kd10023 t1_it16v63 wrote on October 20, 2022 at 4:39 AM

Reply to comment by woodcider in MTA Bus Driver dragged me while my hand was caught between the door. by EndDeed

Pretty much taught the same thing here. 2 mirrors on the right side , convex shows your right side, and we have the mirror we place to see the rear wheel area. Also taught to cover our right side for the most part. The middle mirror inside the bus is to show the r/s as well and the space right behind the door. From my experience this set up is highly effective. Haven’t driven any RTSes so can’t speak on them.

Was taught to always check mirrors before moving and to basically live in my mirrors. If you follow what’s taught at zerega you will be safe. You’ll likely provoke a ton of ppl on here to make posts complaining about how slow bus service is but you’ll be safely operating the bus.

Tbh we have zero incentive to rush. Seems like operator in this case was rushing. We literally get overtime for anything that’s unscheduled. If we’re late to lunch or to go home all that extra time is unscheduled. And there’s 0 incentive to rush if you’re not on your lunch or go home trip.

How’s life over at Greyhound?

woodcider t1_it17yj6 wrote on October 20, 2022 at 4:50 AM

I worked Greyhound before coming to Transit. Being on call sucks ass. I was called in on my 8s every day so subtracting my travel time to and from the depot (2 hours there and back), I was getting 4 hours of sleep a day. I was having micro-sleeps while driving. Scared the shit out of me so I quit. Plus the pay wasn’t all that great.

I’m so glad I started driving before GPS was a thing. The union told us that the schedule means nothing… safety first. Now there’s so much pressure to meet these horribly timed schedules with so much discipline. Nothing good ever comes from rushing down the line.

Get out the seat at both ends no matter how “late” (no such thing) you are. Not only is it a safety thing to check the bus but getting out the seat keeps you healthy. I used to go round and round and could barely walk for my swing. My right knee still hurts. I totally jacked it up on those RTSs my first year.

Xendarq t1_it1uohy wrote on October 20, 2022 at 10:03 AM

This is very interesting! Thank you for sharing.

What is "8s on call", sounds terrible!

What does it mean to "walk for my swing"?

Thank you!!

woodcider t1_it3gr8e wrote on October 20, 2022 at 5:34 PM

A “Swing” is the meal break. I could barely walk up the stairs to the swing room. The human body is just not designed to sit in a chair doing repetitive motions for hours on end.