Xentor

If I am looking for a Train Operator Job what is the name of the title given in the MTA website ?  ,

Train Operator

I suspect the MTA is going continue hiring like crazy. there are so many people with 25+ years down here it ain't a thing (this includes people not physically involved in RTO like C/R's & T/O's). Not to mention the amount of people that will be approaching retirement in the next 5 years. I wouldn't be surprised if 6601 is extended several times over like 8094. The new contract has also sprinkled a few things here and there that may make it even sweeter to retire asap. Kids still in school, unpaid properties, working up higher salaries for tier 4 retirements and insurance for family members are the top things keeping some people working in Transit imo. Very few people stick around for the pure enjoyment of it all regardless of what they say lol. Ridership is high or higher regardless of fare increases, I suspect the MTA may even make a move to increase service on some lines. So I'd say people on this list need to start making plans. I hope my seldomly shared opinions shed some light.

I know personally from TWO colleagues that have been called up for drug testing during the past couple of weeks for C/R Promo. That to me is a sign that 8094 is over or about to be over very soon. Several C/R's that came in to post the past couple of weeks didn't have any idea if they were still calling from their 8094 list. Ones that came in before them said they were still calling classes from 8094.

How long does it take to get a steady shift?

With the way people are moving around I'd say C/R's especially can expect to see something after two full picks on the job, especially if you make it to Schoolcar before 8094 ends. For T/O's it'll probably take much longer but it's difficult to know. Platform C/R's seem to be working out, that may expand and it should. The W is making a comeback, the Second avenue line is coming, people still hanging it up all over the place. Transit is gonna need quite a few more employees and that's good for all of us beginning careers in Transit. I personally was able to pick a job while still having about 6 weeks left in probation. The same goes for several other people.

I got a 97 on my midterm. It wasn't too bad. Just study everything that you've learned from day 1. As far as the practical goes make sure you don't forget to check all of your angles, ebv's, and make sure all of your mdc's are in run. As long as you do all of those things you should be ok.

Don't forget the two maps, the breakers, the safety chains, PA's IC's. Output arm must touch the bumper stop when cutting a door then snap check it, take car number and door number. All that was on my practical

Subwayfan, SubwayGuy, and Niku did have a point though. Looking on the outside from a non-biased realistic standpoint it does seem a bit misleading to suggest that they'd hire up to/over 2000 people within the first two years. It did seem like he was trying to soften the blow to make himself feel better for his score, and that's totally understandable. However, like it was mentioned earlier in this thread a score less than a 94/5 isn't anything to be excited about on an exam as competitive as this one, he just has to be realistic that's all. Like subwayfan said it's the list number that we should be worried about and then from there.

 

Anyways, at this point it's like we're beating a dead horse.

 

Hopefully if I get called in with 1 wrong and a bunch of conductors (including you  ) move up to Train Operator within these next few years I can have some seniority and be able to pick a decent job preferably on the so I can work on those new trains. I browsed this site and viewed the employee threads and it seems like being extra extra is brutal lol.

 

Oh yeah, any word on the status on the promotion to conductor and train operator exams? I know the current exams have to expire first, but have employees received their scores and list numbers yet?

There will be a good number of C/R's moving up to T/O, ATD and Towers. People are moving to other titles as we speak. I myself am waiting for promotionals to begin and THEY WILL begin. Transit is slowly adding service all over the place, they will need us. With your score you shouldn't have much to worry about, whatever you're doing now is only temporary, when they call you downtown, time is gonna fly and you gonna be on that PA and working them doors all day everyday serving NYC. Don't forget to wave at all the kids (if it's safe to do so). As far as being XX, it's only brutal if they for example switch you from PM's to AM's or vice versa (usually after your days off) and most people lock in the tour that they want. It may be tough for some people to suddenly have to adjust. Aside from that nothing about this job is brutal enough to faze anyone that goes through the waiting game and wants stable honest employment. So don't believe the hype.

Why would you do that? All we're doing is asking questions, and getting some informed observations. Nobody is calling insults or flaming. We all just want info. We know, we know, it's all speculative at this point, and nothing anyone posts here will change anything, but then again it's not like the MTA will tell us what their hiring rate is or how many people they hire off any given list (except after they already call people from a list) or even how long a list lasts. They told me at the protest session this list will be good for 4 years. You're right, nobody knows anything at this point. So all we have to go on is what happened in years past. Speaking for myself, with a score like 92, I would like to think I have a realistic chance of making the cut. Which is WHY it is encouraging to hear other people say that the turnover at conductor is swift and that a range of several hundred people or more are sent letters each year. I really don't see the harm in reading different experiences people in the know have had with this hiring process, it's all part of the marketplace of ideas, right?

YOU DO have a very legitimate chance with you're score, absolutely. It's YoungNYCSubwayFan's job as mod to lock tired discussions though and that's why he's reviewing it. I for one don't think you posted misleading information, just something you heard or talked about with someone. SubwayGuy along with other posters have posted various scenarios and facts to keep us going until any new developments unfold. So let's see what may come out of this and not piss off the moderators as there IS worthwhile info on this thread.

Why didn't u pass probation?

Who?

Wasn't that because of the hiring freeze that was in effect? In #615 in this thread, and the subsequent posts, we have MTAhopefullMatt saying pretty much the same thing as the T/O I spoke with. Obviously, if they're right, I ought to get a letter in about 2 years.

Maybe, maybe not. They gotta get through the promotions to C/R first and that can take a year or more and they haven't even started. Not to mention they are still hiring from the 2008 exam too. One thing I can tell you for sure is that every other day I'm hearing the RCC ask if conductors want to work an extra day, call the crew office. I only used to hear that For T/O's. So it would appear the Transit Authority is still short on C/R's even though they haven't stopped hiring for the longest now. I think the C/R's they are hiring now have scored in the high 80's or low 90's and they started hiring from that list back in 2011 or 2012.

This was already addressed earlier in this thread. As well as in the NOE. You need those qualifications on the DAY YOU APPLY. Of course, you could petition the MTA to postpone the Education and Experience Test until the day you are called from the list. But they probably won't want to do that because then they would have to sift through too many unqualified candidates at the last minute. I think people should write to the exams unit and ask for them to do what you suggest, to postpone the E&E test until the day one is called from the list.

Yea you're right. I did just notice you need these requirements by the last date of the application period even for other exams. I'm a little late to the park but I recall work experience requisites being required by the last day before being appointed, not by the last day before you apply. This basically means a lot of younger people may not get a shot. It's worth a shot what you suggest but it would take quite a massive effort. If they feel they couldn't get enough applicants for this title then they may ease up on the requirements and possibly issue another exam. I feel that's probably more likely to happen.

How disappointing. Looks like I wont be qualified. What a disappointment this morning, was really looking forward to taking this test...I did not know it required such qualifications before hand...ugh.

 

moving on...:'(

It's not as bad as you think it is. This ain't the type of job you apply for and immediately get hired, it's something you put in you're back pocket but not forget about. After you take the exam, it may take a year or more before the MTA establishes a hiring list. After they figure that out it will likely take another year or more before they even begin calling any candidates. Even if you manage a perfect score you are looking at at least 2-3 years before they call you up. Mind you they still got to get through possibly close to 1000 promotions to T/O before they even get to T/O Exam 7604 and that's going to take some time. TA are still calling candidates from Exam 8098 from 2009 I believe. This new 7604 exam has even been postponed to later dates twice as far as I remember. If you have enough college credits and/or at least 1-2 years of acceptable work experience right now, you should get through. Plus if they call you, you can always postpone it until you have enough work experience. That's how I see the whole thing panning out.

As far as the MTA easing up on qualifications for employment, at least for the foreseeable future, they are more likely to raise the qualifications instead.

The Transit Authority could have ramped up the difficulty setting on some of the newer open competitive exams in an effort to try and rein in what they think will become better employees. Either that or they have hired so many people already that they wouldn't mind failing a few extra thousand people this time around. It's possible. I personally don't think making the exam any harder makes a difference. ANYONE can come to transit and be phenomenal day in and day out. Sometimes it doesn't even matter how well you do the job most of the time, as long as you don't screw it up (this isn't good advice, i'm just telling it as I see it). It's also something you get better at like it or not and without even realizing it as time goes by and you gain more experience. That's why the VAST majority of transit workers are phenomenal. People in Transit work hard most especially RTO personnel. Everyone has a responsibility assigned to them and it needs to be done, otherwise you're not coming back the next day, at least not in operational capacity.  This C/R thing is a pretty darn good job even if you don't plan on promoting, so good luck to you all, get this gig and be phenomenal even though no one notices it.

 

Look, if it makes you feel better, I also found the test surprisingly challenging.  And not to brag--I only mention this because of what you said--but I have more impressive degrees and credentials than you do.  I took the test because my profession is notoriously stressful, cutthroat, and soul-crushing, and frankly I'm starting to get burnt out.  Also like you, I find office environments (and office politics) particularly dismal and draining. 

 

About a quarter of the way through the test I realized that it was written to appear easy.  But if you were really paying attention and started noticing the patterns, it was deceptively tricky.  There were traps and trick questions purposely written in to steer you to the wrong answers if you didn't read (and reread) the questions very carefully.  There were even some questions that had more than one right answer (yes, I believe there was more than just the one everyone is thinking of), which I can only assume were put in there to throw you off and to see how you'd react to such a situation.  If you spent too much time trying to figure out which answer was "more right" it could seriously cut into your time and you wouldn't have as much time to finish.  

 

There were also other questions that didn't seem to have any right answer at all.  Or there were questions that didn't make sense because the way the information was presented in the example tables and diagrams seemed to have mistakes.  But they were written to seem like they made sense if you weren't paying close enough attention so that you would easily choose the wrong answer if you didn't notice the "mistakes".  It's hard describing these questions without getting more specific, but I'm pretty sure we're not allowed to discuss and refer to the actual questions.  

 

Meanwhile, these trick questions were interspersed between questions that were so simple that I thought to myself, "This question is way too easy; it has to be a trick!"  Easy as in, the first President of the United States was __________________.  (This is, of course, not one of the questions, but just a made up example.)  So I ended up going back and checking every single question to make sure that the ones that seemed too easy were in fact just easy questions.  And yes, I took all three hours given because of this.  

 

It also seemed like the test was written to throw off people who tend to overthink questions too much.  There were some questions that I spent way too much time trying to figure out if it was a trick question or not or if I was just missing some crucial piece of the puzzle.  Perhaps the exam was trying to weed out people who think a little too much outside the box?  Or people who assume that the information they were given was wrong if it didn't make sense and would make choices that weren't standard procedure because they thought they knew better?  

 

Either way, if we're ever allowed to discuss the actual questions, I'd really love to see what other people thought of specific ones.  

 

This post above does a good job outlining what a lot of people think of Transit exams including many but not all of my colleagues. I especially saw a lot of this on some of the promotional tests I've taken, they are a bit harder because most of the questions assume you know a thing or two about the job already, but nothing to rip you're hair out for. Most people think the exams are easy (and they are really) but most don't score a perfect 100%. Sometimes I think they'll even give you a hard question so that you take extra time time thinking about it and then you may have to rush a bit. They want and need quick thinkers here, don't think outside the box just do as you're told and taught lol.

My brother you have no idea and sound just as clueless as other new yorkers when it comes to the work we put in.... you might as well go back to the private sector.. Because working for transit there is no going home at 5pm everyday...You probably couldnt handle 10 people at your cab window asking for directions either.... so before you go making assumptions work a REGULAR job first since you havent had no work experience in the past 15 years..Transit employees work tirelessly and to no merit....never get a thank you either....

This ranks right up there with some of the realest posts I've seen on the forum.

So in other words, It's a pass or fail type of Assessment? Anything I should do to study?

You could brush up on some of your major landmarks, airports and parks. I recall a couple of questions about where the Empire State Building and Statue Of Liberty are located. I did absolutely NOOO studying whatsoever when I took the exam and scored decently. I honestly cant recall much but I think I remember some of the question including a map or diagram. It was fairly easy. As for Oral Proficiency, we didn't have to take that part but like SubwayGuy above said it probably consists of assessing the clarity of your speech. Should be very simple. You'll have to make a lot of announcements (stops, transfers, connections, service changes etc..) So assessing the clarity of your speech is something the TA should have been doing for a while. Just speak as clearly and professional as you can, Oral Proficiency testing should be the easiest part of the test.

Really? Wow. I just buy off eBay. No wonder all the transfers on the map still have the orange .

On the other hand: just because I don't want to mess up my R142 strip map is there anyway I can buy one off from the ?

 Say Javvy, you wouldn't happen to be about 5 foot 7" tall weight about 160 pounds, black hair, black framed glasses, usually wearing jeans a t-shirt and a slim coat or jacket? South American. Do you like hanging around GC watching trains go by? Where ya going today after you take the 1 train downtown? I don't mean anything bad, just wanna know if I got the right person here.

I only had one of them tell me on the 7 Line in the AMs do that

I see it this way,sometimes you just gotta ask then..... Don't always expect folks to volunteer info esp on certain lines where it's hectic a lot. They worrying about the railroad and who signs in not if the job pays OTor not.

Indeed. A few dispatchers have absolutely nooooo interest in helping out new people with anything OT related (say err uptown mid bronx on late am's), especially those that are posting. On the other hand, whomever you are posting with will help you with your overtime slip when they are filling out theirs.

How long does it usually take once you get hired to actually pick a job? And if anyone has the time to share what life is like on the xxlist? I would appreciate that. Thanks Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And lord knows it's not easy for me to get up and go to my current job while thinking about MTA all day everyday. It's definitely been a lesson in patience for me. Lol Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Life as an xxlister can be sweet as you'll almost definitely pick up a few hours of OT doing absolutely nothing. The problem is, suppose you pick up a full 8 hour job (usually the case) after say 4 hours on board and you clear at 3am in the morning and that same day you gotta report back to Transit at 12pm then for me that's not a lot of time left to yourself. HOWEVER, everyone has eaten this dozens of times and asked for more, so there's no complaining. Plus, after you see all that extra cheese on your check believe me this isn't something you are going to worry about. In fact several veterans pick extra board because there's usually more money in it as alot of jobs with built-in OT have been cut off. On another note sometimes you just sit around and watch TV, read, drink alot of water or play video games on your phone the whole 8 hours which can hurt your ass and back.

From what I was told you won't get union representation till after your probation is over. You belong to Schoolcar for that time. Meaning they can fire you for one infraction. Yes one. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

TWU Local 100 will make it firmly understood to you that they have your back from your very first day, but not to the FULLEST extent they say. That's what the union representative said. I take this as you basically better not screw up in front of any TSS's that wanna write you up, or get any customer complaints or get banged in. New conductors are basically taught to bang in T/Os that overrun stations or are constantly making hard stops, or wait until or remind the T/O to call rail control, otherwise it's both your asses. I hate it.

That my brother is a good question! 

On your very first check you get hit with union dues, about 27 bux.

Quick question. I am in my early 40's. And needles to say I have had quite a number of jobs between High School and now. Anybody in a similar situation. If yes, did you go all the way back to high school? I graduated in early 90's I have had about 20 "jobs" and about 4 periods of unemployment between then and now. I have my s.s. Employment history for the last 10 years. The booklet they send you b4 drug test requires only 10 yrs. the 20 page booklet they send you home with after drug test says all the way back to high school. Just wondering if I'm gonna have to go back to s.s. Office and get a history all the way back to high school. Thanks in advance

I can tell you this much, I had a gap between the time I went to high school and the time I entered college. My interviewer wanted to know how was I supporting myself in between that gap and other periods of unemployment. So all indication points that yes, you have to go all the way back to high school. A lot of people have suggested to not put any jobs off the books and you must state how or whom supported you during your time of unemployment. It can get a bit confusing filling out that booklet when you had a lot jobs, but you can do it.

will you be put on medical hold if you have protein in your urine ???

As far as I been able to find out, high protein levels in Urine can be the cause of various symptoms. Mainly some sort of kidney problem and even muscle disorders. If your Transit doctors determine this to be a problem then yes you will be put on medical hold. Unless they tell you this right there and then, you're good to go. Good luck.

Keep this in mind when you finish school car & decide from then if you want to stay on the road or not:

 

Study your rules, 2 pages a day, 5 minutes a day. Read 3 bulletins a day...You too can be a bearded grand wizard of teaching.

Rather be a Conductor or Operator. Weekends off while teaching do sound pretty darn good though.

9 months TJ. I've been in the system for a couple of years now. So far so good.

Can you recall when you got your first raise?

And that's the dangerous part of the game that gets played. They tell you, "just go buy your own" as a means to get you off of their backs on the issue but as I said before, if you slip and fall on a wet structure they are going to check to see what you were wearing and carrying. If it's no TA stamped and approved they will use it against you because they do not want to pay for you to not work even if it's not a contributing factor.

 

They tried to not pay a surviving spouse death benefits because of worn TA issue boots, but if you tell then your boots are worn what do they do about it?....Please be careful with this. Those same Supts and TS-Supervisors will deny they ever verbally authorized any outside equipment if their feet were put to the flames....

Yeah I understand where you're getting at. That type of game gets played all over the place. However, suppose you do slip and fall etc and what have you but you had previously filled out a form to get gear such as boots, ponchos etc and you do not receive it in time if at all, wouldn't that cause them a problem when you file for worker's comp?

Thanks for the responses guys. Our TSS is VERY good in explaining the stuff clearly. Perfect actually. I just wish he was more approachable and offer words of encouragement instead of saying if you don't know this you fail, you do this thing wrong you fail, etc. I know there are rules and regulations but every now and then say "Good Job" or "I have faith that all of you will pass" or something to give us some confidence, is that too much to ask ?  He gets agitated if we do not understand the material instantly and there were a few instances he starts yelling.  The whole class can tell he has no patience with us and has a very short fuse. I am not talking bad about him because he is very good as an instructor, awesome actually but if we make a mistake don't yell at us which makes us feel worthless. We have little to no confidence as it is because we don't know any better.

Up until now, so far all I've heard about TSS's is that they are bearded grand wizards of teaching. I knew there had to blah blah blah blah blah out there somewhere. Hang in there and make the best of this regardless, nobody is perfect.

I will be honest here. I finished my 2nd week and I do feel overwhelmed. My brain is all over the place. So is the rest of the class.

Just wondering, is that because you took a bunch of notes and they are all over the place and you don't know where to start? This used to happen to me back in college lol. The amount of info is really that overwhelming huh? I do a job that couldn't be more different from Transit and the closer this gets the more nerve racked I become. How are your TSS's?

Thanks for stating the obvious. I was looking for something like length of test in terms of time, number of questions, anything helpful. But thanks, I'll try to remember to study.

You can also try reading some of this thread from the beginning as the OP and others try to outline some of their experiences. It's a pretty good peek into what's to come.