A Question for B/Os

[Donald]

I just had a quick question for B/Os: What determines which B/Os drive local routes and which ones drive express? Does express require a lot of seniority? Do B/Os have to drive express runs or can they just stick with local routes? I would imagine that express routes are harder since it is easier to get lost...

['89 Liberty MCI]

Express is harder to pick because it is more desirable (work-wise). Not as much pick-up and drop-off, highway driving, fast driving, less frequent stops, more pleasant than local and limited. Express itself definitely requires seniority but if somebody that would like to do it cannot get the days off or hours that they want with the express, they may decide to go to a local/limited run instead for the days off or hours or whatever other reason.

 

You have MTA Bus express buses that run 7 days a week, so that changes up the dynamic of who picks it a little bit since it's possible to have any two days off during the week. A number of TA (nothing OA since OA has no express routes) express routes run weekdays only, increasing the seniority needed to pick them since all the runs on those routes would be Saturday-Sunday off. Some more TA express routes have a Saturday print but no Sunday print, so it's possible to have Sunday-Monday and this could decrease the number of years required to pick them.

 

Then in Staten Island some of them like the X1 (I believe) run 7 days so you need even fewer years to pick those since those routes have less desirable days off (Saturday-Sunday and Sunday-Monday are not the only possibilities).