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The Schoolcar Experience

mediccjh

By mediccjh,
in Transit Employment

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RTOMan Train Operator

RTOMan

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looking at the schedule, it's not that we have 3 months in the yard after 6 months of training, the 3 months in the yard are smack in the middle of training (July 1st-Sept 20th), then we go back to schoolcar. so i guess i wont be going to the mega-concert of Matchbox Twenty and Goo Goo Dolls on Aug. 17th after all :( . i will be in the yards with rotating shifts and days off. i thought i'd at least be OK for the summer

 

 

Somebody got smart and changed it. It wasnt supposed to be that way at first..

 

Hope you like PMs and Midnights!

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mediccjh Train Operator

mediccjh

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Worked the (Q) early this morning; waited 90 mins for a trainer to take me. Oh well. Not a bad time; it's all about knowing how to handle your train and route familiarization. 

 

On the (G) tonight. Time to play "Guess where the stop marker is."

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Success7

Success7

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Worked the (Q) early this morning; waited 90 mins for a trainer to take me. Oh well. Not a bad time; it's all about knowing how to handle your train and route familiarization.

 

On the (G) tonight. Time to play "Guess where the stop marker is."

LOL 90 mins, that's child's play over here in the A div. How about banking a 3 - 4 hour late clear because nobody wanted a student. Happened to a few in my class a couple times including me. It was all cool though. I understand where some of them are coming from.
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Trainmaster5 Motorman (Retired)

Trainmaster5

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@mediccjh and others in his position.

 I'm not sure what the procedure for taking students is at present but I'll throw in some history if you don't mind. When I came out we students were assigned to a job. The M/M or C/R on that job was usually glad to have a student and we had no problems unless the trainer was a probationary employee himself. In that case the T/D would make the call if the probie was nervous. Yard or road posting it was the same procedure. Some M/M, T/Os, and C/Rs would put in a G2 stating they would take students or not. I never put in a G2 but there were instructors in schoolcar who, in conjunction with the Crew Office, would always assign students to me. For about a 7 year period every student T/O in the IRT came through me on the (5) in the pms. I never turned a student down nor did my C/R and I never complained. Since I never made more that a trip and a half, and usually worked one trippers,the students never complained either. Toward the end of that period I mentioned earlier things started to change in the field. During the pm rush the deputy supt. for the (5) used to sit in the tower at Mott Ave-149th St. Every time I had a student he would get on the radio with me and say that I was running 2 minutes late by him and for me to take over the operation for the rest of the trip. He once sent a TSS down to me and the T/D tagged along to give me some mail. When the TSS relayed the message from the supt I turned to the T/D present and asked him how long did they give me to go from Dyre to Mott when I broke him, the T/D in. He replied ,27 minutes, and now, with the trains slowed down, the schedule gave me 25 minutes. The whole conversation was heard over the radio by control center and my supt. and I was left alone for a while. The student reported the incident to schoolcar and the next day I got a call from the supt of schoolcar, who had a retirement dinner a few weeks ago, and they covered me. I actually had a student overrun the gap fillers at Union Square a while later and school car backed me on that one too. My argument was that if I was to teach route familiarization to a student he or she had to know things like fast stations, punch boxes, gap fillers and interlocking locations. In other words the student had to operate. My deputy didn't want the students to operate in Manhattan during the rush, period. It appears to me from reading some of your posts and those of the others in your position that some of these people who turn you guys down are afraid for some reason. If that is truly the case then tell those trainers who do take you thank you. Reaaly, "cause in my opinion there is nothing worse than to be trained by someone so fearful who lacks the confidence to do his/her job properly. I've trained T/Os who are present day T/Ds, TSSs and Superintendents and I'm proud of it. To you and the other students out there, hang in there and keep in contact with schoolcar if you're having problems. There are still some people out there who haven't forgotten where they came from. Sorry for the long post. Carry on.

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RTOMan Train Operator

RTOMan

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@mediccjh and others in his position.

 I'm not sure what the procedure for taking students is at present but I'll throw in some history if you don't mind. When I came out we students were assigned to a job. The M/M or C/R on that job was usually glad to have a student and we had no problems unless the trainer was a probationary employee himself. In that case the T/D would make the call if the probie was nervous. Yard or road posting it was the same procedure. Some M/M, T/Os, and C/Rs would put in a G2 stating they would take students or not. I never put in a G2 but there were instructors in schoolcar who, in conjunction with the Crew Office, would always assign students to me. For about a 7 year period every student T/O in the IRT came through me on the (5) in the pms. I never turned a student down nor did my C/R and I never complained. Since I never made more that a trip and a half, and usually worked one trippers,the students never complained either. Toward the end of that period I mentioned earlier things started to change in the field. During the pm rush the deputy supt. for the (5) used to sit in the tower at Mott Ave-149th St. Every time I had a student he would get on the radio with me and say that I was running 2 minutes late by him and for me to take over the operation for the rest of the trip. He once sent a TSS down to me and the T/D tagged along to give me some mail. When the TSS relayed the message from the supt I turned to the T/D present and asked him how long did they give me to go from Dyre to Mott when I broke him, the T/D in. He replied ,27 minutes, and now, with the trains slowed down, the schedule gave me 25 minutes. The whole conversation was heard over the radio by control center and my supt. and I was left alone for a while. The student reported the incident to schoolcar and the next day I got a call from the supt of schoolcar, who had a retirement dinner a few weeks ago, and they covered me. I actually had a student overrun the gap fillers at Union Square a while later and school car backed me on that one too. My argument was that if I was to teach route familiarization to a student he or she had to know things like fast stations, punch boxes, gap fillers and interlocking locations. In other words the student had to operate. My deputy didn't want the students to operate in Manhattan during the rush, period. It appears to me from reading some of your posts and those of the others in your position that some of these people who turn you guys down are afraid for some reason. If that is truly the case then tell those trainers who do take you thank you. Reaaly, "cause in my opinion there is nothing worse than to be trained by someone so fearful who lacks the confidence to do his/her job properly. I've trained T/Os who are present day T/Ds, TSSs and Superintendents and I'm proud of it. To you and the other students out there, hang in there and keep in contact with schoolcar if you're having problems. There are still some people out there who haven't forgotten where they came from. Sorry for the long post. Carry on.

 

 

The reason is they are now having the trainers go through issues as well..

 

Writing G2's and what not calling RCC having tss check the trainers out..

 

Lots of useless drama that some folks just dont want to be bothered with anymore..

 

BTW Back in 2001 had to WAIT almost for  the PMs for somebody to take me as a student. Talk about Bitter folks back then...

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mediccjh Train Operator

mediccjh

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@mediccjh and others in his position.

 I'm not sure what the procedure for taking students is at present but I'll throw in some history if you don't mind. When I came out we students were assigned to a job. The M/M or C/R on that job was usually glad to have a student and we had no problems unless the trainer was a probationary employee himself. In that case the T/D would make the call if the probie was nervous. Yard or road posting it was the same procedure. Some M/M, T/Os, and C/Rs would put in a G2 stating they would take students or not. I never put in a G2 but there were instructors in schoolcar who, in conjunction with the Crew Office, would always assign students to me. For about a 7 year period every student T/O in the IRT came through me on the (5) in the pms. I never turned a student down nor did my C/R and I never complained. Since I never made more that a trip and a half, and usually worked one trippers,the students never complained either. Toward the end of that period I mentioned earlier things started to change in the field. During the pm rush the deputy supt. for the (5) used to sit in the tower at Mott Ave-149th St. Every time I had a student he would get on the radio with me and say that I was running 2 minutes late by him and for me to take over the operation for the rest of the trip. He once sent a TSS down to me and the T/D tagged along to give me some mail. When the TSS relayed the message from the supt I turned to the T/D present and asked him how long did they give me to go from Dyre to Mott when I broke him, the T/D in. He replied ,27 minutes, and now, with the trains slowed down, the schedule gave me 25 minutes. The whole conversation was heard over the radio by control center and my supt. and I was left alone for a while. The student reported the incident to schoolcar and the next day I got a call from the supt of schoolcar, who had a retirement dinner a few weeks ago, and they covered me. I actually had a student overrun the gap fillers at Union Square a while later and school car backed me on that one too. My argument was that if I was to teach route familiarization to a student he or she had to know things like fast stations, punch boxes, gap fillers and interlocking locations. In other words the student had to operate. My deputy didn't want the students to operate in Manhattan during the rush, period. It appears to me from reading some of your posts and those of the others in your position that some of these people who turn you guys down are afraid for some reason. If that is truly the case then tell those trainers who do take you thank you. Reaaly, "cause in my opinion there is nothing worse than to be trained by someone so fearful who lacks the confidence to do his/her job properly. I've trained T/Os who are present day T/Ds, TSSs and Superintendents and I'm proud of it. To you and the other students out there, hang in there and keep in contact with schoolcar if you're having problems. There are still some people out there who haven't forgotten where they came from. Sorry for the long post. Carry on.

 

 

No need to apologize for the long rant. It offers perspective.

 

I don't get offended when I'm not taken. There were days on the truck when I didn't want to take an EMT or medic student, so I can relate.

I can also understand some T/O and M/M's hesitation in taking students because if I screw up as a student, they're the ones that get in trouble. Personally, I think that's flawed; if I mess up, it should be me who is held accountable, not my student. 

 

I can say that so far, all of my trainers have been great. Patient with me, letting me do my thing, and offering tips, tricks, and advice how to better my operation, which is always going to have room for improvement. If they ask to take over, I don't get offended. I understand that they have to be on schedule, and if I'm slowing them down significantly, I can't blame them for taking over. 

 

After every trip, I always ask my Trainer how I did, pointers, ways to improve, etc. I also try to ask the Conductor how the ride was, because a. they're in charge of the train, and have the power to pull the cord, and b. I don't want to throw them (or the passengers) around. And I always say thank you. 

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RTOMan Train Operator

RTOMan

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No need to apologize for the long rant. It offers perspective.

 

I don't get offended when I'm not taken. There were days on the truck when I didn't want to take an EMT or medic student, so I can relate.

I can also understand some T/O and M/M's hesitation in taking students because if I screw up as a student, they're the ones that get in trouble. Personally, I think that's flawed; if I mess up, it should be me who is held accountable, not my student. 

 

I can say that so far, all of my trainers have been great. Patient with me, letting me do my thing, and offering tips, tricks, and advice how to better my operation, which is always going to have room for improvement. If they ask to take over, I don't get offended. I understand that they have to be on schedule, and if I'm slowing them down significantly, I can't blame them for taking over. 

 

After every trip, I always ask my Trainer how I did, pointers, ways to improve, etc. I also try to ask the Conductor how the ride was, because a. they're in charge of the train, and have the power to pull the cord, and b. I don't want to throw them (or the passengers) around. And I always say thank you. 

 

 

Thats the PERFECT attitude to have!!!  :)  :)  :)

 

Even me with my Buffering i was humble as heck when i started  still learning now..

 

Of coruse there's always a "few" who don't get it but that's OK Labor Relations weeds them out usually...

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Trainmaster5 Motorman (Retired)

Trainmaster5

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The reason is they are now having the trainers go through issues as well..

 

Writing G2's and what not calling RCC having tss check the trainers out..

 

Lots of useless drama that some folks just dont want to be bothered with anymore..

 

BTW Back in 2001 had to WAIT almost for  the PMs for somebody to take me as a student. Talk about Bitter folks back then...

Gotta agree with you there RTOMan. There were many times I'd report in at Dyre or NLY after 1 pm and there would still be students from the am tour waiting for someone to take them. I agree that there are/were too many issues between schoolcar and RTO that negatively impacted the students through no fault of the students. You would think that it would be in everyones interest to have the best training for student T/Os and C/Rs. Instead it seems to have broken down into a numbers game between different parts of RTO, schoolcar and the road, with "so-called" on-time performance trumping the proper training necessary for optimal employee performance. It's one of the reasons there seem to be so many re-assignments of supervisors. I'm of the opinion that good training of students leads to better line performance so the two, schoolcar and line performance, go hand in hand in the long run. Unfortunately it seems the road supervisors use Labor Relations to cover their own behinds leaving the road employees to bear the brunt of everyone else's incompetence. Carry on.

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LexAveExp5 Train Operator

LexAveExp5

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Posted (edited)

hey, quick question. i tried to use my pass on the Q8 today because we had to go to Pitkin yard. both times i got on the Q8 my pass was "invalid" and the 2nd time the bus driver said it won't work on the old Green Bus Lines. but when they gave us our pass they said it will work on all local buses. what gives?????

 

edit: the bus drivers had no problem letting me on but i just wanna know because i don't like using my pass where i'm not supposed to (LIRR, etc.)

Edited by LexAveExp5
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Dan05979

Dan05979

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hey, quick question. i tried to use my pass on the Q8 today because we had to go to Pitkin yard. both times i got on the Q8 my pass was "invalid" and the 2nd time the bus driver said it won't work on the old Green Bus Lines. but when they gave us our pass they said it will work on all local buses. what gives?????

 

edit: the bus drivers had no problem letting me on but i just wanna know because i don't like using my pass where i'm not supposed to (LIRR, etc.)

Your pass only works on MTA NYC transit buses not MTA buses, and not express buses like the MCI buses. Also why are you dipping your pass, you were told that would ruin the pass weren't you?

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beneka

beneka

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Posted

hey, quick question. i tried to use my pass on the Q8 today because we had to go to Pitkin yard. both times i got on the Q8 my pass was "invalid" and the 2nd time the bus driver said it won't work on the old Green Bus Lines. but when they gave us our pass they said it will work on all local buses. what gives?????

 

edit: the bus drivers had no problem letting me on but i just wanna know because i don't like using my pass where i'm not supposed to (LIRR, etc.)

 

Yeah, I've never dipped my pass on the bus...I show it to the driver and he lets me on. Also as posted above, we were told we shouldn't dip it on the bus cause it might ruin it.

 

Three trips on the 6 today. Not a bad day at all, but I guess I can kinda see why a lot of T/O's don't like working on the 6...definitely a lot of cab time!!! I personally like it(for now) cause of takes 20 mins using NYCT to get to Pelham from my house!

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mediccjh Train Operator

mediccjh

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Been road posting all night all week; was on the (D) Tuesday night and the (A) last night; both great nights.

 

It's the Homeless Express, er, the (E) tonight, before I head back west.

 

 

got my first paycheck today. i notice 2 deductions missing. NYCERS and the fingerprint fee. does this mean they'll hit me twice next time for NYCERS and the fingerprint at a later time?



NYCERS won't hit until a few weeks, usually once your medical kicks in; at least that's when it hit for me.

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dagenius69

dagenius69

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Had my first track fire today. It was interesting, pm rush south of grand central. Train was packed and i had to shut down the hvac. I then sat there and watched the fire burn while control asked if its safe to go past. Had 2 superintendents walk down from 42 and put it out. It all turned out ok.

 

Sent from my LG-MS770 using Tapatalk 2

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INDman Train Operator

INDman

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Had my first track fire today. It was interesting, pm rush south of grand central. Train was packed and i had to shut down the hvac. I then sat there and watched the fire burn while control asked if its safe to go past. Had 2 superintendents walk down from 42 and put it out. It all turned out ok.

 

Sent from my LG-MS770 using Tapatalk 2

They don't have the train crew put it out? My first week switching at Harrison Yard, I had a track fire and i put it out using my water bottle so we could keep doing moves.

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