Every day RTD Drivers do this dance.
Wait, let me start in the right place.
Have you ever been driving down the road and the Bus is going incredibly slow in the right hand lane?
You look to the left, see an opening and jump out and around the bus.
You see an opening in front of the bus so you jump back into that lane.
Sometimes you realize you almost missed your turn and you slam on your brakes and turn into that parking lot or driveway.
Sometimes when you jump back into that lane you realize everybody in front of you is standing on their brakes so you stand on yours as well.
I've done this in the past, many many times.
Have you even considered this from the Bus Driver's point of view?
I'm crawling down the road and the guy in front of me slams on his brakes.
I can't slam on mine because that would bring all 60 of my passengers into the Driver's seat with me - all at once - so I back off a bit and slow down.
Out of nowhere, the guy behind me jumps out and flies around me, dives into that tiny "safety buffer" I left between the guy who just slammed on his brakes, then slams onto his brakes as well.
I slow down a bit more and back off a bit more to accommodate this new guy.
Then another guy jumps out and around me and darts into that space between me and the car in front of me, than stands on his brakes and immediately turns into the driveway that he would have reached only 3 seconds later had he waited behind me.
So you can see that every time another drivers cuts in front of me, I slow down a bit more, causing other drivers to dart around me, etc etc etc.
That space in front of me isn't for cars to fit into at their convenience.
It's literally a legal requirement and it's a safety buffer.
The CDL and RTD teach us that we are to give 1 second (this is my translation - it's a bit more than the actual requirement) for each ten miles an hour we're driving.
If I'm going ten miles and hour, there is at least "one, one thousand" space between us.
At only ten miles an hour, we're travelling a mile every six minutes.
That's close to 15 feet every second.
That's about two car lengths at only 10 miles an hour.
So you can see that once we get to even 25 or even as high as 55 on the highway, we are moving it.
And we need that buffer and that buffer needs to increase as our speed increases.
That buffer is a safety zone, anything between us and the car in front of us becomes a hood ornament if we have to slam on the brakes.
So when I'm cruising down the highway at 55 and you feel I'm not going fast enough, please - go around me.
But if you think that space in front of me is there because I'm too slow or because I'm giving you room to fit in front of me, you're wrong.
When you jump in front of me, cutting my safety buffer in half - you're increasing your chances of an accident.
The other morning I was driving a PACKED - and when I say packed, you folks who've been on a standing room only accordion bus know what I mean by packed! - bus, it's only 6:30 in the morning and we're hauling butt down the highway.
I've got the at least 6 second space between us and the cars in front and as usual another car decides he needs to be in front of me and not behind me.
Of course he has to cut right in front of me because he's making a point of showing how upset he is with me that I've been driving in front of him, or some such...
As he dives in front of me, I have to tap the brakes so he doesn't hit the bikes on the rack (yeah, he's THAT close!) and it's a good thing I did.
We were going up a small incline in the highway and traffic in front of us was blocked from view for a second or two.
That's all it took.
The guy in front of me slammed on his brakes as he realized he was coming up to parked cars at "passing me" speeds and I thanked God that I'd already had my foot on the brake pedal as I slammed on my brakes.
I was actually standing up with my foot slammed on the brakes and I was pulling up on the steering wheel to push me down harder on the brakes.
For a split second I considered pulling the "E-Brake" (we have an emergency air brake we use for parking) I was looking so hard for more brakes.
There were like 100 swears and cusses flying behind me.
I heard bottles, phones and bags hitting the floor.
Almost immediately folks were throwing insults at the guy in front of us.
The regulars in the front said in unison, "Great reflexes/stop/catch."
Folks started clapping!
Say What?
LOL - anyway..
We finally stopped so close to the car in front of me that I could see his eyes in his driver's side mirror - I think he was crying!
I could smell his underwear - I KNOW he soiled them!
Bill Cosby once said, "First you say it, then you do it."
This guy said it.
Had I not already been tapping the brakes, I would have literally gone through him and several of the cars in front of him because he'd drawn my attention with his unsafe driving and blocked my sight and cut my safety zone.
Everybody on the bus was alright, we wiped up coffee and folks picked up their belongings.
All was well and we made it into the Civic Center Station on time.
I'm sure the guy in front of us made it to work, although he almost didn't.
That space you find between the bus and the traffic in front of him is there for a very good, if not legal reason.
Please respect it, please consider it, please be aware of why we have it.
It's for all of our safety.
In the meantime, "Welcome aboard, find your seats - Let's Roll!"
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
How Will I Know...
Hi folks.
I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while.
There are so many things to write about and I plan out at least three posts every day while I'm driving.
But then I get home and just flake.
Mostly because I can't write half the stuff I want to and the other half I'll receive more threats from other Drivers.
For example:
Just recently we (Drivers) received a sizable survey about our jobs here at RTD.
I believe you passengers may have also received something in the mail, asking about which routes and offering passes in exchange for your time and input, right?
Being a new guy (only in my second year is still new around here!) this is my first survey.
I've heard from senior Drivers that this is the first time we've been asked our opinion about our job satisfaction.
Of course others have said that we're given these types of surveys every few years.
So who knows.
The survey weighed heavily on what we like about our jobs, why we think other Drivers quit and if and why we refer others to Driver with us.
Speaking with others who've taken the time on this survey, the obvious answer is split in two:
Those who "love" the union almost unanimously say it's the crazy hours and that extra board.
Those who aren't happy with the union say it's the union and that extra board.
Before I explain the extra board, let me explain how things work around here that differs with 99% of the rest of American jobs.
If I have a concern, a cost savings idea, a dissatisfaction with something or somebody: we're told to take it up with the union.
We can't go to our managers or our supervisors or our bosses.
We have to filter everything through the union, a union who could care less about most of us as long as we're all paying that $600 extortion fee to work for RTD.
Currently, the union has forced RTD to hire a crap load of full time Drivers.
We're sitting at at least 113 in Denver alone, more if we include East Metro and Boulder divisions.
And still hiring like mad men from what I've seen.
At 113 drivers, that payroll is something like $75,000 a week.
A week.
An extra board is a hazing ritual the union forces all new full time drivers to go through.
They can be called in as early as 2 or 3am and kept around until as late as 9pm - 18 hours but only paid for 8.
These new drivers can be forced to remain on these boards for a year or more.
Some guys have been here two years and told me they just got off this last vote!
Drivers on the extra board are called in to sit and be ready.
If a driver calls in sick, if he doesn't show up for work, if somebody goes on vacation, etc...that extra board driver is ready to fill in on the spot and head out.
Of course, many of you know these drivers as the one always getting lost, taking wrong turns, missing stops, being late all the time, driving the wrong way up the HOV lane...
In a normal work day, there are three shifts per day, two cycles per week.
The weekday cycle and the weekend cycle - the morning, afternoon/evening and the overnight shifts.
We don't need this many except for the weekday shifts - maybe - but let's do the numbers with 10 drivers per shift.
Three shifts during the week (30 guys) and three on the weekends (30 more) and we have 60 extra drivers total. Again, way too many but I'm throwing spit ball numbers to make a point.
60 drivers work 40 hours a week, that's 2400 hours a week at lower pay since most are all first year drivers is a weekly payroll of around $38,400 a week.
Again, that number is extremely high.
But we currently have 113 and climbing.
Twice what we need, twice the payroll you tax payers are paying (and don't forget - RTD is asking to increase your taxes for these expenses!) and at 113 extra board drivers, that's around 1 in every 5 full time drivers at the Platte (Denver) division who sits around for 5 hours, gets paid for 8 then gets sent home.
We have so many extra board drivers that they go out in pairs or simply sit around for 5 hours and get paid for 8 before being sent home.
Granted, this brilliant idea of the union's is making life much easier for the new drivers stuck on these boards for the next few years, so they'll stick around longer - making even harder to get off the boards since nobody above them in seniority is leaving, making room for them to move up and off the boards!
But it's doubling the cost to the tax payer.
Meanwhile, drivers who were volunteering for extra shifts and hours, volunteering to work the Bronco and Rockies games, can't get anything right now.
All that work goes to these extra board drivers.
Which is a great use of the taxpayer's dollar, once or twice a week - but then even a broken clock gets it right twice a day, right?
So a few senior Drivers who are entitlement minded, who love the unions and just assume that you, the taxpayer owe them a living, a comfortable living and retirement, regardless of how hard you're having it financially right now, these drivers got their union bosses to increase the driver count, close to three times and growing of what we actually need, just to make their easy days even easier.
And you get to foot that bill.
RTD is trying to save money, trying to make things fit and work and still give their customers - YOU THE PASSENGERS - the best service they can, cutting back late night and early morning service, laying off people in the home offices, you name it...trying to make every penny count.
But the union...you the passenger, the customer...you don't cross their minds.
They only see dollar signs and they are hurting RTD and you in the process.
Drivers have it easy.
Seriously, after the first year on the outside, this job is a cakewalk.
We know the routes, we know the people, we come in, get work, go out and drive all day and night, collect a check and go home.
And don't let ANY Driver tell you otherwise - I've worked the Colfax (15) and the Broadway (0) and the busy longer runs like 12, 21 and 44 and the 38, and a butt load of other routes at all times of the day and year.
They are easy, the people are great, the buses work fine and are a breeze to operate.
As a customer service rep (you passengers know us as Bus Drivers!) I know that the customer (you passengers) just want great service.
It's not enough to take your money and drop you off, you want to be appreciated and trust me, most of us do appreciate you.
You know those of us who do.
You know our names and we know y'all.
I know y'all know who I am, I'd gotten something like ten letters from you passengers in my first year telling me that y'all know my name and thanking me for caring about you.
So thank you.
I love my job, I love you passengers.
As you can tell I don't love this union which is killing RTD, the Driver and the service we want to provide to you at an affordable cost.
This post will get me into some heat with other drivers and maybe even some bosses if they know who I am - big if - but this is why I don't post often anymore.
I love you guys and I love my job but this union makes me not want to go to work every day.
Or to at least stay away from the other drivers who complain about RTD, and praise the union for slapping RTD around; to stay away from the division where my bosses, managers and supervisors all give me that knowing, sorry, helpless look as they tell me to take it up with the union rather than owning the issue themselves.
During my first year I was on fire, gung-ho and ready to take on everything.
But the union has beat that out of me, actually made me fear caring and fear speaking up.
I've learned to keep my mouth shut, do my job, keep a very low profile and get in/get out.
I've watched other drivers come and go - or be kicked to the curb at the union's demand.
So God only knows what they'll do to me eventually - a Driver who loves his job, his employer and his customers.
In the meantime, whether I infrequently post, just know that there are a few of us still out here - myself included - who are doing our best, who still love our jobs and y'all , doing our best to provide everything you'd expect and more.
Sorry for the long rant.
That gets pent up and needs to be vented more and more these days.
I've got a tons of reader questions to answer and a bunch of ideas piling up in the "to post" pile.
In the meantime, "Welcome aboard, find your seats - Let's Roll!"
I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while.
There are so many things to write about and I plan out at least three posts every day while I'm driving.
But then I get home and just flake.
Mostly because I can't write half the stuff I want to and the other half I'll receive more threats from other Drivers.
For example:
Just recently we (Drivers) received a sizable survey about our jobs here at RTD.
I believe you passengers may have also received something in the mail, asking about which routes and offering passes in exchange for your time and input, right?
Being a new guy (only in my second year is still new around here!) this is my first survey.
I've heard from senior Drivers that this is the first time we've been asked our opinion about our job satisfaction.
Of course others have said that we're given these types of surveys every few years.
So who knows.
The survey weighed heavily on what we like about our jobs, why we think other Drivers quit and if and why we refer others to Driver with us.
Speaking with others who've taken the time on this survey, the obvious answer is split in two:
Those who "love" the union almost unanimously say it's the crazy hours and that extra board.
Those who aren't happy with the union say it's the union and that extra board.
Before I explain the extra board, let me explain how things work around here that differs with 99% of the rest of American jobs.
If I have a concern, a cost savings idea, a dissatisfaction with something or somebody: we're told to take it up with the union.
We can't go to our managers or our supervisors or our bosses.
We have to filter everything through the union, a union who could care less about most of us as long as we're all paying that $600 extortion fee to work for RTD.
Currently, the union has forced RTD to hire a crap load of full time Drivers.
We're sitting at at least 113 in Denver alone, more if we include East Metro and Boulder divisions.
And still hiring like mad men from what I've seen.
At 113 drivers, that payroll is something like $75,000 a week.
A week.
An extra board is a hazing ritual the union forces all new full time drivers to go through.
They can be called in as early as 2 or 3am and kept around until as late as 9pm - 18 hours but only paid for 8.
These new drivers can be forced to remain on these boards for a year or more.
Some guys have been here two years and told me they just got off this last vote!
Drivers on the extra board are called in to sit and be ready.
If a driver calls in sick, if he doesn't show up for work, if somebody goes on vacation, etc...that extra board driver is ready to fill in on the spot and head out.
Of course, many of you know these drivers as the one always getting lost, taking wrong turns, missing stops, being late all the time, driving the wrong way up the HOV lane...
In a normal work day, there are three shifts per day, two cycles per week.
The weekday cycle and the weekend cycle - the morning, afternoon/evening and the overnight shifts.
We don't need this many except for the weekday shifts - maybe - but let's do the numbers with 10 drivers per shift.
Three shifts during the week (30 guys) and three on the weekends (30 more) and we have 60 extra drivers total. Again, way too many but I'm throwing spit ball numbers to make a point.
60 drivers work 40 hours a week, that's 2400 hours a week at lower pay since most are all first year drivers is a weekly payroll of around $38,400 a week.
Again, that number is extremely high.
But we currently have 113 and climbing.
Twice what we need, twice the payroll you tax payers are paying (and don't forget - RTD is asking to increase your taxes for these expenses!) and at 113 extra board drivers, that's around 1 in every 5 full time drivers at the Platte (Denver) division who sits around for 5 hours, gets paid for 8 then gets sent home.
We have so many extra board drivers that they go out in pairs or simply sit around for 5 hours and get paid for 8 before being sent home.
Granted, this brilliant idea of the union's is making life much easier for the new drivers stuck on these boards for the next few years, so they'll stick around longer - making even harder to get off the boards since nobody above them in seniority is leaving, making room for them to move up and off the boards!
But it's doubling the cost to the tax payer.
Meanwhile, drivers who were volunteering for extra shifts and hours, volunteering to work the Bronco and Rockies games, can't get anything right now.
All that work goes to these extra board drivers.
Which is a great use of the taxpayer's dollar, once or twice a week - but then even a broken clock gets it right twice a day, right?
So a few senior Drivers who are entitlement minded, who love the unions and just assume that you, the taxpayer owe them a living, a comfortable living and retirement, regardless of how hard you're having it financially right now, these drivers got their union bosses to increase the driver count, close to three times and growing of what we actually need, just to make their easy days even easier.
And you get to foot that bill.
RTD is trying to save money, trying to make things fit and work and still give their customers - YOU THE PASSENGERS - the best service they can, cutting back late night and early morning service, laying off people in the home offices, you name it...trying to make every penny count.
But the union...you the passenger, the customer...you don't cross their minds.
They only see dollar signs and they are hurting RTD and you in the process.
Drivers have it easy.
Seriously, after the first year on the outside, this job is a cakewalk.
We know the routes, we know the people, we come in, get work, go out and drive all day and night, collect a check and go home.
And don't let ANY Driver tell you otherwise - I've worked the Colfax (15) and the Broadway (0) and the busy longer runs like 12, 21 and 44 and the 38, and a butt load of other routes at all times of the day and year.
They are easy, the people are great, the buses work fine and are a breeze to operate.
As a customer service rep (you passengers know us as Bus Drivers!) I know that the customer (you passengers) just want great service.
It's not enough to take your money and drop you off, you want to be appreciated and trust me, most of us do appreciate you.
You know those of us who do.
You know our names and we know y'all.
I know y'all know who I am, I'd gotten something like ten letters from you passengers in my first year telling me that y'all know my name and thanking me for caring about you.
So thank you.
I love my job, I love you passengers.
As you can tell I don't love this union which is killing RTD, the Driver and the service we want to provide to you at an affordable cost.
This post will get me into some heat with other drivers and maybe even some bosses if they know who I am - big if - but this is why I don't post often anymore.
I love you guys and I love my job but this union makes me not want to go to work every day.
Or to at least stay away from the other drivers who complain about RTD, and praise the union for slapping RTD around; to stay away from the division where my bosses, managers and supervisors all give me that knowing, sorry, helpless look as they tell me to take it up with the union rather than owning the issue themselves.
During my first year I was on fire, gung-ho and ready to take on everything.
But the union has beat that out of me, actually made me fear caring and fear speaking up.
I've learned to keep my mouth shut, do my job, keep a very low profile and get in/get out.
I've watched other drivers come and go - or be kicked to the curb at the union's demand.
So God only knows what they'll do to me eventually - a Driver who loves his job, his employer and his customers.
In the meantime, whether I infrequently post, just know that there are a few of us still out here - myself included - who are doing our best, who still love our jobs and y'all , doing our best to provide everything you'd expect and more.
Sorry for the long rant.
That gets pent up and needs to be vented more and more these days.
I've got a tons of reader questions to answer and a bunch of ideas piling up in the "to post" pile.
In the meantime, "Welcome aboard, find your seats - Let's Roll!"
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