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Veteran transit workers say MTA isn't training new hires properly


jon2305

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In a Feb. 12 goof, an F train operator was sent for an ability-to-perform test after he went onto the wrong track near the Briarwood station in Queens. To get back onto the correct track, the operator had to return to the Jamaica train yard — with all the customers aboard. The foulup delayed four trains.

So how does this happen if the switches aren't hand-operated?

Because, as I understand it, TOs are supposed to radio in to RCC requests to switch tracks, meaning that even if this TO got the track/switch number wrong, shouldn't the person at RCC know that it's wrong and open the correct switch to keep the train on the correct routing?

Just seems to me that, based on the NYDN summarization here only, that it takes two people to make this mistake - TO and dispatcher.

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Not training new hires properly huh.... Not surprising.

Just like with most other skill positions (you could argue any job nowadays really), I guess that you're just supposed to be expected to know how to safely operate and/or conduct a bus or a train, from cover to cover, right out of the gate..... Nobody has the time or the money to (want to) train anyone anymore - but there's no "shortage" of management ready to do away with underperformers.....

Sorry, but there's not going to be a line of Darius McCollum's (minus the insanity) wrapped around 2 Broadway.....

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UNBELIEVEABLE to say the least.....<_<...I mean opening doors on wrong sides,overshooting platforms, moving trains while doors still open,delaying trains being sent up the wrong track....One would think after the Union Sq wreck (which clearly was the fault of the motorman) that the transit authority would take these type of thing more serious....After reading this article makes me wonder about the overpriced system we are using....

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18 minutes ago, biGC323232 said:

UNBELIEVEABLE to say the least.....<_<...I mean opening doors on wrong sides,overshooting platforms, moving trains while doors still open,delaying trains being sent up the wrong track....One would think after the Union Sq wreck (which clearly was the fault of the motorman) that the transit authority would take these type of thing more serious....After reading this article makes me wonder about the overpriced system we are using....

Only now you're starting wonder about the system we are using?

Not when Emperor Cuomo forced the (MTA) to bail out failing ski resorts

Not when ESA got delayed and over budgeted ad infinitum 

Not after the Fulton St. fiasco

etc...

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3 minutes ago, kosciusko said:

Only now you're starting wonder about the system we are using?

Not when Emperor Cuomo forced the (MTA) to bail out failing ski resorts

Not when ESA got delayed and over budgeted ad infinitum 

Not after the Fulton St. fiasco

etc...

Which Ski resorts are you talking about?  I never heard that one,

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2 minutes ago, kosciusko said:

Only now you're starting wonder about the system we are using?

Not when Emperor Cuomo forced the (MTA) to bail out failing ski resorts

Not when ESA got delayed and over budgeted ad infinitum 

Not after the Fulton St. fiasco

etc...

And what anything you've just said has anything to do with the article posted???<_<

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3 minutes ago, Wallyhorse said:

Which Ski resorts are you talking about?  I never heard that one,

Oh boy...

Quote

In one particularly egregious example, Mr. Cuomo’s administration forced the M.T.A. to send $5 million to bail out three state-run ski resorts that were struggling after a warm winter.

source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/18/nyregion/new-york-subway-system-failure-delays.html

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Quote

In a Feb. 12 goof, an F train operator was sent for an ability-to-perform test after he went onto the wrong track near the Briarwood station in Queens. To get back onto the correct track, the operator had to return to the Jamaica train yard — with all the customers aboard. The foulup delayed four trains.

1. How is that even possible?

2. How is that the train operator's fault?

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32 minutes ago, Around the Horn said:

1. How is that even possible?

2. How is that the train operator's fault?

1. Either he went down Archer n/b and had to relay back on the yard leads, or he went into the yard s/b. 

2. While I agree that he isn’t the only person culpable, taking the wrong lineup for his route is sorta on him. 

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26 minutes ago, Around the Horn said:

1. How is that even possible?

2. How is that the train operator's fault?

Looking at my hard copy of "Tracks"

Heading Manhattan bound they just ended up on the D9 yard lead between Briarwood and Union Turnpike. They were not paying attention to their lineup. 

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22 minutes ago, Around the Horn said:

1. How is that even possible?

2. How is that the train operator's fault?

I'd love the explanation for that, as I said earlier.

Even if the TO called out the wrong code for switching, it's the dispatcher's responsibility to move the actual switch, and s/he should know what switch belongs to that section of route.

Maybe we should send (MTA) a FOI request to explain how this one happened, since it takes two people to screw that up.

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The other issue is a lot of these guys seem eager to work for the (MTA) but then they are miserable.  I ask myself can't these guys find another job? I mean you look at the employee section and there are people asking about their number and such daily.  Do these people really want to work for the (MTA) or do they just want a paycheck? 

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16 minutes ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

The other issue is a lot of these guys seem eager to work for the (MTA) but then they are miserable.  I ask myself can't these guys find another job? I mean you look at the employee section and there are people asking about their number and such daily.  Do these people really want to work for the (MTA) or do they just want a paycheck? 

Sometimes the benefits outweigh the negatives. In this day and age, that's quite literal. 

20 minutes ago, Deucey said:

I'd love the explanation for that, as I said earlier.

Even if the TO called out the wrong code for switching, it's the dispatcher's responsibility to move the actual switch, and s/he should know what switch belongs to that section of route.

Maybe we should send (MTA) a FOI request to explain how this one happened, since it takes two people to screw that up.

Possible answer would be this train was trailing an OSS deadheading back to Jamaica Yard and the TO didn't know to request the switch be set back to normal. 

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7 minutes ago, Kamen Rider said:

Possible answer would be this train was trailing an OSS deadheading back to Jamaica Yard and the TO didn't know to request the switch be set back to normal. 

Okay. But why wouldn't the dispatcher/RCC set the switch back to normal position after the OSS cleared?

TO error, sure, but this is a two-person error based on basic understanding of how it's supposed to work.

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What the f**k did I just read...........

A T/O rolls his (1) train with the doors open...... that's a new one.

OPTO Opens wrong doors on the (G) train at Court Square, can someone explain to me HOW DO YOU MESS THAT UP!?!?

Another T/O ended up on the relay track in the (F) line to Jamaica Yard. Foamer Me: DAMN IT, I SHOULD'VE BEEN ON THAT TRAIN

then you have T/O's over running. Damn, that's what I try NOT to do in OpenBVE yet I screw up on that part......

Something is definitely not right

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5 minutes ago, LGA Link N train said:

What the f**k did I just read...........

A T/O rolls his (1) train with the doors open...... that's a new one.

OPTO Opens wrong doors on the (G) train at Court Square, can someone explain to me HOW DO YOU MESS THAT UP!?!?

Another T/O ended up on the relay track in the (F) line to Jamaica Yard. Foamer Me: DAMN IT, I SHOULD'VE BEEN ON THAT TRAIN

then you have T/O's over running. Damn, that's what I try NOT to do in OpenBVE yet I screw up on that part......

Something is definitely not right

Don't be so surprised.  Yesterday I took a (C) train.  The person was closing the doors so fast that people could barely get off.  Almost slammed the door on a lady taking her baby stroller onto the train... 

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This happened to me years ago but I suppose it's relevant.

One day I got on an m14 bus in Manhattan it was the first stop, and there was a trainee b/o at the wheel. Right before the bus departed, a senior worker poked his head through the door and said "remember, just stop along the (L) train." The b/o took this phrase literally, and would only make stops directly in front of the (L) train entrances for the entire route. Passengers started to get upset and when I spoke up after she blew by a stop with 10+ people waiting and she replied with "Nope, I'm only supposed to stop where the (L) train stops." People were getting really upset at her because the bus was singed as an m14, and one guy started shouting at her, but she wouldn't budge and would only stop directly in front of the (L) train entrances.

I've also heard countless stories of <6> trains having the wrong doors open up, or going on the wrong track, etc. It's not uncommon for a (D) to end up running local in the Bronx during rush hour either.

I'm willing to bet that a lack of proper training has been going on for a while. Either that or a sizeable amount of (MTA) employees are brainless zombies.

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2 hours ago, kosciusko said:

This happened to me years ago but I suppose it's relevant.

One day I got on an m14 bus in Manhattan it was the first stop, and there was a trainee b/o at the wheel. Right before the bus departed, a senior worker poked his head through the door and said "remember, just stop along the (L) train." The b/o took this phrase literally, and would only make stops directly in front of the (L) train entrances for the entire route. Passengers started to get upset and when I spoke up after she blew by a stop with 10+ people waiting and she replied with "Nope, I'm only supposed to stop where the (L) train stops." People were getting really upset at her because the bus was singed as an m14, and one guy started shouting at her, but she wouldn't budge and would only stop directly in front of the (L) train entrances.

I've also heard countless stories of <6> trains having the wrong doors open up, or going on the wrong track, etc. It's not uncommon for a (D) to end up running local in the Bronx during rush hour either.

I'm willing to bet that a lack of proper training has been going on for a while. Either that or a sizeable amount of (MTA) employees are brainless zombies.

LMAO@M14 driver. God some of these people are hilarious. They don't even train them to know what the Metrocard machine codes mean. I once dipped an unlimited Metrocard into the Hudson Raillink shuttle bus and it said "EXP 3/7". Well the driver tells me oh your card is expired. I'm like WHAT?? Then I think about it for a minute and tell her no this is an unlimited card and it expires on 3/7, and she's like OHHHH.... <_< These people want LOTS of money but they don't want to do anything outside of the job to better themselves at their position. God just imagine if we did that in the private sector. How many days have I worked late...

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3 hours ago, Via Garibaldi 8 said:

LMAO@M14 driver. God some of these people are hilarious. They don't even train them to know what the Metrocard machine codes mean. I once dipped an unlimited Metrocard into the Hudson Raillink shuttle bus and it said "EXP 3/7". Well the driver tells me oh your card is expired. I'm like WHAT?? Then I think about it for a minute and tell her no this is an unlimited card and it expires on 3/7, and she's like OHHHH.... <_< These people want LOTS of money but they don't want to do anything outside of the job to better themselves at their position. God just imagine if we did that in the private sector. How many days have I worked late...

That's like the S/A I had recently...had to swap out my Metrocard since it was giving me lots of Read Errors,(which all the S/A's hate doing to begin with, but that's a different rant) and the S/A puts it in his little machine and goes "you have to put money on the card before I can give you a new one." I go "umm, there's a current express bus unlimited in use on the card and another one already loaded on the card." He pushes some more buttons and goes "oh, I didn't check that." I'm thinking "you have one job, are you serious??"

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