I have been on the bus for around 8 months now and with all of the recruitment continuing you will move off the bottom of the list very quickly. I alread have more than 70 pilots junior to me which means that for the last 2 months I have been able of be awarded 'lines of work' through bidding. The first few months I was at the mercy of the company and was assigned work which consisted mainly of 3 and 4 day trips with 2/4 days off in between. My Feb roster is as follows.
1st to 5th days off
6th day trip (2 sectors)
7th day trip (2 sectors)
8th to 9th two day trip (6 sectors)
10th to 11th two day trip (6 sectors)
12th to 14th days off
15th to 17th three day trip (6 sectors)
18th day trip (4 sectors)
19th to 20th days off
21st to 23rd 3 day trip (8 sectors)
24th to 25th 2 day trip (6 sectors)
26th day trip (2 sectors)
27th to 28th days off.
I have been awarded all of the leave requested because I have bid for the high point blocks (unpopular dates). If you have kids and need school holidays off then you might find it hard going. You can certainly commute on the bus as as you can see you will be able to bid for blocks work. Any other questions just PM me.