161 New York

You know...it would be nice if all express bus drivers would dim the lights at night time...come on I can't rest or sleep and it's hard to see outside. These new Prevost have some bright lights and a loud annoying Stop Request bell.

Most of the Academy operators due on the x23/x24, sometimes I can get on an x19 and have operators who would.

However, the B/O's are required to leave the lights on during revenue operation, the basis - from my understanding is sexual assault concerns.

Either SC is loaning FR an MCI or something, but 2090 is on the QM15 to Midtown as I speak.

Wow! They're really moving these express buses around, I have seen UP getting some of the hand-me downs from Yukon and Charleston. I wonder if they're going to send any Prevosts to MTA Bus depots (forgiveness if this has been discussed) but I have an affinity for the MCI's . 

I've been wondering about this, my eyesight is pretty crappy. Is there a corrected/uncorrected standard? if so, does anyone know what it is?

From a few posts I see its 20/40 in each eye, glasses/contacts OK, if you wear contacts you'll need to have your glasses on you at all times. Can anyone else please clarify or confirm? 

While we wait, I suggest getting some medical testing done.

This is was for a CDL DOT medical card. Little did I know but my blood pressure is border line "not good", so I am going to try to work on this naturally to reduce the number. Also, supposedly my eyesight isn't all that hot (I failed the Snellen test, but I think the lighting was terrible and the chart was next to a super bright window) so I am going to get further testing at an optometrist, I am hopeful I don't need glasses.

I also recieved a phone call and a email about the 9 month wait. Personally, I think its ridiculous, 9 months? Really? Its been a year and a half and now it will take more than 2 years just to recieve RESULTS. Thats crazy.

 

Also, DueceDrives, I know you said everyone who took the exam should get a CDL right away, but what if we dont get called for the job? I am on the fence weather or not i should get my CDL without even knowing my results and if ill ever get hired. Could be a big waste of money and time..thoughts?

 

I apologize if this post sounds negative lol, I just really want to know my chances in getting this job and its really dragging out. I had 4 wrong on the test.

I agree with your sentiments towards the long wait and process. As I said earlier, I have a feeling that this was more/less unanticipated by the MTA in that there could be factors that include a) fewer retirements than anticipated b) more people qualifying/making it past probation c)general turnover is lower. In two words, "it sucks", but we have to wait it out unfortunately. 

All of us who are taking this seriously, including myself are taking a gamble here with this. Just like any job or breaking into any industry there are risks and rewards. I chose to get my CDL license on my own and honestly, I accept that it might not work out with bus operator but it might (or not) work out with Bridge & Tunnel Officer (though I prefer bus operator). 

I understand completely, I too and many others would love to know our respective list numbers or if we didn't make it because of BOSS. I'd love to get an idea so I can plan things out long-term, you can say, that certain things are "on hold".  You should definitely have a chance with four wrong, so it might take a little while longer. Keep in mind not everyone took the test to "do well", and this isn't Sanitation where 1.25% of the whole city of 8 MILLION applied plus residency credits which unless you scored 100-105 you're going to have a very long wait.. 

If there are any Access-A-Ride Operators here from Staten Island or Brooklyn (MV Transportation), Could you please shoot me a private message? I have a few questions - Thanks! 

Voice-mail and e-mail received too.

Realistically, that equates to March - April 2016. That is a very long time and like many longer than we would have anticipated. 

In any event, I do appreciate the TA providing us with an update.

Regarding our friends in Exam 2613, I am guessing a lot of people are reinstating and that retirements/ general turnover is low. I am guessing this was largely unexpected on the TA's behalf due to the initial speed with the examinations.

For the folks who got one wrong, including myself, realistically August 2016 at the very earliest. 

For those of you who received permits: I would suggest pursuing your licences at your leisure. (I just passed my road test today! - though I may stay in the corporate world for now ) You can renew your permit once. Those who haven't received their permits have time.

Good Luck & Stay in Touch Everyone!!

3196 was the last hired

This list number 3,196 appears to be for the OA Exam 3101 according to Qboro14's post.

Per YoungNYCSubwayfan, for the May 2015 update, the last appointed for TA Exam 2613 was 2,684 out of the 3,617 total candidates. However all remaining candidates are no longer on outstanding certification (so in theory they are "looking" at those remaining candidates). We shall see if that number moved at all, but it remained the same since April.

Wondering when we would recieve our final answer results. I really hope they start the processing for this exam at least by fall.

Greyhound is wearing me out on the extraboard. But working for greyhound is very good experience.

How can i change my profile pic? Someone help

Hopefully soon! Unfortunately, I haven't seen much movement on the 2613 list. The only update I can provide is that one NYCTF member in the 2700's did a second drug test and no other members from 2800's and above have had any further movement. I would check out the last three pages of that thread as two former Greyhound operators have shared their experiences with us.

I am not going to make any predictions other than by the end of the year we should hear something.

To change your picture profile go to the top right and drop down the menu click, My Settings and you should see the Change Photo option.

Is there any residential , or veterans credit? Please let me know.

For exam 4600

There is no NYC Residency Credit for this exam.

For Veterans credit reach out the the Examinations Unit as soon as possible because you need to get this information to them before they establish the list. 

lol.... You're into the organic scene too... Used to take trips on the express bus during snow storms just to get my organic produce...   Would check BusTime and hope that an X1 or X10 was coming and then get car service from there.

Yeah, surprisingly Key Food by my place is stepping up their organic offerings, but otherwise on Staten Island except for things other than apples, bananas, salad lettuces etc., - there is nothing OR I have to go all over the place. Things like coffee, red onions, peppers, apricots, I can get at WFM - TriBeCa is the only sane store I can tolerate. I have to buy organic garlic either at a small grocer on 13/8th or the one at 8th/54th (good selection of items there), perhaps I should ask at WFM if their garlic is indeed organic  . I have to mind the cold/frozen items during warm weather -  that x17 ride on the weekends could get quite long.

I had that happen. I was on the X27 on my way back to Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, lost consciousness and forgot why. When I came to, I was laying on some lady's shoulder. If it weren't for the fact I was in my Army Uniform, I would've probably been slapped awake lol

Did you get her number?

Am I the only one that would fall asleep every time on an Express bus?

I do it nearly every time, the long distances on the x21/x22/x23/x24 and x19 make napping ideal. Yesterday on the x19, the second we entered the BBT I was out until the first stop (Victory Blvd). I've also been known to sleep on the s79 SBS and s74.

NYC really has to finish up the work on Broadway outside of the Fulton Center. Plus BAN anything that is not a NYC Transit Bus, private bus carrier providing regular commuter service, taxi/limo on Broadway south of Chambers between 4-7.

I would still take the express bus. I can get a nap and relax.  Too many crazies and ghetto folks on the ferry.  Same deal with me... I would take the express bus any day over the train to the local bus to Riverdale.  If the express bus was a mess, I would just take Metro-North to the Hudson Rail Link or walk to my place.

Yeah, I had a nice nap once we descended into the BBT until Victory Blvd. Having a bag of groceries from WFM (they had organic apricots for sale! ) , I decided to take the bus.

when would you guys suggest getting the CDL permit and license by? trying to figure out a schedule...

Speaking personally, if you think you got 0-1 wrong (or entitled to credits which will put your score to a 98.33 -> 115++) (- realistically there shouldn't be too many with those over 100), you should get the CDL permit as soon as possible at your leisure/convenience, but my suggestion no later than the end of June. If you got two wrong you'll have additional time. 

If you have the time and are able to, pursue the CDL license through a driving school and aim for completion towards the end of July or end of August (you'll probably have more time if you got 2 or more wrong). You should be safe even if you fail your first CDL road test, but definitely don't rely on that. I would suggest, if you don't drive a car regularly get at least 10 lessons with a few close to the road test date. If you drive regularly play it by ear, but keep in mind your bad habits might affect how you perform.

When you are downtown on the express bus x19 and realize that taking the ferry and SIR plus local bus would get you back home faster.

Here is the informaton directly from the source. According to this inter-agency memorandum of understanding  [Link: Memorandum of Understanding Between the City of New York .... and The NYCTA] or [Link: DCAS Interagency MOUs] , this document also details the rights and responsibilities of MTA HR and DCAS:

4.4.11. Candidates With Same Final Examination Rating.

Whenever two or more candidates in an examination receive the same final examination ratings, their respective place on the resulting eligible list shall be determined for administrative reasons only by a sequence of the number derived from the last five and then the first four positions of their social security numbers.

For example, all three of these fictional candidates scored 100:
1. Roberto C H Chang's SSN is 999-90-1234,  the new SSN for list purposes is 012-34-9999
2. Muhammad bin Tariq al-Qahtani's  SSN is 999-92-5720 for list purposes is  257-20-9999
3. Galina Vladimirovna Antonova's SSN is 999-94-8164 for list purposes is      481-64-9999

Per those new numbers, they should be called in that order. If not, then I guess they revised their procedure.

Time out everyone.

We still don't know how many people are on this list. I don't think there are 20,000 candidates based on my educated guess.

Four wrong is not an 80, MTAhopeful1 may have preliminarily scored a 93.33%. Please refer to previous posts for how to score this.

Unlike Sanitation, Police or FDNY there are no residency credit points. Veterans and other folks who may claim additional points may make statistically insignificant amount difference compared to everyone else.

This job is not for everyone. People who have scored well may decline the job for whatever reason. I scored very well on the Bridge & Tunnel Officer exam, however, I prefer the Bus Operator position. If I am successful in passing everything and completing probation, I will remove my name from that list. Successfully completing the qualification period and passing the CDL road tests are major hurdles, as seen with members who share here, my personal experience (I just failed a road test - taken on my own) and above with those who tested with the "Terminators" who examine drivers in the Bronx and Maspeth. 

So lets keep a positive attitude and lets focus on things one at a time. Remember, at this time for us 4600 candidates, time is on our side.

He had a thread here for a while [Link:Ya'll wasn't lying] . I guess we still not lying!

My examiner was professional: tough but fair. It was pretty much nervousness which caused me to slip up (made the turn too fast, so I was wide, stopping (full) but - forgetting to stop at the invisible line, being too slow to clear an intersection; not timing the stale green lights correctly - hard stop at yellow). Hopefully the second time will be the one.

IMHO, I would personally make this decision based on how you did on the initial civil service examination. Although our list numbers are not out yet, if you recorded your answers on the "Candidate's Personal Record of Answers", and you compared your answers with the one on the MTA website, you should have an idea of how you did. If you did really well (like a 90% raw score or higher), then I would suggest getting your permit ASAP. If you did not do that well (like a raw score in the 70's or 80's), then you still have time to get your permit.

 

Keep in mind that you are only allowed to renew your permit once. If you need to renew it a second time, you have to take the tests all over again.

 

This is just my educated guess. Once the list comes out, then we'll have a better general idea of where everyone stands and what the situation is.

 

Questions? If so, please do not hesitate to ask.

Agreed. For those including myself who got 0-2 wrong, per a comparison of the "Candidate's Personal Record of Answers" with the recorded answers, time appears to be still on our side. Per post 4963 in the [Thread: Bus Operator Exam 2613 Questions] the next TA class for those on 2613 may be in June and so far appears to be for folks who have reinstated themselves. I am going to refrain from making any future predictions as my success here has been equivalent to that of picking the big money lotto numbers.

For those falling in the 0-2x wrong category, I agree on getting your CDL permit and if you can swing it, get CDL driver's license or at a minimum, a handful of lessons.

Having been taking some lessons and recently failing (badly) a CDL road test, I still remain thankful that I am doing this now and not when it absolutely counts. My mistakes were relatively minor but as a whole cost me dearly [Link: NYS DMV CDL Manual (Sections 11, 12, 13)] (on page 13-6)  for a sample score sheet. My mistakes included (left turn into the right lane instead of the left, not stopping at the 'invisible' stop line, two wide turns and a few hard brakes (due to a traffic light)), but nothing major. Now that I know what to expect, I am confident that those can be corrected and I am confident on passing the second time. I absolutely cannot imagine doing this with the enormous pressure we will face at when we go to Zerega, line training etc.,

I had to go to the website to verify my answers to calculate my score... I thought I read somewhere that we should have received something in the mail notifying us of our results? Before proceeding with the CDL permit and CDL-B/P license w/air brakes, is there a way to find out how we did on the second exam? lastly, why do you suggest taking the CDL permit now? does it take that long to obtain?

We will not receive any notification for BOSS. Only if you take BOSS for OA (MaBSTOA) or BC (Bus Company) will you receive a result. TA candidates do not. We will receive our written examination results whenever the list is ready; so far nobody here has any indication of when this will occur, nor has the MTA provided information of when this will happen. 

I would get the permit as soon as possible at your leisure, as it is better to get it out the way while time is on your side. From what I am reading here on the experiences of people under various exam titles, it is better to work according to the way the   wants to do things then having to work around them.

anyone know where we're at with the BOSS 4600 exam? found out I only had one question wrong from the first exam and went through the second exam, but no word... should I be preparing anything in the meantime?

I am in the same boat. I took the exam and got one wrong and took the BOSS evaluation back in October 2014.

At a minimum we'll probably have to wait two weeks for processing of the remainder of the BOSS exams to run them through scantron readers, account for people who didn't bubble in things like their names, SSN's or applicant ID's as well as the folks to put things into folders or scan things.

My suggestion, get the CDL permit ASAP and if possible your CDL-B/P license with air brakes.

Get all paperwork needed for the background check.

Keep an eye on the [Thread: Bus Operator Exam 2613 Questions] for what is going on in the current TA list, Exam        . I will post to see if anyone has an update.

Please see my recent post here on my analysis of everything so far with both 2613 and 4600.

In short, we'll have to continue waiting  .

This is a lil off topic question but I recently Changed my cell # and I want to update it with transit, who do I contact in order to let them know? 

I would send them a descriptive e-mail and request confirmation once received.

Additionally, I would suggest including your applicant ID number which will be on all of your paperwork, it apparently stays the same for every exam you take at the MTA (so everything is updated) . 

E-mail: examsunit@nyct.com

Subject: TA Exam 4600 Jane Smith (App ID: 1999999) - Contact Information Update Request 

From my experience it takes them about 48 hours to reply.

Thanks everyone. I am going to revise my estimate of total candidates to about 11,500 or so then.

When I took the exam, just one question stuck out and I hope it didn't cost me. Other than that I hope all the questions were answered the way they should have been.

First of all, nice summary. I didn't 'quote' it since it's only going to take up space and eventually make this webpage longer.

 

To answer your question, I arrived at 8:30, so I was towards the front of the line. However, I did hear from one of the security guards that the line for the AM session was wrapped around the building and/or block (IMHO, same meaning). Therefore, I do believe it was a full-house for the AM session. I was done with the exam very quickly and I was on my way home by 11:30, therefore I do not know how the PM session went. 

Thank you. Yeah, I have been chopping off my signature when my post would appear more than one time on the same page using "More reply options" to keep the conversation flowing. 

LOL. Literally, I remember being in back of the building at JMHS. So if my estimates are right based on everyone's observations, 14,000 + people are on this list! I do think the overwhelming majority of people will be called at some point.

Just for some interesting information. I was curious about the Sanitation lists. The recent Sanitation exam attracted 94,000 applicants and supposedly 70,000+ people actually took the exam. On the prior list which is still active from 2008, they are only up to 5,800 or so. I didn't take those exams, but find their experience interesting.

So i took the boss last october and now that the remaineder of 4600 took the boss today, does anyone know or have an estimate of around when mta will start taking people in to HR for processing

Here's what we know so far:

- Per the May 2015 DCAS update for TA Exam 2613 in [Thread:Bus Operator Exam 2613 Questions ] that YoungNYCSubwayFan has provided for us in Post 4954 "the list # of the last certified IS 3,617." That says to me that the remaining 900 or so candidates are no longer on outstanding certification and that they will at some time begin the drug test/background/interview phase.

- The actual number of candidates interested, qualified and who are able to complete training and be hired may vary considerably.

- We have two gentleman on the 2613 list who contribute here on NYCTF that we are aware of who are awaiting calls. One gentleman is in the 2700's and had completed a drug test about one month ago, another gentleman is in the 2900's and was initially called for a drug test, but HR sent him home. There has been no activity since.

- Classes usually occur every two weeks, beginning Mondays. The last known TA bus operator class was back on Monday, April 20, 2015. A class did begin on Monday, May 4, 2015. However, according to astogezz, who was in the April 20th class, the May 4 class did occur, but did not involve any TA candidates. So far no-one has posted indicating they are in a class that would begin Monday, May 18.

- As the 2613 list is still active, those who temporarily took themselves off the list may still be able to reinstate, so that may add to the number of total outstanding candidates.

- We currently don't know the hiring needs of the Department of Buses or if there will be large number of retirees or people transfering to other positions within the TA (Train Operator, Track Worker, TBTA) or other titles within the city (Sanitation, FDNY etc.)

In summary, not sure when we will hear anything, all I can say is - eventually. If you scored high, I would be working on getting your CDL permits/licenses and making sure you have everything necessary for the background check.

====

BTW, for the folks who did take BOSS today, was it a full house for both sessions? I remember at James Madison HS, the lines nearly wrapped around the building.

Good luck to those taking the BOSS evaluation today!

I remember taking BOSS on October 4 and it being a cool, cloudy and misty day like today.