SoSpectacular

Don't know how recent this is but nowadays MTA runs a mentoring program for all new coming drivers. It's 10 days long, and you'll be paired with a senior driver. You'll pretty much go by their run which usually has weekends off and they're responsible for showing you the ins and outs of what you will be doing on a day-to-day basis on the job. Very valuable experience. After that, you'l go on to learn the rest of the lines at whatever depot you've chosen.

10 hours ago, cwing813 said:

same here, i restore my name last week and luckily they call me go tomorrow already, but i just have a question, do i need to fill out the form pre-employment form again? since i went there on April, will they keep the record???

If you already handed in the pre-employment packet, you'll have to do them again, but they will give you your old one back to copy off of it/add more information should things had changed

2 hours ago, Cactus683 said:

Anyone know what list number there up to on 7612?One guy on the phone telling me 802  and another telling me 1302 and I'm in the 1200 bracket.

DCAS states list number of the last person appointed was 805

5 hours ago, Bsalick1992 said:

So basically if it says 5/28/2019 we should be expecting a pre employment letter soon ..?? And also can anyone tell us what they look for in the medical examination part? Do they make you blow into anything like nyc corrections??

The medical exam is pretty much a routine physical. First you'll have your vitals checked, blood pressure, heart beat. They'll tell you to take a few deep breaths. Then they'll have you pee in a cup again and they'll test your urine for any chemical imbalances. After that you'll do the EKG, vision and hearing test. Then it's back to the doctor who first saw you when you were called in.

2 hours ago, New2this said:

Thank you.....East NY, Grand Ave, and Jackie Gleason

 

Heh those depots were open when it was our turn to pick. I'm surprised Gun Hill or Kingsbridge didn't pop up, they had a lot of openings for our class

3 hours ago, train1290 said:

Alright Congratulations! Where was Day 7 for you? Any tips you could tell us?

For our Day 7, we were taken along the B13 route and the surrounding side streets, going from Ridgewood all the way to Spring Creek and back. We did everything from acute left turns to right hooks. Basically utilizing all our skills in a sense.

Best thing I could tell you is to never make the same mistake each day. Days 1-5 are for you to learn. Use the notes your instructor writes on your task sheets and think about what you can do to remedy that situation. Every slip-up I made from Days 1-5 never happened again. 

On my first day I had the bus veering off too close to my right because it felt a little overwhelming at first. It took some getting used to. Day 2 I offered to go first on making turns. I veered too close to a car on my right making a right turn. Got trolley braked. Took that experience, went home and thought back. Day 3 we learned bus stops. I did not notice my instructor had put his leg in the door while I tried to close it. Whoops. Wasn't paying enough attention. Didn't happen again! Day 4 I nearly veered into an el pillar because I got confused as to which mirror I was supposed to find the pillar on my right and lost it. Day 5 I was finally feeling more comfortable behind the wheel so driving in upper Manhattan wasn't as bad. Still got trolley braked because I did not utilize some extra space at a strange intersection. I also forgot to utilize a hook turn because I wasn't paying attention to how close I was to a curb. Had to be backed up and complete the turn. Day 6 I mistimed a turn signal and instantly had to go to Day 8 and 9. But! My Day 7 was flawless. My instructor was impressed.

"Why couldn't you do that the days before?!" He'd said after I made a fairly difficult turn. It was hard but I got it done.

Just now, train1290 said:

Tomorrow is your road test?

No I passed it today. I go to my depot Tuesday.

On 5/10/2019 at 9:06 PM, Deirdre0407 said:

Let me know how it goes! I look forward to seeing you both on Tuesday!  Practice ur offset on the opposite side, incase you get the same Examiners that I had today. He also tries to get you out of your chair before the Air Break System check is completed and outside before u pre-trip the interior. 

You'll be seeing me on Tuesday! I feel great today!

3 hours ago, Deirdre0407 said:

I almost passed that 8A exit too. So be mindful that as soon as u see that “ red” house get ready to exit. Only by the grace if God that I caught it. I crossed the zebra lines to make it. I thought he was going to fail me for 

Yeah... Right when you pass the entrance ramp after 8C you can use that lane to get to 8A, just have to be mindful of the merging traffic.

18 hours ago, Deirdre0407 said:

Let me know how it goes! I look forward to seeing you both on Tuesday!  Practice ur offset on the opposite side, incase you get the same Examiners that I had today. He also tries to get you out of your chair before the Air Break System check is completed and outside before u pre-trip the interior. 

Yeah we did all that after the examiner left! We we warned that the guy you had yesterday was a tricky bastard! 

Just now, Deirdre0407 said:

Passed my road test today!! JGL here I come 👍🏻

Didn't see you afterwards but congrats! The remaining two of us to Gleason are up Monday morning!

31 minutes ago, train1290 said:

Hmm....ok. So you passed day 7? Another question is when you're assigned a depot for days 1-7, lets say that depot is in Brooklyn......will the Days1-7 be in Brooklyn or no?

I had to go to day 9 because of a mistake I nearly made on day 6. While I did really good on day 7 I couldn't qualify because you have to be near perfect on day 6 along with 7.

1 hour ago, train1290 said:

Congratulations....Where did day 7 take place? What streets and cross streets? Any tips you could give us? ( If you don't mind me asking and youre at liberty of answering.... BTW thank you in advance)

My instructor at Grand Avenue did the entirety of our training along the B13 route and the surrounding streets. The route has it all, acute/obtuse turns, hook turns, tight streets where you literally are 2 feet from hitting a car probably so it was the perfect stage for day 7. 

12 minutes ago, New2this said:

Thanks for the heads up. So do we spend most of the day driving? When do we get to pick depots?

You'll pick depots sometime in the next week during either General Instruction/Customer Service and/or Vision Zero classes. And yes, you and your Day 7 classmates will spend the day driving around and taking turns. Those that qualify on Day 9 will do it on Monday and pick up those who pass on that day which will be Day 10 and drive around.

2 hours ago, New2this said:

Does anyone know what happens on day 8?? I qualified on day 7

You're going to do equipment training. You're going to get familiar with the Nova LFS and New Flyer XD40 models.

Word of advice: When you get behind the wheel of the New Flyer, don't be surprised at how the brake pedal reacts when you come to a stop. It's some type of self-applying interlock that allows you to rest your foot in between stops. You will feel it sink after about 2-3 seconds of idling and you'll have to tap the gas pedal to get the bus going. It won't roll on its own. I got behind the wheel of it and was confused after I released the parking brake. The superintendent in charge had to tell me to hit the gas.

19 hours ago, +Young+ said:

So they no longer start and end across the street from 750 Zerega Avenue? That's something new...

Nope, with the new testing standards as of December 2017 the three parts of the road test require more space- the skills test especially. Eastchester has the room for it so it's done there now.

9 minutes ago, train1290 said:

Instructor meaning MTA instructor? Or, DMV instructor?

The road test is administered by the NYS DMV at Eastchester Depot. 

47 minutes ago, Deirdre0407 said:

BBSALS are

Break Drum

Break Linings 

Spring Mount

Air Bag

Leaf Springs

Shock Absorbers

 

BBS are

Break Chamber

Break Hose

Slack Adjudters

 

Triple S-U

Steering Box

Steering Rod

Steering Linkage 

U Bolts

D is

Drive Shaft

 

u must know the whole under Carriage and what to look for for each part. Such as properly mounted, all hardware present and tight. Different things for different parts of the under carriage. Also must know engine parts, Hydraulic compartment & Coolant  Surge System. It sounds like a lot but Once u see it and study it’s easy. 

My road test is Friday

and I got Jackie Gleason Depot 👍🏻

 

Also, to add on to that, the instructor won't make you pre-trip the entire bus! He or she may point out various locations or tell you to begin from a certain side of the vehicle (They may try to trip you up in the middle of the air brake test by asking you to abruptly stop in between steps and move on to the next thing. DO NOT allow this to happen. Instant failure.). Although certain parts of the vehicle are not accessible, you still need to mention them. Next Monday's my road test, by the way.

31 minutes ago, New2this said:

Do we have to report parking tickets and/or Turning right on red ticket-(by street camera)? If none are pending. 

You only have to report any pending moving violation tickets, such as the ones that get you points or your license suspended. Camera tickets are a gray area because those go to whoever owns the car and not the driver so they don't really go on your abstract. If they're not pending, then you're good. I didn't have to mention a ticket I got back in May 2017 because it was already taken care of by the time I got to pre-employment.

11 hours ago, train1290 said:

That's why I want to get my CDL on my own....it will be ONE less thing to worry about after passing the training. Do you have to do the pre-trip "pointing and describing" things out during 1-7 training days?

You should learn the exterior and interior pre-trip on Day 1 and practice it until about Day 4 or so. We got handouts for the engine compartment and the area within the front wheel wells. The ALSAPS (air brake test) is a MUST.

10 hours ago, +Young+ said:

Congrats!! Offhand, was the route for Day 9 the same as in these posts (5399 & 5400) or did they change it?

Yeah, the route was more or less the same.

43 minutes ago, train1290 said:

Road test? You mean to get you CDL class B license?

Yes you can't drive without an actual Class B commercial license. 

The hardest part about it is knowing what and where you're looking at when doing the pre-trip. I've got the exterior and interior parts down pat including the air brake test. I'm hoping I don't have to do the engine compartment but I'll have to keep looking at the important parts around the engine more to learn this

1 hour ago, Bsalick1992 said:

I been seeing a lot of people getting calls and going through the process .. happy for you guys my number is 12XX can’t anyone kind of give me a sense of direction or idea on when i can expect a call... seems like a forever wait

A majority of us that were in the 4/15 class had list numbers in the 500s and whoever they pulled from the previous exam so your time should be coming relatively soon. Just hold on in there man

9 hours ago, Moussy said:

Good luck bro, u can do it, we will see u at Jamaica on monday!

I will be seeing you guys on Monday for equipment training! On a side note, I don't have to travel out too far now! So I'm very pleased!

15 hours ago, Deirdre0407 said:

Day 7 is at the discretion of your Superintendent. 

This is true. We stayed mainly along the B13 route. Some real nasty turns along the way. That's what I call a proving ground loool 

4 hours ago, Flatbush SBS Duece said:

I'm sorry you had to go through this Young, You are very humble and I really hope you get over on this side NYCT as a Bus operator very soon.

I believe Day 6 route has been modify a little bit, not sure the exact details, but I heard they made a slightly change on the tour.

Anyone from the recent classes can confirm this?.....

Our instructor took each of us along different paths for Day 6. We didn't follow the same course except for a few turns. 

Because of my slight slip up yesterday though, couldn't qualify today. Day 8 and 9 for me automatically. Did so well today too!