BusDriverWannabe

CDL Permits are valid for 180-days (6-months) and can be renewed once for an additional 180-days (6 more months). After that you have to restart the process by passing all the exams again.

347-643-8229/30/31/32. Mon-Fri 11am - 4pm. If you were on "outstanding certification" and now you are not, that is a good thing. Basically means the city has cleared you for the next step in the hiring process. if your number is 21x, you should be expecting a letter within the next 2-3 months.

There is no written rule or condition that medical examiners must or may take into account for "white coat syndrome" which is what this anxiety is called. The examiner will usually take up to 3-readings. The important thing here is that you disclose properly on your medical history. Having high blood pressure or hypertension is really about a lack of oxygen in your blood and constricted veins and arteries. Its important to relax at the doctor's office. Here are a few tips to help you overcome this problem: 1. Do not drink any coffee at least 4-5 hours before time of your exam. 2. Do not smoke cigarettes (regular nor electronic) on the day of your exam. 3. Get to the exam at least 30-mins early so you can sit down and rest. Sit down in the waiting room, place your feet flat on the floor and take deep breathes. Each inhale should last 5-seconds and the exhale should take about 6-seconds. Keep doing this until they call you in. This is a proven method and is the basis of the only FDA approved non-drug device treatment of hypertension called "resperate". Its a pricey device (about $300) but you don't have to buy it, just search the app stores and you will find several apps that do something similar. The concept is actually very simple. The majority of people that have high blood pressure are shallow breathers. Deep breathing exercises pumps more oxygen into your blood stream which will cause your organs to send signals for oxygen less frequently to your brain, which will result in a more gentle heartbeat. Google "resperate" and you will see what I mean. Doing this will lower your blood pressure immediately for just enough time (about 30-40min) so you can get a favorable reading at the examiner's office. If you don't believe me, try it at home using your blood pressure monitor. Check your blood pressure, do the deep breathing for 15-min, then check the blood pressure again. But you must do the deep breathing properly so practice, practice, practice... Its not that easy to do right away! 4. Do Not Talk to the examiner or nurse while you are doing the blood pressure reading... Very Important. Talking will cause you to loose your breath and consequently deplete your oxygen levels. For that matter, don't talk to anyone at the examiner's office beyond answering questions. Don't get into any conversations in the waiting room either. Just sit there and do the deep breathing the entire time you are waiting to be called. 5. Make sure you wear loose fitting clothing and don't overtighten your waist belt. 6. If you really want an extra punch to lower your pressure just before an exam, go to a health food store and buy a 16-20 ounce bottle of pure beet juice and drink it down an hour or two before the exam. I am not a doctor so please do not take this a medical advice. Just sharing what I have learned and done successfully. Google beet juice and blood pressure. There are many reputable medical websites that will help you understand why beet juice works. 7. And finally, don't worry about it so much and relax, especially on the day of your exam. Take your readings at home everyday for a week or so before the exam. If its below 140/90 on a consistent basis you will go into the exam confident that your blood pressure is fine and that should help you calm down your fears. Good Luck! The best defense

347-643-8229/30/31/32. Mon-Fri 11am - 4pm. Last time I checked last Friday (May 13th) they processed thru #95. For a couple of months now its been reported that they have sent letters to the first 200, which would have meant I should have received a letter and since I had not I decided to start calling every other week to make sure my letter wasn't lost in the mail but they keep telling me "NO" about letters to the first 200. I have posted here before about this but people continue assuming that whomever reported that the first 200 were contacted is correct but it just isn't so.

Congratulations! Having your full CDL is a big plus! You have removed/reduced the stress of taking the DMV road test at the end of your training which will allow you to better focus on the MTA specific training... My understanding is that the Transit buses have automatic transmissions so you should be fine. If on the other hand I am wrong about that then the MTA will have you retake the road test with one of their manual transmission buses, but I don't think there are any.

I am still a newbie on this forum and I certainly make no claims of knowing better than moderator "YoungNYCSubwayFan", but I respectfully must point out an omission on his/her reply to "MTAhopeful1" about CDL permit question... The restrictions must also include A3 (Medical Certificate Exemption) which means you have to check off the "Excepted Interstate (EI)" or "Excepted Intrastate (EA)" box on the MV-44 form when you go to DMV to apply for the permit. Basically these medical exemptions are generally for bus drivers (both transit and school) subject to NYS Article 19-A. There are two types of medical certifications, the Federal Medical Exam (FMCSA) which is usually for truckers and the NYS Medical Exam which as I stated before is generally for municipal employees, school bus drivers and I believe some of the other transit systems. The NYS Article 19-A exam is the one that will apply to you so that is why you must select the "EI" or "EA" otherwise the clerk will require that you get you FMCSA (Federal Medical) card before they will even issue you a permit. All this information is in the NYS CDL manual so be prepared with this info so that you don't have problems filling out the MV-44 form. The other restriction allowed on the permit is "B" for corrective lenses, which "YoungNYCSubwayFan" has correctly already mentioned. Of course if you have 20/20 vision without wearing corrective lenses (glasses/contacts) then this restriction will not be listed on your permit. By the way... important to note, you must also take the Air Brakes exam, but unlike the Passenger and School Bus exams that earn you extra endorsement (P & S), the Air Brakes exams works a little differently. Instead of getting an "Air Brakes" endorsement (which doesn't exist), the permit will not list the "L" restriction, which indicates that you have not passed the Air Brakes exam. If the "L" restriction is listed on your permit, it means that you have not yet passed the Air Brakes exam. In order to be accepted by the MTA training program you must pass at minimum the General Knowledge, Passenger and Air Brakes exams. One other thing I learned but did not know about which I found rather interesting, if you pass your Passenger Exam you can request that your license be upgraded to a "Class C" license with a "P" endorsement and an "N2" restriction right away. This will allow you to take a job that requires a CDL Class "C" license to drive a smaller passenger vehicle with less than 8-passengers. I believe there is a cost to do this but at least you have the option. If the examiner/clerk asks you why you need both a license and a permit or is refusing to give you both a Class "C" license and a permit, explain that you will be driving a smaller vehicle which requires the Class "C" with "P" Endorsement and an "N2" restriction while you are learning to drive a larger vehicle (bus). I recommend you only do this if you are in need of a driving job sooner than MTA calling you or taking lessons and taking the road test on your own. As far as the School Bus endorsement, I completely agree with "YoungNYCSubwayFan" that you just as well take the school bus written exam as well just as "YoungNYCSubwayFan" mentioned you will get both with just one road test and will allow you to be eligible for school bus jobs if the need arises in the future or while you are waiting for your DCAS number to come up. It cost nothing extra to take the School Bus written exam on the same day as you take the other exams. For the same $10 you can take as many exams as you want during that day so there is nothing to loose. Besides, even if you decide not to take the school bus exam you are gonna have to study that section of the CDL manual anyway as there are many questions on the Passenger exam that are only covered in the school bus exam study material. There was even 1 or 2 questions on the General Knowledge exam I took that were School Bus related. So if you gonna have to study the School Bus section of the CDL manual anyways you might as well take the School Bus exam too. Just saying...

Well "SmoothOperator 1Wall", I certainly don't agree with "busman718" about calling that person or anybody an idiot, but I do agree that the information is idiotic and inaccurate. These DCAS lists are carefully and deliberately established based on a variety of criterion including exam results, BOSS (Bus Operator Selection Survey) and military veteran status and even relatives of MTA workers killed on the job. Even when you call the hiring center and you ask about the status of the list, they have been sequential. When I called them this pass Friday (5/13), they told me that the last list number processed was 95.

It can also have a "E1" restriction which means Automatic Transmission (basically means you were only road tested with a vehicle with automatic transmission) which I believe is fine for driving an MTA bus and also if you where glasses/contacts is may also have a "B" restriction which means Corrective Lenses.

Thank You DueceDrives for your reply. I am actually kinda glad I have some time. I already passed all of my required written exams and have a permit with all the required endorcements and without the Air Brakes restriction (passed the air brake exam) and I have started taking lessons so that I can take the road test on my own.Only two lessons so far but instructor tells me I should be ready with just another 3 lessons. He felt so confident of that he already scheduled my road test. I decided to do it this way in order to eliminate the stress of taking the road test later which will also allow me to focus on the MTA bus specific topics and not the general mechanics of driving a bus for the first time. Anyone that can spend the money and time might want to consider doing the same but at the very least get the permit exams done, they are not as easy as I thought they would but I passed them on one try by taking practice exams repeatedly for 2-weeks. By the time I took the actual exam it was nice to recognize about 90% of the questions immediately. One tip, even though you are not required to take the school bus exam (I did), study the school bus topics too, there were many school bus questions in both the general knowledge and passenger exam! Congratulations!!! That is great news! Be patient and careful when making turns on busy streets. People are just not paying attention, walking and texting should be illegal.

Well it appears they have not sent letters to 101 thru 200. I am in that range and have been reading here that they sent letters for over a month now so I decided to call the number listed on the results letter I got back in January. First time I called on Monday 5/2 a gentleman told be they were only up to 100 then told me to call back Wednesday 5/4 to speak to the lady that was handling the 4600 list and when I did I ask about my status she told me probably at the end of the year. Its possible others in the 101-200 have received or will receive a letter sooner but I am in second half of that range. I do have relatives who work at the MTA in a supervisory roll and they told me that they don't usually do training during the summer months so that may explain why. If anybody doubts what I am writing here feel free to call that number yourselves they pick up right away and are fairly helpful. The numbers listed are 347-643-8229/30/31/32. Mon-Fri 11am - 4pm.