Calgary Transit strike impending?

[Legless_Marine2]

Originally posted by Toms-SC


Geese not like you would not want the same.

It's a question of methods. Unions blackmail, whereas the rest of us negotiate based on our merit and value to the company.

[urban.one]

Question for the transit guys...

Why dont you like C-train shifts?

Id think Id rather drive the c-train than a packed bus in rush hour.

Is it boring? Is it difficult?

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Originally posted by urban.one
Question for the transit guys...

Why dont you like C-train shifts?

Id think Id rather drive the c-train than a packed bus in rush hour.

Is it boring? Is it difficult?

That's one I was always curious... Is it too hot in the summer? Too cold on the winter? Stressful? Why is it so unwanted?

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by LilDrunkenSmurf


That's one I was always curious... Is it too hot in the summer? Too cold on the winter? Stressful? Why is it so unwanted?

I would bet fucking idiots who cross the track without looking both ways. And chances of killing someone is way higher in a train.

And keep telling all the fucking passenger to keep clear of the doors every fucking stop. I'm sick of hearing it so I bet he's sick of saying it.

And no coffee breaks?

[mjt]

Question for the transit guys...

Why dont you like C-train shifts?

Id think Id rather drive the c-train than a packed bus in rush hour.

Is it boring? Is it difficult?

My experience has been either you like it or you don't. Those that don't will get out of it the first chance they get.

Is it difficult ? NO. Is it boring? NO. The training for it may be difficult for some. Many bus drivers have failed it over the years. 90% on some tests and 100 % on others is required and lots of in service driving with either a regular driver or a training person in the cabin with you before they cut you loose on your own. You also get situations where you have the passenger emergency button press and you have to go back and investigate (find out if police,ems,etc. are needed) before you can proceed. There are door problems that you have to go back for like when an electrical breaker goes open. You might have to go back to the last car and ask something like 20 people to get off so you can open an overhead compartment and close th breaker during rush hour.

As compared to a bus, there is more stuff to know, on bus you don't really touch the radio unless you got a situation going on. On Trains you're on the radio a lot. On a Bus shift you might not write down a single thing. On a Train, many things are recorded by the driver during the course of a shift including a log sheet which is pretty much a legal document. There is more technical training for trains. Before you do the training you have to due a course in the LRT rulebook which includes familiarizing yourself with LRT signals (kind of similar to CP or CN train signals). There is more responsibility and has a lot more different procedures that you have to know. It is more high profile. If you make a mistake everyone knows. Everything you do on a train like when you brake, how much your speed is etc. is recorded on a black box. All trains are monitored on a computerized tracking board all the time. At certain stations they monitor the trains by video too. You're literally being watched all the time as compared to bus where you are in your own world and don't really have someone watching your every move.

Train work right now is almost all exclusively out of either Somerset or Anderson with very few pieces out of Whitehorn and Dalhousie and even there you usually end up at Anderson at some point of the day. So if you live in say Coventry or Saddleridge it doesn't make sense for you to goto Anderson twice a day. If you drive you are wasting a lot of gas. If you take transit to Anderson you're wasting serious time on trains and buses to goto work. For those that live in the south trains are good for that reason. Most of the bus work is out of Spring Gardens Garage (32nd Ave and Deerfoot NE) and a very close #2 would be the Victoria Park Garage (close to Stampede grounds, Fort Calgary, and Coyotes bar). On Weekends all the buses are out of Victoria Park. Shuttle buses are all out of Victoria Park as well. Anderson Garage has mostly trains but there are about 10 lanes of buses too and most of them are for routes that run south of Glenmore all the way down to the 22x in areas like Shawnessey etc.

Trains are also not everyone's cup of tea. Some people took the job just to drive bus. With a Bus you can go out of service and pull over out of the way and grab a coffee when you have time to kill. With a train it is always go-go-go and schedules are super tight. Junior employees who get forced on mostly don't like it because they were 'forced on' to begin with.

Anyone that leaves after being there for awhile usually does so because of stress leave or something. Stress leave comes when say your train ran over a guy who jaywalked and you didn't see him until the last moment. Drivers in these circumstances usually need time off to deal with this kind of thing. It also gives them a reason to opt-off for good off of trains and never come back. Jaywalkers are a daily thing. Hitting a person or a car who either jaywalked or ran a red traffic light are not as common but lately they seem to be happening about one or two a month.

In Feb. there was an accident involving a train and a truck who tried a left turn while the train was going through the intersection and the crossing gates were down at Franklin station. The truck driver eventually died. The c-train driver took some time off to deal with it and is now back at work and since the truck ran the light it has been deemed to be his fault. The train car that was involved in that accident is done. It is now going to be used for spare parts. Most drivers in that situation would have opted off of trains for life and never come back like that.

Finally, I too get sick of having to say 'stand clear of the open door' but people don't get it sometimes. For me it is a last resort after I've missed 2 traffic lights at the same station (8 st. W for example) . If I'm sitting at 8 st. station then I'm holding up both the Whitehorn and Somerset trains behind me. At other stations I can be holding up buses too which run on 7th ave. Sometimes I can see in the mirror that someone's body is half outside and half inside. Until the door closes we're not going anywhere. That's when I make that PA. With 5 minute service why not wait for the next train ? What is worse is people who hold the door for someone barely able to walk who is 2 blocks away during rush hour. The doors are designed to open for 18 seconds then there's 2 sounds (depending on the type of train) then the train can move. During rush hour I add extra seconds at some stations with more people to give them time to get on by not pressing the button right away. If someone holds a door we can be there forever. It is not fair and makes keeping a schedule really hard. My own system is to wait and then make a Public Announcement and then let the people in the train deal with the guy. I don't get out of the cab unless it is an emergency or something of that nature.

[mjt]

That's one I was always curious... Is it too hot in the summer? Too cold on the winter? Stressful? Why is it so unwanted?

Winter in the old trains (U2) can be cold. Newer trains (SD160) you don't notice the cold. The cabs in all the trains are heated/ventillated separately from the area where passengers sit. Have to slow down to a max speed of 60 km/h in extreme cold so trains can stop safely. Also have to slow down when there is a lot of snowfall because going too fast over a heavy snow buildup can cause snow to get into parts of the older (U2) train and burn out motors and cause other problems.

Summer is good. In the U2 trains the defrost works like air conditoning. There are fans too but I find the fans on U2 are not cold enough on hot days. In Sd160's there are fans and there's an overhead vent that keeps things cool and also defrost sometimes works as air conditioning too. Both types of trains have sun visors to block out sun. Most train drivers wear sunglasses. They have to be taken off in tunnels. The U2 cab is small. SD160 cab has probably double the room and the seat setup is much nicer. SD160's are a smoother ride with greater pickup and better braking capability as well more comfortable cab.

Coffee breaks happen during the splits. 5.5 hours is the max for a a piece of train work without a break. 7.5 hours of actual driving is the max a train driver can do on trains in a single day. The split can be anything. Some guys get 4 hour breaks. Others 30 minutes. Anything 45 min or less is basically a paid beak. There is also something called 'travelling time' which bus drivers get but not shuttle drivers. Example: If you start at whitehorn and do 3 trips on 202. That's 3 hours. Then you have 1 hour and 10 min break. Spend most of it travelling to Somset for next peice of work. Do 1.5 trips on 201 line and finish at Dalhousie and take train offline and park it for the night at Dalhousie. That's another 3 hours work. Somehow you get paid for 7 hours and 53 minute. The difference is due to them paying for your travelling time. Only really comes into play if you start and end in different spots.

[Qwerty21]

Originally posted by mjt


I have got a better one: Why not roll back the 10% increases alderman got first. Then we'll talk.

I personally don't think alderman or transit drivers deserve the pay the receive, but that's just my opinion. All jobs have their fair share of pros and cons, but if transit workers haven't quit yet, than it's obvious they're content with their compensation.

On another note, I would love to see the union abolished because IMO, they're taking advantage of the fact that city transit is a necessity, there is a labor shortage and deerfoot during rush hour is a bitch.
So, if the union was abolished, that would allow the market to dictate the wages of transit drivers and I for one, wouldn't mind driving the train or bus at the present wage rate.

[Si_FlyGuy]

So what do the people who run the union do when everything is peachy? I wonder if they call strikes every now and then just to make themselves look useful.

You unionites should look into how much you're paying these people.

[Roadrage]

I was wondering...how much do the drivers pay into the union each pay period? Is it the same for all regardless of seniority or is it based on a sliding scale?

[nickyh]

Question to MJT:

I know it's more likely than not that you guys will strike, but come Monday do I need to have my car pool plan in motion and plan to drive DT or do we hold off?


General comment overall:
The last strike in 2001 really rubbed me the wrong way and I was really ticked off.
This year it's a different story - I do feel for the union members, CT usage is up ALOT in the last year and the abuse that I've seen with drivers is so uncalled for. You guys are trying to provide a service the best you can and to have snot nosed kids treat the women drivers the way I've seen being treated is not right.
yeah, when I'm running for my bus and the a$$ driver is pulling away - I get ticked off beyond belief, but there are a lot of drivers on my route who do see the train pull in and wait - and on -35C days, that's awesome
I also believe that everyone is entitled to a cost of living increase and what the union and city propose is decent.

Will I be happy paying more for my bus pass every month, no - and the only reason I won't be happy is because I think the transit situation for a city this size is sub par at best. So to pay more for a pass where the service is getting worse rubs me raw - but that's becoming a sad fact of life in this city.
Time to move!

[a1jatt]

i heard they are voting today to go on strike from monday?

[jf97talon]

Voting today, strike may happen within 72 hours after voting.
So most likely monday will be even crazier than it already is...

[sputnik]

I wonder how these busdrivers plan on making their mortgage payments if the strike lasts more than 6-8 weeks.

[brownskind]

I work at Telus and we got strike pay throughout - I'm not sure how much the Union will pay them tho.

[TimG]

strike pay is usually 20-40$ per day i think.

[Canmorite]

You get paid to strike?

Another reason why I don't like unions.

[mjt]

Question to MJT:

I know it's more likely than not that you guys will strike, but come Monday do I need to have my car pool plan in motion and plan to drive DT or do we hold off?

nickyh,

as I type this voting is still allowed for another 1/2 hour. The results will be in later tonight. If there is a strong yes vote then that doesn't mean automatically monday may 7 there will be a full blown strike. This is just a vote. The choice of when to exercise that 72 hours notice will be decided next week later in the week at another meeting of all union members. So for now there is no immediate strike. Work to Rule will continue. BTW - The City is closing the intersection of 16th ave and center street starting on Monday.

Will I be happy paying more for my bus pass every month, no - and the only reason I won't be happy is because I think the transit situation for a city this size is sub par at best. So to pay more for a pass where the service is getting worse rubs me raw - but that's becoming a sad fact of life in this city.
Time to move!

As far as service goes. That is an issue for City Management to deal with. You think they don't know about the problems with the transit service? Right now their #1 concern is finding enough bodies to drive vehicles. A lot of changes to routes are from complaints recieved by Aldermen in the areas affected.

[mjt]

I was wondering...how much do the drivers pay into the union each pay period? Is it the same for all regardless of seniority or is it based on a sliding scale?

$22 dollars per union member per pay period regardless of seniority or what your job is.

[mjt]

I wonder how these busdrivers plan on making their mortgage payments if the strike lasts more than 6-8 weeks.

Good question. Most of the senior drivers have houses paid off. For sure the junior guys will take a hit. Strike pay is only $100.00 ....a week. Most of the guys are already looking for other jobs. Many of us have either our class 1 licences or Calgary Taxi Commission issued taxi licence. Anyone with a Class 2 or 1 can get one after doing an english test and city knowledge test. Piece of cake for any one of us. Many Transit Operators are former cabbies, former truckers and former yellow school bus drivers. Some of them will do that. Others will work at jobs like Tim Hortons at lower pay. Rest assured no one is going to try and live off the strike pay in this City. I hear Tour Bus Companies are hiring too.

The City should be concerned this time around more than 2001 because a lot of the new guys will not be back after the dust settles. Many Seniors will retire earlier then they normally would have. A strike will really make the driver shortage even worse.

[mjt]

So what do the people who run the union do when everything is peachy? I wonder if they call strikes every now and then just to make themselves look useful.

Aprrox. every 3 years a new deal needs to be negotiated. That is one of the main functions of the Union. The Union also represents members at proceedings like grievances and things like accident appeals and other discipline the City might try to dish out. It has a purpose even in non-strike years.