njbk

If you have purchased airline tickets and proof that you purchased the tickets before the day you were hired, and the time off is not during actual school car (i.e. it’s during YX, road posting, etc.) then they will approve the time off for you. You will only get paid anytime you have managed to bank by them and it will be a lot of back and forth with the crew office to get confirmation and approval, but they will do it.

You’re not going to get in trouble for sliding out of a station during road ops, the whole point is to get a feel for making stops (and to a lesser extent learning routes). Try not to do it at a station with a red homeball at the end though. On the flip side I don’t see how doing it on purpose is any preparation for if/when it happens to you on accident. The feeling of not being able to stop the train when you want to is not the same as the feeling of choosing to slide out. As for “enhancement training” it does happen to whole classes/inductions and is happening right now. It’s really nbd, whether you had a small incident or not chances are good you may get called for a few more schoolcar days, after time on the road you’ll be happy about it. As for incidents, it happens. Especially when you’re new! Obviously you don’t WANT to have them, but out of the most recent induction people have had hand slips, station overruns, hit automatics and even home signals and still have their jobs. Probation might be extended for some, but they’re still here. Its serious stuff, but not as serious as some on here make it out to be.

“Safety sensitive” is a term that describes certain jobs that the federal government regulates due to, well, the fact that they are safety sensitive. Read 49 CFR (code of federal regulations) part 40.

MTA T/O is a federally regulated safety sensitive position, until its legalized federally it won’t matter.

This list is still going to be good for 3.5 years. By the time you pass probation as a conductor you can call DCAS, reinstate your name, and you’ll be in the very first class after that. No need to worry about promotional exam.

Rosario is the man. I would bet he knows more about these trains than anything.

Nothing you do at the simulator matters at all until the actual signal exam. You could get literally everything wrong before then and it won’t matter.

I wouldn’t worry about that. Most likely they will give you the day off, worst case they may make you defer until the next class.

I don’t think they can legally prevent you from attending a court ordered appearance. Def call 180.

The one who moved messed up for sure. Most don’t think the operator on the other end should have been punished but what can you do.

100% yes. A good strategy I have been doing is going to my switching assignments a half hour or so before my sign on time so I can ride along with another person making the move. Most of the switching moves are simple but having the confidence of knowing what you're doing makes a huge difference.

Yard posting is basically “pre yx.” You are assigned all around the division to each yard at least once. Posting is 3 weeks, one week of midnights one week of pm and one week of am. After posting is finished you are YX for 2 months. The first week or so is yard familiarization, where you will go to each yard and spend the day with a TSS once again going over the specifics of each yard and common moves. After this you are on your own. The crew office will assign you as needed. You are on your own and can be asked to do anything any other TO can as long as it doesn’t involve moving the train with passengers on it. You can also ask for overtime and call the crew office to work RDOs if you want. If you make any serious mistakes during YX (split a switch, hit a home signal, etc.) you are held responsible and will probably lose the job. 2 people were fired last month for splitting a switch while YX. After YX is the second signal exam, then 2 weeks of road ops. Then road posting.

I heard from a few people that they dropped the drivers license requirement. I know of at least one person in my induction who doesn’t have a license and was hired.

Just enjoy your life until you start. You’ll have plenty of time for studying and learn everything you need to know in schoolcar.

Have you had issues at any other city/transit/transportation jobs?

Correct.

There is any easy solution to your problem: call 180 Livingston and find out what’s up.

It’s in this ballpark. That website will not show you the mandatory deductions from your check like pension, post-retirement health insurance, and union dues.

Are you getting to do a good amount of moves? Learning a lot? I start soon and am pretty excited about it.

As long as you disclose everything, you will be fine.

Union and HR people told my induction class the exact opposite.

Not true, provisional T/Os probationary period started on our first day. Confirmed by union and tss.

Everyone is hired as provisional so far off this list until it is certified, then they are changed over to permanent. Our provisional time counts towards our probationary period (its “temporary” hires that don’t).

Can anyone tell me how good the union dental benefits are? There’s only one medical plan that has payroll deduction but it also comes with dental. I don’t wanna pay for that dental though if it’s the same as the union dental benefits.

Good luck to everyone starting schoolcar tomorrow. I know it’s just gonna be paperwork and benefits stuff but I’m so excited to get started.