Transit Jobs NOW!!! Coast Mountain Bus is HIRING!

Tomorrow is my air brake test.

 

Your assessment officer will be a different person during your road test, same goes with the final evaluation.

Don't panic! You get three chances for it I think.
Our class everyone passed in the first try.

 

Thanks... Good to know because our current instructor is not patient at all!

 

I'm only going from my experience but my instructor from the road test (Andrea) was a different person from my driving instructor during training (Alida). Although all, or most, of the trainers cycled through the class at various points. I counted at least 7 or 8 different instructors on various days during my training. They all seemed to have certain areas they sort of specialized in... anyway lol...

TL;DR - you examiner will be a different person than your driving instructor so as to avoid possible conflict of interest? But they are all instructors you will have most probably seen already.

 

If you know it now, you'll know it tomorrow lol. Just relax and go through it like any other day. It works!

 

Not necessarily. My road test was done by a different person but my final assessment drive was done by my regular instructor.

 

Ha well patience or not, they all have to follow the same guidelines and so do you. No leeway on wither side!

 

I did my air break test at ICBC... Passed!

I'm very nervous about the road test on Thursday...

 

Hey Gang! Just noticing on the INTERNAL/ "existing employees only" website that they have a new posting up for CONVENTIONAL TRANSIT OPERATOR TRAINEES.

For those of you who do not yet have your foot in the door at CMBC, Just keep and eye on that Coast Mountain Bus Company page off of www.translink.ca/careers/

I'll post it here as soon as I see it!

 

Good job - congrats! I'll say the same about the road test as the air brakes though... if you've got it now, you'll have it then! No worries! Just remember, don't rush anything, follow the rules of the road, be observant and it's all good!

 

There it is! Open to the public once again! CONVENTIONAL TRANSIT OPERATOR TRAINEE!

www.translink.ca/careers/ and THEN "Coast Mountain Bus Company"!

 

Am I able to post yet?

 

not sure if this has been answered before in here.
But once your hired do you get to pick your routes (From whatever's left since your at the bottom) and then do those routes for 3 months or 6 months or whatever the sign up is?
Also whats the "Normal" shift time. can you do like 4 10 hour days kinda thing?

Also whats the pay scale again?

thanks

 

Good questions! There are some answers here and there but I'll refresh everyone here in a simplified nutshell...

AT FIRST - right out of class, you will be on the spareboard. Think of it as extra drivers waiting to fill work that is not signed or has opened up for the day. For instance, someone calls in sick, there is a delay or other issue preventing an operator from doing his or her work, their work for the day will be put on the spareboard and signed by an available spareboard operator (who signs first is, of course, based on seniority) This is oversimplified but you get the idea. The spareboard is quite complicated but has many operators who do nothing but. Upside is, they can get lots of work, downside is, you don't know what your work will be very far ahead of time (sometimes less than 12 hours). How long you remain on the board depends on how far away signup is - which brings us to...

SIGNUP - This is where you get to choose your work, based on seniority, for the next work cycle or SHEET. There are 4 signups per year, 3 LOCAL (meaning you are signing work within your own depot - VTC, BTC, RTC, etc) and 1 CONSOLIDATED which allows you, again based on seniority, to choose work at a different depot if available and move. Each sheet varies in length, the winter is usually the longest, spring and summer sheets a bit shorter (this upcoming sheet is 11 weeks versus 16 for the last sheet). You will do whatever work you have signed for the whole sheet. The sheets generally coincide with school breaks: Summer - late June to early Sept, Fall - early Sept to late Dec, Winter - late Dec to mid Apr, Spring - mid Apr to late June.

HOWEVER - there are some other options.

First, if you are on the spareboard, you may choose to fill a NOTICE RUN. This is work where an operator may be gone for a longer period of time - sick, long term disability, etc. After bidding for the work, you will take over that work for the rest of the sheet or until the operator who signed the work returns. Can be good for low seniority operators to get off the spareboard and get decent work. I was only on the spareboard for 4 weeks (luckily for me lol - some guys love it but to each his own)

Second - there is HOLIDAY BLOCKING. This where, at signup, you sign work belonging to other operators while they are on vacation. This allows flexibility and variety but also a schedule for the full sheet. You will do different work every week, but you know the whole sheet in advance what your schedule will be. This is also good for getting work that is higher seniority-wise than you would be able to sign otherwise.

This is what I do personally and I love it. I get bored quickly with doing the same thing over and over, so the blocking keeps it fresh. It's a lot more work at signup, but it's worth it - at least as a more junior op. As you become more senior (several years), you end up signing blind, meaning you're signing before most have chosen THEIR work so it's a gamble (kind of hard to explain... Superchecker cna maybe help with this part? lol)

"Normal" shift time varies but MINIMUM is 7.5 hours paid. Technically there are shorter shifts (by a little bit), but you will be paid the minimum. Of course, there are many longer shifts too and they are paid accordingly. There are 4 day work weeks as well called COMPRESSED work. These are a small percentage of shifts available ONLY at BTC (Burnaby Depot) and are generally signed very quickly by senior operators. Rumors say this may change soon (ie, ALL depots or NO depots will have compressed work) but for now, that's how it works.

There are many intricacies you will learn over time, and you will also learn what works best for YOU. That is the beauty of this job: There really is something for everyone. Some people prefer early shifts, some are nightowls. Some prefer busy areas, others like it quiet and some have a preferred part of the city they like to drive in. It's all there for you, you just need to figure out what you like!

Pay scale from Trankslink's website :

Experience / Dollars per hour
Trainee (30 Days training) $21.64
1st 8 months $23.18
2nd 8 months $24.73
3rd 8 months $27.82
Thereafter $30.91

Plus:

• Medical, dental, and vision benefits, with the option of family and domestic partner coverage
• Paid vacation
• Sick leave
• Pension plan
• Bus pass for you and a family member (some restrictions apply)
• Membership in Canadian Auto Workers Union Local 111
• Flexible scheduling
• Paid training

Hope this is clear as mud for you, let me know if you have any questions either here in the forum or via personal message! If I missed anything, one of the others can fill in the blanks!

 

Oh and I forgot... usually out of class you will work out of Vancouver Depot (VTC) until you have enough seniority to move at consolidated to another site - Richmond, Burnaby, PoCo, North Van (closing soon) or Hamilton (opening soon).

However, based on manpower needs, you may be forced to one of the other depots right out of class and you will be on the spareboard there until the next signup where you may then choose your work. This has been happening a fair bit recently.

 

SkyTrain (Expo-Millennium-Evergreen Lines) just posted for 8 MORE SKYTRAIN ATTENDANTS FTR!

www.translink.ca/careers/ and THEN "BCRTC"

 

@ConventionalMan

The last thing I've heard from the training department recently was for the upcoming new classes, strong possibility that they may be shipped to NTC, BTC and even RTC of those depots don't get enough volunteer transfers.

Anyways my class got lucky as we got a mini sign up, with regular work and Holiday blocking.

I've already done signing up for my 2nd sheet and was surprised on what I got.

But anyways I'm currently on paternity leave right now, which all employees are entitled to. It's 3 days of paid leave. My supervisor also added in a family day for me which is unpaid. I'm off for 6 days including my regular days off.

It will be day 8 for @GuyinNorthVan and I hope you got the pre trip down including the brake adjustment. Good luck on Thursday!

 

I saw a couple of Conventional training vehicles near Chinatown yesterday (Possibly doing the #50 route?) and I thought, maybe @GuyinNorthVan was in one of them? lol. But good luck on your road test!

 

This seems similar to being a casual Shuttle driver. But what would happen if you are on the spareboard but there is no work available for you? I would imagine it may happen since on some days, there may not be too many drivers who are sick, or away for some other reason.

 

If there is not enough work, then some would be "No Day" ops and have to show up for 1300 (?) Roll call. They would get a days pay regardless of how little they work.