Express Bus Operator

It use to be based of year's of experience on the job with clean records. Now I hear Zerega has to certify you and some trainees are assigned with the same line trainer for weeks. The last time I asked my chairman at my depot, he said 10 years and up and Zerega certification. 

4 minutes ago, MTAdude said:

Hey guys. I am currently on the NYCT Bus Operator list and just curious if anyone can give a detailed run down of the biweekly pay? After taxes for a rookie bus operator.....and top pay bus operator biweekly.

Ive been searching high and low and still cant find a solid answer as to what kind of pay to expect from this career. I expect to get married soon and eventually have a kid or 2....just wondering if im making the right choice with this job financially.

Also....those of you on the job,  Do you like the job?

 

Anyways, thank you for any info!!!!

Skys the limit. 
 

The first year as a rookie, don’t expect to be rolling big money since the ideal is to pass 1 year probationary period. That means, you want  less time on the bus to avoid accidents or incidents. Your pay (23$ an hour) is based on the route and run. For example you can pick a run and route that pays 50 hours a week, but that determined the depot and your seniority peg. Overall we make money if you know how to. We earn night differential, articulate buses pay (2$ more) if you’re operating a articulated bus route. 

I’m on my fourth year (31.98$ an hr) and for 2020 I made 100k for the year and thats all from busting ass by putting in hours. Covid has put more opportunity for bus operators to earn more. On your fifth year you will be on a top pay salary.

Being a Dispatcher (46.00$ An hr) is more money, but you can only become a dispatcher after your third year and take a promotion exam when its available. 

47 minutes ago, SevenEleven said:

It's stupid. All that money for the announcement system retrofits and they still don't work right. How is the limited program still calling every single local stop too. 🤦🏾‍♂️

I believe if every operator would put a note onto the OVCR card regarding the automatic announcement making wrong stops information, they'll probably work on it ASAP. 

8 minutes ago, SevenEleven said:

No ADAs is an automatic extension. I know someone a week away from clearing probation who got bagged for no ADAs. Speaking of which, if you're driving a bus with an announcement system and it is not calling the stops or not giving the right info, you still have to call out and/or correct it.

Absolutely! I was shock to see they were nailing for not correcting the automatic announcement. 4 Probies got extended out of my depot and the chairman was fighting hard to give them a chance.  

Everyone that got a check ride recently...Was your birthday coming up or recently passed? The reason I'm asking because they're two type of rides. One is 19A ride which the 19A Dispatcher will identify themselves from the beginning if they want to and they're assigned at your depot location and give rides during your birthday months, and There's a Zerega check rides which usually are conducted by a Superintendent and they don't reveal themselves till the end of the ride or not.

Probationary rides are conducted by unknown superintendents from zerega and there job is to ensure you are doing what you're suppose to do while on probation. Any hazardous mistake or not making ADA announcements may get your probation extended.

4 hours ago, Biggington said:

Thank you and cactus for the reply. What did the Supt correct you on?

 

I feel like I’ve developed a bit of a heavy foot at times and I try to keep as close to my schedule as I can only cause my swings are so short now that I just want my chance to eat and use the bathroom before I get back on the bus. 

SLOW down and ignore the paddle. This job is about making money and being safe. If you blow your swing (20 minutes), You are entitled for a 30 minutes lost meal and still get paid for it. There’s a lot of tricks and things you need to know I can tell you in Private Message that will benefit you as the operator on the road and not feel overwhelm. If you need to use the rest room, like @lornaevo stated, you’re entitled to take a personal to use the “rest room only” at the end or while in service. You’ll just need to press RTT and relay the message. 

14 hours ago, +Young+ said:

Actually, you know that as of this typing (11/12/2020 at 10:00 PM), there are three lists out for the Bus Operator Position, right? If you play around with this website, the list for Exam 4600 doesn't expire until this January, the list for Exam 7612 doesn't expire until October of 2022, and the list for Exam 9604 doesn't expire until November of 2023!

Go figure!!

IMO I highly doubt the internal promotions work the same as external hiring process. Just job has union involved and  is highly based on seniority credit respect, I doubt MTA would take the chance to call candidates off two of the same entities promotional position at the same time. That would caused a major issue involving with law suit since the position is highly respected to "Promote" based off seniority in the order of your exam list number. Just imagine a candidate took the promotion exam during the year 2016, and the list is still currently open, and out of no where the candidates that took the promotional exam 2019 started to fill in the position before the 2016 candidate, that would be an issue especially seniority pegs is very important on this job. I believe for internal  competitive promotional positions, they would have to exhaust the current list first before they move forward onto the newly exam candidates list. I'm just saying this is how I see it.

13 hours ago, SPR688 said:

It’s like that because they exhausted the list even before it expired. For example 4600 had a list of 8221 people. The last person hired from that list was 8220. So there are no more Eligible candidates to call. the list is done and they moved on to the next one 7612. My guess is they exhausted that one as well and is currently on. 9604. I guess it’ still shows because it isnt expired. They aren’t calling from all 3. I know this because I know someone who took 4600 and I called and listened to the automated information from dcas on 4600. 

I was called from that list when I was 9 months in probation with OA, but I didn't transfer over at the time because I thought I would restart probation all over. 2019 I had added myself back onto the list because I wanted to take the SLD TA Promotion exam 8702, but after a few talks with others, it wasn't worth losing seniority where I would be at the bottom of the TA/OA bus operator peg list if transferred over and I also heard TA often takes a long time to call off the SLD list. So I'll wait for the next OA SLD.

1 hour ago, bronxbomber2 said:

Covid sick days won’t effect your promotion if ur sick time has been good the last 3-5 years. You get back some of the sick time for covid as well so the pandemic year shouldn’t be a concern and I heard that from zerega. What might work for us in a weird way is I hear a lot of the dispatchers in ta r putting in their papers due to the pandemic a lot of guys who had the time and years r out. It’s going to be a higher number of retirees in the next few years 

I'm hearing the same thing especially a lot of bus operators putting in their papers. 

21 hours ago, Boom216 said:

I seen that the last list(4700) got extended till 11/12/2021. I hope that does not interfere with our list

Most likely since they extended to 2021.

2 minutes ago, Snorunts said:

Probably well, because it’s on the B15 right now.

😮 I'm starting to have flashbacks when I use to do the B15 PM schedule during probationary period. 

Greeting to you all,

First I would like to congratulate all the newly hire students that are undergoing training or on probation.

If you have any questions or need help with training procedures or probationary process, please feel free to hit me up.

5 hours ago, Snorunts said:

9510 started service on the B12.

I wonder how did that go..

3 hours ago, trainfan22 said:

ENY has plenty of OGs at that depot whole FLA oldest buses are the NGs, so ENY should get them over FLA, and this coming from someone whose favorite depot is Flatbush.

 

 

Also fleet age has to be balanced, MTV really got screwed as yet another batch of new buses skips over that depot. 

 

IMO FLA has been treated well by the DOB over the years when it comes to new buses. Plenty of new buses came to that depot since they first got the 3900 hybrids. 

If we remember, Flatbush was loaded with RTS buses before the local politicians got involved and force the RTS buses to retire before the originally planned dates. Even after retiring the RTS buses, we started to receive some of the NG’s 3000’s from other depots that were revamping their fleets with upgraded new buses. This year 2020, we still ended up losing 3 - 5 of the 7600’s buses to ENY and some 7300’s to Ulmer park and 2 to Grand I believe. 

3 minutes ago, trainfan22 said:

All they have to do is remove the SBS wrap from the 2018 units and then they could run on any FLA local route, its puzzling why they haven't removed the SBS wraps from those buses. Before the 6500s started getting retired and everything got crazy FLA had around 90-100 XD40s. I assume once this XDE order is complete, those buses sent to ENY to replace their 65/6600s will go back to the depots they came from.

The SBS 40 ft theme buses are painted. The lower part of the buses  have to be wrap with the Cuomo blue schemes.

2 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

You peruse these forums over the course of years & it's as if people say this about whatever hand-me-down getting moved to (*insert depot here*).... Pretty funny actually

Not just in the realm of transit, but nobody really wants anyone's leftovers... Lol...

lol... see I'm telling you we are always getting the "Hand me Down" buses lol. 

But all fairness, we have some other depots that also experience the same situations. 

On 10/19/2020 at 4:42 PM, lornaevo said:

I’m curious about that as well

On 10/19/2020 at 1:23 PM, luiggi0102 said:

Is there any links in this forums with more information/details on dispatcher and superintendent Pay and duties?

Surface Line Dispatchers: at Assignment Level I, under general supervision, assign Bus Operators to their runs; direct the dispatch and movement of buses within their assigned sector; handle unusual occurrences in service; determine ways to minimize delays; see to the observance of rules and procedures pertaining to bus operations; investigate accidents, unusual occurrences and operational equipment failures; ensure revenue security; keep time records; use computers and handheld electronic devices; prepare reports; and perform related work.

Salary/Pay: The current minimum salary for Dispatcher (Surface Transportation) is $76,723 per annum. This rate is subject to change. There are two assignment levels within this class of positions. Promotions will be made to Assignment Level I. After promotion, employees may be assigned to the higher assignment level at the discretion of MTA New York City Transit.

** Roughly $40.00 an hour and is based on 80 hours Bi-weekly and that's not adding any overtime. Top pay is roughly $47 an hour but is subjected to change due to contract renewal.

 Dispatchers positions : 19A Safety and Training Dispatchers, Command Center dispatchers, Road Operations Dispatchers, Depot Operations dispatchers                                                                                                                           

** In other words, Dispatchers are field supervisors for bus operators and help enforce MTA rules and regulation within the department of buses. 

** In order to become a Surface Line Dispatcher, You must have 3 years of service as a bus operator and take a promotional exam.

Superintendents are salaried managerial ranks in MTA fields operations where the salary/pay varies on the department and levels. The starting entry pay depending on the position and department can start from $99k to 160K a year.

The different positions and rank within department of buses are: 19A Safety and Training / Accident & Incidents Investigator, Road Operations, Depot operations, Operations Planning, Commend Center Operations.

Each ranks are broken down into levels. ((Superintendents, Assist General Superintendents, General Superintendents)) 

** Promotion to Superintendent role in Department of Buses, You must be a dispatcher for 3 years first. But now 2020, You can skip from being a dispatcher role and jump right into a Superintendent based on past managerial role experience with great resume background. But its easier as a dispatcher to get promoted into Superintendent role.

On top of Superintendents ranks are:  Borough Gen Managers, Assist Gen Manager of Road operations, Commend Center Gen Managers,  Depots Assist Gen Managers.

And finally corporate executive management levels which are Vice presidents , Presidents and CEO/Chairman. 

Hope that helps 🙂 

5 hours ago, Cait Sith said:

This is true, the frequency cuts of the M22 over time also contributed to the M9's increasing ridership in Lower Manhattan.

Word is that the order will be split between ENY, FP and GA. It was supposed to be two depots.

Either there will be White/Blue 7100s-7200s or 7700s in FB's future, but take that with a grain of salt. With these new buses comes even more bus moves.

I just don't understand why FB always gets last loads or hand me down buses within the TA division?

16 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

Flatbush losing buses again. Something tells me that more artics may be on the way and they are making space for that. 

16 hours ago, Kingsbridgeviewer382 said:

The buses could be loans like those Grand Ave units that cover service every once in a while. Let's not make huge assumptions right now.

16 hours ago, Future ENY OP said:

You may be correct on this. 

ENY has the New Flyer XDE40 Hybrid Electric bus # 9510 for training purpose. A lot of modication has been implemented on the electric hybrid new flyer bus, such as rear exit sliding doors.

Could it be possible in the future Flatbush depot may get some batches of these buses once transit gets more in hand to trade the current NG’s that the bush has?....

NF Hybrid 9510

NF hybrid Electric side view

NF Electric Hybrid 9510

NF Electric Hybrid Interior mirror

So it looks like the MTA needs $12B to cover their finances lost.

Today the CEO For MTA New York City Transit announced at the board meeting, If the agency don’t receive funds from the federal, the agency will face major service cuts, wages freezes and layoffs. The local 100 TWU that represent the workers for NYCT has step forward and ensure the members that they will fight to the max to avoid any such layoffs.

This week the MTA cancelled and will issue refund for applicants that applied for Promotional Surface Line Dispatcher exam #0709.

It looks like hiring may soon be place on freeze again. The question is when and how will this effect everyone else that is waiting to be processed?......

Hello members,

I know majority of the members are trying to figure out what's going with the hiring process and etc. Transit is undergoing finance crisis due to COVID19 epidemic. But since then transit lost 140+ front line employees due to COVID and still has a percent of employees who were infected by virus are still out of duty. The past months a large percentage of operators started to retire and some of the depots especially in Brooklyn were asking other operators if they wanted to transfer to a specific depot to cover the shortages of staff. 

Things are moving around and they will soon do a blitz of hiring. So far there have been 2 classes of current bus operators getting promoted into the supervisory role ”Dispatchers” and some current dispatchers moving up into the Superintendent role. That shows you that pretty soon the new hire class will resume soon. I can guarantee the dept of buses needs about 600+ of new bus operators to fill in vacancies. But it looks like they are first working with internal staffing arrangements before they can resume the blitz. 

Alert!

New route coming soon at night between the hours of Midnight to 5am similar to the B99.

Introducing the M99!

The M99 will go through the borough of Manhattan 42nd Street to Brooklyn New lots. The route is currently under test by managements and union officials at the respective depot that will provide the service.

The Bx99 will be another nightly route to be released after the M99

Stay tune for more information.

4 hours ago, B35 via Church said:

Now why would there be a B99 in the middle of the Manhattan Bridge at 6:20 in the morning here, if the last trip leaving Manhattan is at 4:50???

 

That's probably the last bus of the night either doing its last trip of the night, or it was an N.I.S. bus just dead heading back to the depot.

53 minutes ago, Cait Sith said:

 

I'm gonna need you to pick a struggle. One minute, you're against DOB and the lack of organizing of uniformity with numbers and saying its a mess, and now you're saying that not everything needs to be uniformed. Which one is it?

 

I heard its only 7659-7662. 

Yes, I almost lost it at the depot lol but the depot chairman said it would only be 4 to 6 buses only. 

3 minutes ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Smh....I think it's bull too, but maybe it's mileage as well. 

The 7600’s looks and runs so nice on the B41, and that's one of the reason I picked the B41 again for the summer time. 

1 hour ago, XcelsiorBoii4888 said:

Once again, dumb ole DOB sending various XD40s out of UP to random depots. Sending 71xxs to FB when they can send FB back the 73xxs. They're sending 71xxs to FP when they can send the 72xx over there. 

 

We need to reform DOB as well, because WTF.  

Just confirmed it! Flatbush losing some of the 7600’s to ENY as we get some of 7100’s from UP. If you ask me that's totally BULL!!!!!!!! I knew this would happen sooner or later!

1 hour ago, Brillant93 said:

I sort of wish that route would head on down further to King Hwy or Avenue N. It would be such a great help for people in the flatlands, marine park, and mill basin area. 

Also since NYC is opening up in faster phases do we know if the subways would open up over night again? 

To be honest, transit doesn't really want to open up the train service from 1am to 5am. If you look at the big picture, they're saving money by cutting train service at night temporarily and the deep COVID cleaning is actually working. Since the COVID deep cleaning started on the trains and buses, NYC has seen a drastic changes with number of cases. So I truly believe the transit system was the main course of the virus spreader.

B99 Route:

So yesterday I was trained on the route with a group of other operators. It was a nice an hour and so trip from the junction Brooklyn to Manhattan W 58th.  In the city portion of the route,  they started to put up the B99 bus stops signage. By this weekend more assign bus stops will be added across Brooklyn.

I’m please to announce I will be one of the operators operating on the route when it first launch on my day off as over timE