”
Starting in the sky
Marina’s first job in Australia was as a Qantas flight attendant. She compares her past working self to a happy puppy, saying she “loved absolutely everything about flying, even turbulence”.
It was an ad on Facebook appealing to Marina’s adventurous personality that sparked her interest in a career change. The "Driven Women" campaign encouraged women to apply for driver jobs at Melbourne Yarra Trams.
After submitting her application, completing an interview and a medical assessment, Bykova waited a long nine months for a call offering congratulations and confirmation of winning the gig.
“On my orientation day I remember thinking that there’s not much difference between a tram cabin and our room on the plane, only this time I would be traveling on the ground, not in the sky,” Marina remembers.
'Like a video game where everyone tries to kill you'
Even considering herself an experienced driver at the time, Bykova had to learn a range of new things in order to become a 'driven woman'. She describes the several weeks of training as “very intense”, and her first unsupervised trips were not as easy and relaxed as she had pictured.
“If you haven't driven a tram, then you just can't imagine how much you need to know and remember,” Marina says.
“It seemed that all pedestrians wanted to end up under my tram, cars were making U-turns in front of me, and also I had to watch for section insulators – special sections with no power where you can’t stop because the tram gets stuck.”
She says at first it felt like she was “inside of a video game where everyone and everything tries to kill you”.
Now, after three years on Melbourne's tram network with just one small accident (a car's driver apparently didn't notice her tram and slammed into the side), Marina enjoys her daily trips but says some days are challenging.
"What scares me when driving is this weather that makes the tracks very slippery – light rain, dust, leaves. Often mainly in old types of trams you just can’t stop, instead it accelerates. And if you are going down the hill and this happens, it can be quite an experience! So you need to be very aware and prepared for that and drive to conditions."
'I don’t have to wait for you, but I will'
Marina had to deal with all kinds of people in her previous job as a flight attendant. She says that experience helps her stay calm when an early-morning passenger is rude to her or a guy on the street gives her the finger as she brakes to save his life.
“When people race to catch the tram I think to myself, ‘Okay, I don’t have to wait for you, but I will,’ and then they jump in and not even wave or say thank you - that’s when I get angry!
“But most of my passengers are nice to me, especially homeless people – they say I’m too beautiful to be a tram driver,” Marina says.
There are very strict rules for tram drivers: No phones, fitness trackers, or any kind of electronic devices are allowed in the tram cabin even switched off or before a shift begins.
Music is also not allowed, and it may seem like eight hours of driving alone on the same route would be very boring, but Marina says she never gets bored.
She loves to work morning shifts, moving out of the depot at 5.30am when the streets are empty, the sun is rising and the birds start singing.
"It feels like I'm a pilot of my tram," she says.
Marina loves when kids are happy to see her tram and when their parents lift them up to wave, she always waves back.
“I can’t speak for other depots, but our Southbank depot has a family-like atmosphere and I’m happy to work there.”
