[dark0821]

Hey Revscene, I know I know... wrong section, but since my last post about car sales is already in this sub-forum lolol.

once again, long read////


Anyhow, different from last time, I already took the offer at Translink, but I guess technically havn't started training at Translink yet.

Gonna become a bus driver... not community shuttle, those big ones haha~

Some background info:
Currently:
- been working as a Hyundai sales @ Richmond Hyundai for full 3 years (started Aug 2022)
- Pretty much 5 days of obligation with a high chance of going in on my day offs
- full benefits (extended health + dental for the whole fam)
- making about 70K-80K a year
- paid 2 weeks vacation a year
- very unstable, will either be making bank or starving.
- Pay plan continuously getting worse year over year. It went from selling 8-10 cars netting you close or over $10K (before deductions) to selling 16 cars and still don't make $10K


Obligations:
- mortgage
- NO LONGER sole income earner in the fam, wife is part time but will become full time in 2 years
- daughter starting high school + son starting grade 5
- as you can see, still broke ass and cant afford shit


Reasons for the leap/ what I think translink will be like?
- I don't dream about M cars or P cars or dare I say F cars anymore, I am getting old and FAAAATTTT
- Now I dream about stability, pension, even better benefits
- Too much stress worrying about performance, making below minimum wage, the constant $3,700 of fixed cost per month to keep the family going.
- Spoke to a few sales managers, the pay isn't really there and honestly the industry is... not going in the correct direction.
- transit operator don't make good money, make enough money (for an used miata eventually? XD)
- have to tough it out for 2 years of shitty schedules
- lower but guarantee income
- one of the best benefit packages eventually
- good pension
- govt job, CMBC said they have fired people for misconduct, but have never laid anyone off when I asked during interview
- not too much growth opportunity, as transit supervisor/other desk job loses lots of potential for overtime

Actually same scenario as before, recommendation of a few friends

I am in approaching 40 soon, This will probably gonna be the last change, I gotta stick to it to see the pension come to fruition.

So here we are, thoughts/suggestions/insights/reason for/against?

Sorry for the long post, thanks guys.

Yaaaassss I totally copied my old post and just re-type the details~~~

[CivicBlues]

Dang man it's been 3 years since you changed jobs already? Felt like it was just last year. wtf

Anyways, I don't have any advice, but good luck !!

[noclue]

Nice stable job, wont get automated due to shitty drivers in vancouver.
It’s probably a seniority system so you will get the graveyard shifts driving down east Hastings until you build senority.
Dont confront druggies/gen z punks for your safety.

[SSM_DC5]

Is 70-80k the avg yearly income without commission??
And working for pension at 40 means you're planning to work until your 75 or something?!?
Isn't someone here working for Translink??? And if I recall they are a driver too.

Any worries about a car crash at work effecting your personal car insurance?

[GLOW]

if you're joining at 40, you won't get to retire early with a pension like someone working there since their 20's, it is what it is but like you said, pension.

you pay union dues, so that gets deducted. check the fine print, if your pension has matching (eg $xx goes towards your pension, but you match it with your salary by % amount. This would mean whatever salary you think you're getting after deductions, take that away as well - it's still yours but goes towards pension).

you clock in and clock out and don't get pressure/stress with you (vs currently with your sales targets). you are also at the mercy of the union if you go on strike or whatever the masses decide.

overall i think it can be a good/safe move, and if you don't like what you're doing, i'm sure the org is large enough you can move around. if you want to & can move up, great - but with any org, you may need to build internal relationships more than say vs seniority (if it is non-union).

check how the probation works. some gov has a 6 month probation period meaning your benefits don't kick in, which may be an issue if your wife isn't full time and you have say dental or whatever for the kids. i had a friend working at a gov job with masking tape around his glasses waiting for his probation to end to get a new pair :lol

also with gov there can be lots of procedures and red tape. some folks find it frustrating and say f-it and go back to private sectors. if you can understand it is what it is and work within it, then you'll be fine. gov isn't a place for cowboys.

when you have mortgage/kids a steady paycheck really helps you sleep at night.

[whitev70r]

I know someone who drives for transit, he said that training is quite rigorous (good for passengers, I suppose). Not to discourage you but he said out of 10 recruits, maybe 4 pass .. yikes! So if you pass training and make it, it's a pretty good accomplishment.

Then the real life transit driver is quite stressful. You sign up for shifts and because you're the newest bunch, you'll be driving the Hastings route or some other routes that no one wants (it is what it is). The pressure to meet the schedulte, time table is high. It is hard work but much needed.

Good luck with it.

[AstulzerRZD]

I wonder how the pay plans are at other dealerships

[EvoFire]

^ Overall commissions have been declining. Many of the dealerships restructured their commissions structures during the boom in the last few years. Now that we are in a lull it's hurt significantly. The funny thing about Dark's dealership is they are doing the restructuring during the lull and based on what he says, he's impossible to get even close to what he was making before.

The sales that I bought from at BMW left due to commission changes as well.

[JDMDreams]

What happened to selling cars and buying rolexes

[SkinnyPupp]

There's no future in serving a disappearing middle class, so moving above it into luxury, or below it into public services, is probably a good idea. Hyundai, BMW, etc, will eventually get bought up by one of the few electric car companies that will survive.

[JDMDreams]

I looked into this a few years ago, I think it was around $38h? After about a year. you're gonna get shitty split shifts from the beginning so like 4h on wait 4h then 4h later from what my bus driver acquaintance told me. For the first few years. I really can't comment if it's good or not but I didn't really want to sit on my ass all day, and deal with bus people, especially on the lines no one wants. It also seems pretty stressful/ tiring to drive all day

[tegra7]

.

[noclue]

There’s also some skytrain jobs that pays quite well either at the stations or the control room in edmonds. I remember hearing station attendants making $45/hr.

Or you can join the high rails and join CN/CPRail lol

[Badhobz]

He tried to apply for the conductor position a few times. Almost instant rejection. I think it’s his age…. It didn’t pass the AI resume filter bot. If you finished school past a certain age they don’t want you anymore. Too risky and not worthwhile training an old dog.

That being said I’m happy for my boy dark. I think it’s good for his mental and financial health to have this sort of stability. Being unionized is great. I miss it a lot.

You just do your job. Zone the fuck out, then come home with no baggage or regrets. You make your money and the rest of the time is yours.

[dark0821]

Hahaha, thanks guys.

a few quick answers

70k to 80k is for my current car sales.... transit operators sales pass 80k pretty easily, I got 2 friends driving for translink (yes, both are on Revscene), we talked extensively, and was shown their take home income.... their paycheques is actually quite good... good to a point where its out paying our #2 and #3 at our dealer. (I am leaving and our #2 is actually leaving as well, but he is going into our Openroad F/I business office training, so he is gonna try to become a finance manager). Our top sale at the dealer is having a hard time cracking $10k a month(before deductions), and that is someone moving 15 to 20 cars a month...

Also training is actually closer to 90-95% pass rate speaking to the 2 RS members and my interviewer. Hoping I am not the bottom 10% hahaha. Apparently you just do your homework and take exams... its actually not terrible.

Benefits like extended health/dental/medication/vision kicking in October, only extended life insurance is December (so just September is what I need to worry about)

Yes, as mentioned the first 2 years is gonna be tough...
Yes its on a senority system
-graveyards
-early morning
-huge spilts (basically wasting a whole day)
-the only cool thing when you are a newbie is that you might consistently get Sunday off, which is pretty cool (Sunday pays 1.5X) hence all the senority people wants it.

Honestly no job is perfect lolol, but as Hobz said, you clock in, you clock out... you get paid.. pretty well at that...

Oh, I aint retiring early regardless of which job I am doing, I just dont have the luxury of that... but if I am working till 65 and possibly beyond... then having pension is better than having no pension hahaha... because my RRSP aint gonna save me lmao...

Annnndddddd lastly.... thank god I was a dumbass and bought a Rolex the moment I saw some good income ROFL, or else I probably wont ever get to purchase one hahaha, being financially irresponsible was key to that owership.

[Badhobz]

That covid auto sales gravy train was bound to run out. Margins are never going to be that high again so i would say this is for sure the best time to run for the hills. I mean if you got lincolns sitting on the lot from 2023 brand new, you know there's something wrong.

Nobody's buying new cars (they all suck too) so youre bound to see inventory pile up. Theres like a fleet of shitty brand new 992.2 and remaining 992.1 beetles ready to go (not GT beetles, but even the GT4, there was something like 30-40 unsold units across the country according to my porsche girl)

[68style]

I noticed the C Train in Calgary is still piloted by an actual person, not computer controlled like Canada Line and Skytrain! That must be such a fucking boring mindless job.

[Badhobz]

man id love to drive a mindless train... maybe i can get a job driving the MTR or dingding or mini bus (manual!!! and lots of swearing) in hong kong.

[EvoFire]

I don't think you can buy an auto Coaster anymore. MTR is starting to automate their trains. The Disney line is the first one for testing purposes.

[Badhobz]

FUCK YOU EVOFIRE.

https://media.tenor.com/Ny7eUp2X6XYAAAAM/kid-cute.gif

FUCK YOU EVOFIRE.

[JDMDreams]

Apparently mtr is pretty much automated. But the person supervises. Watches the camera for shit to happen. And they manually open and close doors. And visually check before heading off again.

[JDMDreams]

The tram in tuen moon is still manually driven as it's on the street

[Badhobz]

yeah but who the fuck wants to go there? thats hoboville.

The wife says if i have to leave the island ill get murdered for calling everyone a lun yeung.

[RabidRat]

thank god I was a dumbass and bought a Rolex the moment I saw some good income ROFL, or else I probably wont ever get to purchase one hahaha, being financially irresponsible was key to that owership.

:lol that's amazing

[Traum]

I'd expect the Translink pension to give you 2% (of your avg annual salary over 5 years) per year of service. So let's say you are 40 right now. If you do 25 years at Translink (or pretty much any other job in provincial public service) and retire at 65 when you are making $100k/yr (just to make the calculation easy), your retirement pension is very roughly going to be:

[25 yrs of service] x [2% per year] = 50%

pension = $100k x 50% = $50k per year

In reality, there are lots of subtleties in how you structure your pension to skew the payouts a bit. But we won't go into that unless you are really interested. And even then, every person's pay out plan is going to be very different and highly customized.

The accumulated pension amounts are pretty much transferrable to all other public sector jobs though. So that means if you decide to take up another higher paying public sector job, your years of service still counts, and you benefit from the calculation using the average of your 5 most high paying years to determine your pension payment.

[mb_]

- Pay plan continuously getting worse year over year. It went from selling 8-10 cars netting you close or over $10K (before deductions) to selling 16 cars and still don't make $10K




Don't have an advice but this is par for the course with OpenRoad, even the ones in management in all departments... :)

sarcastic smile

[noclue]

Gotta respect the dealers that havent sold out yet to openroad/dilwari though I see more consolidation coming

[GLOW]

yeah but who the fuck wants to go there? thats hoboville.

The wife says if i have to leave the island ill get murdered for calling everyone a lun yeung.

Can’t fault you if you right, amirite :badpokerface:

[TypeRNammer]

I know someone who drives for transit, he said that training is quite rigorous (good for passengers, I suppose). Not to discourage you but he said out of 10 recruits, maybe 4 pass .. yikes! So if you pass training and make it, it's a pretty good accomplishment.

Then the real life transit driver is quite stressful. You sign up for shifts and because you're the newest bunch, you'll be driving the Hastings route or some other routes that no one wants (it is what it is). The pressure to meet the schedulte, time table is high. It is hard work but much needed.

Good luck with it.

The amount of trainees we have right now is absurd.

Good chance that when dark completes his training, he has a good chance he'll be forced out of the Vancouver garage (the one with all the shit routes) and either be allocated to Burnaby, Richmond, or the Queens borough garage

[GLOW]

Pop quiz…Dark’s training - watching Speed with Keanu Reeves & Sandra bolluck

[TypeRNammer]

There’s also some skytrain jobs that pays quite well either at the stations or the control room in edmonds. I remember hearing station attendants making $45/hr.

Or you can join the high rails and join CN/CPRail lol

SkyTrain attendants are currently $42 ish am hour for their top wage.

They recently negotiated a contract where their Sunday's attracts a premium of 1.25 times their pay and eventually 1.5 times.

[Badhobz]

What would happen if you get into an accident while driving the bus ? Do you automatically get paid time off like you do as a conductor ? (Pending a piss test for illegal substances)

[TypeRNammer]

What would happen if you get into an accident while driving the bus ? Do you automatically get paid time off like you do as a conductor ? (Pending a piss test for illegal substances)

Depends on the severity of the incident.

If you fuck up really where it's 100% preventable and the company wants to investigate further, you could be placed on admin leave with pay

Otherwise it's fill out an incident report within 24 hours, and wait for the results via letter mail and carry on with your regular work.

[EvoFire]

So now that we are on the topic of buses. There was a bus that ended up where it was not supposed to be, in a super narrow and curved residential street in Fraserview. It was stuck because there simply wasn't enough width for it to move forward, but the bus driver said he can't back up without a supervisor spotting him.

What happens when a bus driver makes a stupid mistake like that?

[Badhobz]

Ohhh I got some more questions too

- can you listen to a radio or podcast ? Can you wear headphones at all ?
- what if you have to take a dump ? You just bail on route ?
- how much is that bus ? Can you request to keep using the same old girl everyday ?
- how long are the shifts ? What about breaks ?

[TypeRNammer]

So now that we are on the topic of buses. There was a bus that ended up where it was not supposed to be, in a super narrow and curved residential street in Fraserview. It was stuck because there simply wasn't enough width for it to move forward, but the bus driver said he can't back up without a supervisor spotting him.

What happens when a bus driver makes a stupid mistake like that?

Any time you make a mistake where it requires you to reverse, or going off route in an area you're not familiar with, you need to stay stationary and call for a supervisor to attend.

I made a mistake where I was facing the wrong direction because I wasn't aware of a re-route. So I had to call for a supervisor to come by, we ended up doing a 3 point turn

[whitev70r]

Is that how pension works for unions/public sector jobs?

I'm used to company contribute 5% of your salary and you contribute 5%, as long as you work there. It goes into Pension plan like Canada Life and then whatever it accumulates to when you retire (hopefully, a consistent 8-10% return annually), that's your pot of gold to live off from.

[GLOW]

Any time you make a mistake where it requires you to reverse, or going off route in an area you're not familiar with, you need to stay stationary and call for a supervisor to attend.

I made a mistake where I was facing the wrong direction because I wasn't aware of a re-route. So I had to call for a supervisor to come by, we ended up doing a 3 point turn

Would it be easier to do 3 rights and a left?
I’m picturing how a 3 point turn in a bus goes…

http://youtu.be/IGiQOCX9UbM

[GLOW]

Ohhh I got some more questions too

- can you listen to a radio or podcast ? Can you wear headphones at all ?
- what if you have to take a dump ? You just bail on route ?

I remember seeing bus drivers with portable radio or whatever listening to radio

Pickle jar :troll:

[SSM_DC5]

Any time you make a mistake where it requires you to reverse, or going off route in an area you're not familiar with, you need to stay stationary and call for a supervisor to attend.

I made a mistake where I was facing the wrong direction because I wasn't aware of a re-route. So I had to call for a supervisor to come by, we ended up doing a 3 point turn

The Translink driver I remember has shown himself :clap:

[RevYouUp]

Damn buying a Rolex and brand new cars on a 70-80k family salary is insane

[bcrdukes]

He pulled in over $100K a few year ago and balled out with the Rolex.

[Traum]

Is that how pension works for unions/public sector jobs?

I'm used to company contribute 5% of your salary and you contribute 5%, as long as you work there. It goes into Pension plan like Canada Life and then whatever it accumulates to when you retire (hopefully, a consistent 8-10% return annually), that's your pot of gold to live off from.
I think most public sector employees at the municipal and provincial level (in BC) are covered under Municipal Pension Plan (https://mpp.pensionsbc.ca/), or something equivalent to it. Generally speaking, MPP (and its equivalent plans) is considered to be the gold standard of all pension plans available in Canada because it is a defined benefits pension plan, meaning you know how much your pension payments are gonna be when you retire.

Most plan members pay 8.x% into the pension funds while they are working, and the employer pays a little more than that to cover additional expenses for the pension plan company.
(More details can be found here (https://mpp.pensionsbc.ca/how-pension-contributions-work).)

It seems to me that the pension plan you are familiar with is a defined contribution plan where the contribution amount is fixed, but the pension payout amount is not guaranteed.

[bcrdukes]

While I do agree that defined benefit pensions are the gold standard in the public sector, they are slowly disappearing in the corporate world. Defined contributions have taken over in corporate* practice.

Given dark0821's age, his personal/financial/family situation, he really has to stick it out to the end to truly benefit from the pension and become a pension chaser. There is no right or wrong, it just depends on your circumstances and knowing what limitations are within and the possibilities that exist out there.

[donk.]

Damn buying a Rolex and brand new cars on a 70-80k family salary is insane

Dark has a sugarmommy he forgot to mention

[CivicBlues]

Damn buying a Rolex and brand new cars on a 70-80k family salary is insane

Sales brain. Gotta project success!

[dark0821]

Damn buying a Rolex and brand new cars on a 70-80k family salary is insane

hahha yes, very dumb and I will be first to admit i am a stupid person loool 1000%

it was to celebrate a lifetime milestone of hitting $100k for the first time ever... and I did it by end of September that year, so I thought I finally found something I like and paid good.

I still love the car salesman experience, its exactly what I like to do... too bad it just doesnt balance the financial books anymore...

do i regret? not 1 bit, its like fulfilling a childhood promise to myself that i made it~ just didnt last hahaha

welp..... cant daily the rollie anymore, so gonna be in my room behind a glass case most of the time going forward...hahahaha

[trollface]

Now you dont have to shill crappy cars anymore.

[noclue]

SkyTrain attendants are currently $42 ish am hour for their top wage.

They recently negotiated a contract where their Sunday's attracts a premium of 1.25 times their pay and eventually 1.5 times.

This is the chillest job, just chill and sweep the station, manually take over the train if it breaks down or bad weather.

Do bus drivers have a mandatory retirement age or can you keep going until you slump over the wheel?

[JDMDreams]

$50000 pension a year is only 5% on a $1m portfolio.

To get there, $90000 start, $1000 mth contribution, 25y at 6% = $1,062,557.33 total contributions $300,000.

So is it worth it to work another 25y? Or find other hustles to grind higher income to invest. I'm not sure how I feel about pensions. I feel like it's a bad thing, do you really want to work till 65? How's your health? How many good years would you have left? As I see pension + cpp + oas as a bad thing as you're forced to have really high income even during retirement = taxes and claw backs. Vs if you can invest you can control your payouts for your income?

[dc5typeS]

Been driving transit for 19 yrs

Great Job.

[supafamous]

$50000 pension a year is only 5% on a $1m portfolio.

To get there, $90000 start, $1000 mth contribution, 25y at 6% = $1,062,557.33 total contributions $300,000.

So is it worth it to work another 25y? Or find other hustles to grind higher income to invest. I'm not sure how I feel about pensions. I feel like it's a bad thing, do you really want to work till 65? How's your health? How many good years would you have left? As I see pension + cpp + oas as a bad thing as you're forced to have really high income even during retirement = taxes and claw backs. Vs if you can invest you can control your payouts for your income?

Defined benefit pensions like this are indexed to inflation, they also last a lifetime, and when you die your spouse gets survivor benefits so a $50k pension is worth far more than $1m portfolio (assuming you live long enough). You can also income split these pensions to minimise your taxes so that $50k can be $25k per spouse. A $50k pension, IMO, should be treated more like a $1.5-2m portfolio as a result.

[RabidRat]

What happens if you get sleepy? What do you do if the droopy eyes are getting really dire?

Can you take the bus home for the night, so long as it's gassed up and ready on the route the next morning?

What decides who gets to drive a nicer newer buses, vs an older one for the day? Can I assume that if I see a driver in a newer bus, then they're probably one of the higher ups?

Is there some kind of tiered bonus, based on how accurately you time your stops?

Is there special training for the accordion buses?

Is there special training for the ones with electrical pole thingies?

...Do you guys talk about us passengers, in the staff room?

[whitev70r]

^ then you also get CPP and OAS on top of that, right?

[noclue]

Can you take the bus home for the night, so long as it's gassed up and ready on the route the next morning?


“Yeah bro I park the 60ft bus in my driveway that takes 300+ liters of diesel or CNG, boss let me take it so I can load a sofa from costco”

[TypeRNammer]

This is the chillest job, just chill and sweep the station, manually take over the train if it breaks down or bad weather.

Do bus drivers have a mandatory retirement age or can you keep going until you slump over the wheel?

SkyTrain attendant may be a chill job, that's one side of the extreme spectrum, on the other side you might to attend to a scene with a dead or partially alive person stuck under a train

Way back in the day there used to be a mandatory retirement age but the courts ruled it as discriminatory.

One of my classmates was 62 when he started, he's 72 and still working.

[SSM_DC5]

^ then you also get CPP and OAS on top of that, right?

Say bye bye to the benefits for being low or no income if get a pension. Government will take it all back when you do your taxes.

[TypeRNammer]

What happens if you get sleepy? What do you do if the droopy eyes are getting really dire?

Can you take the bus home for the night, so long as it's gassed up and ready on the route the next morning?

What decides who gets to drive a nicer newer buses, vs an older one for the day? Can I assume that if I see a driver in a newer bus, then they're probably one of the higher ups?

Is there some kind of tiered bonus, based on how accurately you time your stops?

Is there special training for the accordion buses?

Is there special training for the ones with electrical pole thingies?

...Do you guys talk about us passengers, in the staff room?

If you are on the road and feeling unfit to operate a bus, you need to call control to inform them of the situation. They will most likely to ask you to park and secure the bus wherever you are on route. From then on you either transit home or a supervisor will pick you up depending on the severity of your wellness

No you cannot take the bus home as it is company property

The decision on new vs old bus is dependant on dispatch from the mechanic side of things. Bus operators don't get to decide on that. For example, if you do the same route for the early morning shift, buses are assigned based on what's parked first in the track. Sometimes you get a new bus, sometimes you get an old bus.

No bonuses on timed stops, you are paid to drive safely from point a and point b, and if you are delayed from driving your regular route due to traffic or passenger load, it's paid by the minute at 1.5x

In training you are trained to drive the regular 40 foot diesel, 40 foot trolley, and 60 foot trolley. Once you graduate you have the basic jist on the various equipments. But once you venture out to different garages, some may have different equipment such as compressed natural gas buses or double decker buses which you will get additional training

[TypeRNammer]

Ohhh I got some more questions too

- can you listen to a radio or podcast ? Can you wear headphones at all ?
- what if you have to take a dump ? You just bail on route ?
- how much is that bus ? Can you request to keep using the same old girl everyday ?
- how long are the shifts ? What about breaks ?

No electronic devices while operating a bus as per policy

If you really need to take a dump on route, just go, but be reasonable about it, inform passengers and control.

Different bus everyday as it is dispatched and assigned from the mechanics side.

Shifts you are guaranteed 7.5 hours of pay per day, but some shifts have longer duty time which will attract built in over time

Breaks are dependent on the bus schedule itself

[whitev70r]

They are building a huge ass bus depot at the foot of the Canada Line pedestrian bridge. There is also a massive depot in Marpole already ... seems close to have 2 big depots.

[supafamous]

^ then you also get CPP and OAS on top of that, right?

Yep.

Say bye bye to the benefits for being low or no income if get a pension. Government will take it all back when you do your taxes.

Clawback doesn't start till you have $93k of net income and with income splitting it won't hit someone like Dark and generally won't hit most people who get a DB pension - you'd have to have 35 years of service and/or grossed over $150k/yr or so.

[TypeRNammer]

They are building a huge ass bus depot at the foot of the Canada Line pedestrian bridge. There is also a massive depot in Marpole already ... seems close to have 2 big depots.

Lease is up on some of the land at the Vancouver garage where the diesel buses are parked

So some time in the distant future, Vancouver garage will be exclusively trolley buses, Marpole will be a mixed fleet of diesel and battery electric buses

That's what I've been hearing

[whitev70r]

In this day and age with EV buses coming on line, why do cities still use trolley buses with electrical wires overhead? Once in a while you see a bus pull over cuz it's connector disconnected. Seems like 1970 tech.

[radeonboy]

In this day and age with EV buses coming on line, why do cities still use trolley buses with electrical wires overhead? Once in a while you see a bus pull over cuz it's connector disconnected. Seems like 1970 tech.

I imagine it's because the current buses have been paid for and the existing infrastructure is already there. Plus, the old buses don't need downtime to recharge like an EV bus would (before even figuring out the whole logistics of charging the buses).

[bcrdukes]

Cities like Toronto still use trolleys with wires. The tracks are built into the ground so the infrastructure is there. May as well continue using them, I guess?

[JDMDreams]

Bro were poor as fuck probably use the same shit for the next 50 years.

[OriginalJC]

Good luck Dark. You gotta do, what you gotta do for your family and your future.

[trollface]

A pension is nice, but you live in abject poverty until you get to 65 unless you happen to get a decent base wage. Meanwhile, COL will 100% outpace govt wage increases.

So you get a "safe" retirement, but you'll have no fun up until then. There are some pretty sick defined pensions, but they were closed up right after i was a fetus.

Current pensions are great for folks that already have a roof over their heads waiting to die.

[trollface]

Btw, I was on the bus once and this badhobz looking guy gets on and goes straight to the back. He take s ball of tinfoil out of his pocket and solowly unravels it, smoothing out all the creases.

He lays the foil on the floor, squats over it and takes a huge waterly dump. The driver started screaming at him about shitting on his bus. We all had to get off.

The PNE is weird.

[RabidRat]

I don't understand why the driver would be upset. That's paid time off.

He should be asking all his passengers to take shits in his bus.

[trollface]

Can i come shit in your office?

[bcrdukes]

Btw, I was on the bus once and this badhobz looking guy gets on and goes straight to the back.

lol

[Badhobz]

dats not me facetroll! i wouldnt move to the back.... id take a shit on your face.

[Scotsman]

Say bye bye to the benefits for being low or no income if get a pension. Government will take it all back when you do your taxes.

To add to what Supa said, you shouldn't be worried or complain if you're hitting OAS clawback especially as a couple where the pension and RRIF can be income split.

The clawback threshold is also tied to inflation so it has grown every year. The clawback is also a percentage of every dollar above the threshold so you don't lose it all once you hit the threshold amount. It's 15% of every $1 over.

2025 starts at $93,454 and you don't lose it all until you hit $151,668 income per person. So as a couple with income splitting you're going to have about $180k combined income up to $300k combined income before you lose 100% of your OAS.

I think you'll be enjoying your retired life with that type of income and not be worried about the lost OAS.

You also get an OAS payment bump of 10% at age 75 so that takes you from $151,668 to $157,490 before you've lost 100% OAS and again that's per person.

However if the government fucks with the threshold in the future then the game will change. There are groups lobbying to get the threshold amount lowered.

There is already GIS for those who need more income support so not sure if any political party wants to lower the OAS threshold (affects middle and upper middle (?) class so a major voting block).

Good luck on the new career Dark!

[Badhobz]

No electronic devices seems insane. If I was driving the no 20 bus I’d wanna listen to something…. I mean it’s basically inhumane to not provide some sort of entertainment while driving that mindless bus route. Each stops is like 500 meters or something! Ugh every few minutes. Ding stop. Ding stop. Ding stop.

[JDMDreams]

He's Asian, he wants that full gis, every penny on pension day every month in cash

[Badhobz]

hes asian, but hes shanghainese first. that means insane. Why do you think he goes out and buys a rolex while selling hyundais ?

https://media4.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTZjMDliOTUyazExajd0NHViZnlnNDZodjRyaXlqdnQ 5amx1bGN4M3R3YW4yemVibSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjd D1n/3o7TKF1fSIs1R19B8k/giphy.gif

[mikemhg]

So many bus drivers on Revscene. That's definitely not the occupation one would think people to carry on a forum full of "ballers" like this one :lol

I guess on the internet everyone has a 12-inch willy.

[Badhobz]

Did you forget a decimal?

[bcrdukes]

0.12?

[supafamous]

So many bus drivers on Revscene. That's definitely not the occupation one would think people to carry on a forum full of "ballers" like this one :lol

When these guys say they spent all day picking up chicks they didn't mean they were doing it from the passenger side of their best friend's ride, they meant in the driver's seat of a bus.

[Eff-1]

No electronic devices seems insane. If I was driving the no 20 bus I’d wanna listen to something…. I mean it’s basically inhumane to not provide some sort of entertainment while driving that mindless bus route. Each stops is like 500 meters or something! Ugh every few minutes. Ding stop. Ding stop. Ding stop.

Do they let train drivers and conductors listen to music while choo chooing?

[Eff-1]

Bus driver is one of those jobs I wanted to do as a little kid. Even today, if I won the lottery but still had to fill my time, I'd consider it just for fun. Maybe not the full size bus, just the community bus since it runs on quiet suburban routes and not Main and Hastings.

Good luck dark! I appreciate you are always sharing your adventures here.

[dark0821]

safety first lolll

[JDMDreams]

Too bad we don't have Benz buses or you can tell ppl you daily a Benz:joy:

[Badhobz]

Do they let train drivers and conductors listen to music while choo chooing?

Yeah but that’s different. We had radios and were constantly talking and interacting with each other.

Okay go ahead 3 cars to a joint, 2 cars…. 1 to go… half a car….. and stop and stretch. Stretch is good. Stop, going in between.

You’re never not communicating. Being a bus driver would be horrible without some sort of media to consume.

[bcrdukes]

I think rookie bus drivers have to socialize with DTES crackheads and Guangdong hoarders more than they have time to listen to the radio. :troll:

[Tapioca]

Good on you for taking some risk with the car sales job and then realizing when to get out. And also, good on you for realizing your limitations (i.e. not wanting to hustle) and finding a job that will probably be better for your mental health.

Find other hobbies and ways to pass the time outside of your job.

[whitev70r]

I thought one day, when I retire, I'd like to drive the shuttle bus from car dealers to transit ... like Richmond Car Dealer to Brighouse ... just for kicks, shitz, giggles, conversation, and to get out of the house.

[JDMDreams]

Just be a hotel shuttle driver, you get tips too??? Profit

[Badhobz]

I thought one day, when I retire, I'd like to drive the shuttle bus from car dealers to transit ... like Richmond Car Dealer to Brighouse ... just for kicks, shitz, giggles, conversation, and to get out of the house.

you hamsup old man!!! stop trying to mack on bitches in your "community shuttle"

[noclue]

Now that you moved on, share some car sales stories
Single mom signing 30% loan
How to get out of $1500 in mandatory openroad fees
Month end the best deals for cars?

[bcrdukes]

Perhaps he will have a change of heart and move over to Porsche Centre Richmond :troll:

[trollface]

How many families do you think you gave generational debt to?


"Is 29% APR a good rate?"

"It's a very rare rate, I never see a rate like this".

[SSM_DC5]

I thought one day, when I retire, I'd like to drive the shuttle bus from car dealers to transit ... like Richmond Car Dealer to Brighouse ... just for kicks, shitz, giggles, conversation, and to get out of the house.

HandiDart if you want higher chance of people your age. :concentrate:

[whitev70r]

Just be a hotel shuttle driver, you get tips too??? Profit

I thought doing the shuttle from a car dealer, you'd have fun conversations with the occasional car guy. Porsche, Audi, BMW, etc.

Hotel shuttle ... hell, I don't want to talk to travellers whine. But some might think you'd meet some interesting folks from around the world.

[Badhobz]

ewww... car guys.

[roastpuff]

A lot of dealers don't do shuttles anymore, they just give you Uber vouchers heh

[bcrdukes]

ewww... car guys.

They are the absolute worst, next to Trump.

[mikemhg]

It's a good pivot though, Dark.

It sounds like much of everything nowadays, careers in certain sectors that paid handsomely in the past will no longer be applicable. Companies need infinite growth, and yet take home earnings to the buying public is simply not commensurate to that. Companies will continue to make cuts for profit, in your particular sector that's in sales, commission, to the buyer, that's service.

It won't be long that we'll all be buying/leasing cars in the manner of Tesla, you'll order online, and that will be the extent of your engagement.

[TypeRNammer]

Community shuttle is a decent gig too at TransLink, top wage of $35.22 an hour

You start off as a casual though, so you don't get a seniority number until future bidding on the next schedule.

We also have depot clerk dispatch positions that pay $42 an hour top wage

[Eff-1]

I thought one day, when I retire, I'd like to drive the shuttle bus from car dealers to transit ... like Richmond Car Dealer to Brighouse ... just for kicks, shitz, giggles, conversation, and to get out of the house.

A long time ago when I was managing sponsorship events for car dealers, we used to hire this company all the time (I forget what they were called) but they were a family-run small business. Basically, all they did was drive cars to and from dealerships and the port.

All you need is a fleet policy of transporter plates, a mini van to shuttle drivers around, and a bunch of retired people.

The hardest part is scheduling the drivers and the shuttles I imagine.

Food for thought if we win the lotto and can retire early.

[whitev70r]

^ is that why new cars all list 300 kms on odometer .. :lol.

[noclue]

A long time ago when I was managing sponsorship events for car dealers, we used to hire this company all the time (I forget what they were called) but they were a family-run small business. Basically, all they did was drive cars to and from dealerships and the port.

All you need is a fleet policy of transporter plates, a mini van to shuttle drivers around, and a bunch of retired people.

The hardest part is scheduling the drivers and the shuttles I imagine.

Food for thought if we win the lotto and can retire early.

There are transport businesses that hire retired people with class 1 to deliver semi trucks/RV/Buses all over north america. Too big to ship via rail I guess

[donk.]

Community shuttle is a decent gig too at TransLink, top wage of $35.22 an hour

You start off as a casual though, so you don't get a seniority number until future bidding on the next schedule.

We also have depot clerk dispatch positions that pay $42 an hour top wage

42$/hr for dispatch is insane.

This chick i d̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ banged 12+ years ago, was making 18$/hr up north as dispatch. (Min wage was 9$ at the time i think), so she was rolling in money for someone fresh out of highschool.

[Traum]

I am totally seeing the subtle flex here lol~ :ifyouknow:
This chick i d̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ banged 12+ years ago, was making 18$/hr up north as dispatch. (Min wage was 9$ at the time i think), so she was rolling in money for someone fresh out of highschool.

[68style]

42$/hr for dispatch is insane.

This chick i d̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ banged 12+ years ago, was making 18$/hr up north as dispatch. (Min wage was 9$ at the time i think), so she was rolling in money for someone fresh out of highschool.

Shouldn’t you have been still playing with GI Joes and Transformers 12+ years ago?

[underscore]

^ maybe he meant finger banged.

[TypeRNammer]

42$/hr for dispatch is insane.

This chick i d̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ banged 12+ years ago, was making 18$/hr up north as dispatch. (Min wage was 9$ at the time i think), so she was rolling in money for someone fresh out of highschool.

It's a mix of administration and dispatch.

They are bus driver's first point of contact for general inquiries, booking off, checking work assignments.

Besides those things, they also take care of time keeping, logging incident reports from operators, do roll call for over time, assigning daily work for operators for the next day.

That's just off the top of my head

[donk.]

Shouldn’t you have been still playing with GI Joes and Transformers 12+ years ago?

:okay:

^ maybe he meant finger banged.

:okay:

Im actually a virgin that walks in the abundant light of christ

[headhunt3r]

Anyone got darks contact info? I could use a hyundai sales rep right now.

[Gumby]

Pretty sure he left OpenRoad Hyundai already, I don’t see him listed on the website…

[dark0821]

Anyone got darks contact info? I could use a hyundai sales rep right now.

Yes sir, last day was end of Aug, though I still know all the people, I will refer you someone.

[BIC_BAWS]

Damn what a crazy thread to come back to. Congrats Dark! I'm sure, we'll catch up again soon when Hobz drags us out of the house lol

[dark0821]

Quick update guys....


Training was a success, 17 of us are gonna drive a bus for the first time tmrw, we started from 28 people orginally.

and now 5 months of probation....

[bcrdukes]

Congrats! So when will we see your GT3?

[EvoFire]

Quick update guys....


Training was a success, 17 of us are gonna drive a bus for the first time tmrw, we started from 28 people orginally.

and now 5 months of probation....

What happened to the other 11?

[Badhobz]

they got sent back to india

Quick update guys....
and now 5 months of probation....

Everyone find dark (shouldnt be hard, hes the only non indian guy driving a bus) and crash into him. show him whos boss !!!!! plz yield its the law my ass. Cut him off and immediately finger him!

[mb_]

Lol was just wondering if you ended up leaving OpenRoad cause just had a buddy quit after many years

Totally missed your update that you did end up leaving, good luck with the rest!

[whitev70r]

What happened to the other 11?

From what I understand, it's quite a gruelling training process and a high failure rate, I heard as many as 50% of a group doesn't make it so this group was particularly sharp ... led by Dark.

[TypeRNammer]

What happened to the other 11?

They probably failed at various parts of the training such as not passing the road test on the 2nd week, or unable to operate a trolley bus on the 3rd or 4th week, or even as far as failing on the final exam day of driving

they got sent back to india



Everyone find dark (shouldnt be hard, hes the only non indian guy driving a bus) and crash into him. show him whos boss !!!!! plz yield its the law my ass. Cut him off and immediately finger him!

Crash into him after probation, so he can be off on WCB :lawl:

[smoothie.]

Congrats! So when will we see your GT3?

:lawl:


80K today is 65K in 2020

1/18 no problem

[bcrdukes]

BoC interest rates just dropped to 2.25%. @dark0821 - Don't disappoint us. Need to see your celebratory GT3 by end of Q4 2025. Show us what you're truly capable of! :fuckyea:

[bcrdukes]

They probably failed at various parts of the training such as not passing the road test on the 2nd week, or unable to operate a trolley bus on the 3rd or 4th week, or even as far as failing on the final exam day of driving

If you are allowed to share, what are some examples of how people fail? Is it because of skill/technical errors or behavioural/competency issues? i.e. Failed to complete right turn 2/5 times vs. Legit stupid and cannot/does not want to listen to supervisor/trainer and flipped them the bird.

[dark0821]

To be honest, it is "hard" and "easy" at the same time. I have RS Translink GURUs at my disposal which I harassed them daily for like hours on end and be like.. what is this... how is that.... WTF do i do here.... how are the exams appointed... what are they looking for lololol

SUPER DUPER LONG READ (I cant write concise, lolol sorry guys, but I think its interesting)


****it is a long ass process to get hired though.... I guess it is the same for all public sectos....


1. I havn't been back to school for like 2 decades (but the amount of reading expected of you is absurd) (of course I didn't read the material, I uploaded the pdfs to various AIs and read summaries) and even then its a solid 45min to 60min of reading every single day (there is an online quiz every day, you have to keep up 80%)
- legit have somone fail on this part... which was... but I understand, some students kepts a second job during training which was crazy to me

2. written exams (mid term and final) to maintain 80% as well, you get a 2nd chance to take one big final exam if you fucked up the midterm + final
- one of our student did that as well... and honestly not his fault, English was like his 3rd language.... and the multiple choice answers are tricky (as in even if you knew the answer, they word it in a way where even I have to read it 5Xs over and be like... ahhh ok!)

3. driving in general... this is the "easy" or "hard" part... You are expected to 100% make mistakes, and LOTS of mistakes at that... they just want to see how you react to your mistakes.... there are A LOT OF POLICY AND PROCEDURES that are there to protect you, your passengers and other road users in a SAFETY FIRST manner. when you fuck up... and lemme tell you, during training i fucked up.... they want to see that you can
remaing calm. deep breath
do the proper PROCEDURES in the correct order to resolve the mistake
- this part of the program is also based on "lucK", you can have bright sunny days, with calm traffic, courtes drivers and easy going passengers, you can have a very "smooth" day... or you can have drivers trying to cut you off, pull out of parking without seeing you coming up to them at full speed (which I hate the most, you stomp on brake, you might send passengers flying and injure them) you lay on your horn, the car might freeze up and just cont to occupy the space which now you bus is gonna occupy in the next 2 seconds... yes they teach you defensive driving (which shameless plug here, it overlays the PRS class 6 motorcycle school pretty extensively) helped me alot since I already practice a lot of these things for the past few years), but yea, if you are unlucky, from what I heard from classmates, the "incidents" that occured which we are told "so and so" are no longer with the program, half of it is how they handled it once it happened, but also a portion of it being "lucky" it just so happens to happed to them in the first place

4. Road test... road test is easy, just like every other road test bascially the jest of it is "dont do stupid shit"... the only unconventional part of the road test is before driving, you are given 45 minutes to articulate your "pre-trip", ie checking the commercial vehicle over to make sure it is road worthy before putting the vehicle on public road. You are required to do this daily if you are the first driver of the bus brining the vehicle out of the yard. You need to tell your examiner during the test, ofc when you do it yourself in the future, you don't need to speak, but do make sure you still check. Because if the bus fucks up during your shift and it was something that should "have been found during your pre-trip".... get fucked...

5. Trolley... this is the part where alot of students gets fucked (I almost did as well, I just got lucky tbh).... so you are driving this large vehicle for probably about 20 hours in total (unlike other vehicles, you "cant" practice at home, so the 1 to 2 hours everyday is all you get). You are trying to keep your bus straight (even on the Oak/Granville skinny lanes), not to have poles wipe out your mirrors, look for other road users, traffic lights, bus stops, pedestrains, e-scooters, e-bikes, etc etc)... now you gotta look up at the wires in the sky... the trolley wires are from 1940's, they are "NOT" automated, there is a switch inside of the bus that you must control during "switches", and the switches are very sensitive to the angle/speed which your bus approaches them... for the longest time I can't do it, my eyes are so busy doing everything else (especially in downtown where there are a million delivery "silent" e scooters and bikers that likes to get in a few inches of your stupid bus) I just dont have the time to look up.. and sometimes the wires blends into the tree shadows... etc etc....
-we lost the bulk of our students here

6. Final evaluation drive on a trolley.... once again this comes down to luck... i got extremely lucky, in all the test routes, i got the easiest.... #41 bus.... its a straight line from Joyce to Crown and back... no routes to remember, just a few switches near the major intersections that I need to be careful of, nice wide lanes, nothing to "squeeze thru"... some of my classmates got the effed up routes with a million turns... or the nightmare.... a million turns in downtown that goes into DTES (nothing against DTES, but once again just one more factor that you can't control, they like to "hang out" on the street, and cross the road with 0 regards of what around them) etc etc.....

***oh and yes what dukes said, be humble, you are there to learn, once again they expect you to make mistakes, lots of them, as long as they are not super repeated, and you improve everytime you make the "same mistakes", if there are progress you are good, unless it is a blant dangerous action like running cyclist off the road or going thru a red light //// and yea.. the last thing you want is to start some shit with your instructor, they have a huge wait list of applicants, they are not here to cater to you, one of our classmates comes from a class 1 big rig background, not going into details, he argued that he has more "hours" driving large vehicles than the intructors, got into a heated argument and was escorted out the building and we never saw him ever again //// it could be down to personality, but I jivved with every instructor, all of them are easy going, thats why they are in the training department, if you dont bring an ego in, you will have a good time like I did //// did I think every note on my daily assesment is "fair", mayyyybbeee someone are a bit over critical, but I am not gonna start making excuses and defend myself /// let it go /// as long as it doesnt affect my graduation who gives a f


Now the real test starts.... probation is about 5 months, union basically told us, they are pretty much powerless to help us during probabtion, so dont fuck up.... once you pass probation, then the Union can fight for you going forward... so... wish me luck guys!!!!

I will bring the good new after Spring Break lololol

[GS8]

:suspicious:

I have RS Translink GURUs

WaheGURU ji!

EDIT: Your post at the bottom of the last page :lol

[mikemhg]

Do you know what your route will be yet Dark?

Looking forward to hearing your experiences driving a night bus or Hastings/Downtown :)

[dark0821]

this is the other part I kind of dont "agree" with, but I dont have a better solution.

There are FOUR SIGN UP a year, once a sign up is done, you do the same shit (same routes, same times) until the next sign up.

Now since the next sign up isn't until January, and we graduated in between a sign up, we are like the "substitute teacher" of the bus drivers until January.

So we have our fixed day offs, but ther other 5 days of the week, we find out what time/what route/the number bus we are driving at 6PM the day before...

the senior drivers do the same route day in and day out they can almost auto-pilot this shit... but the new guys.... which are still very NEWBIE has to try to learn the routes on the fly every single day.... at different times of the day.... so... jusst be 100,000%%%% vigilant!!

[Gumby]

dark0821 has a great attitude, good luck!

[Badhobz]

if you see a really shitty chinamen bus driver, paying 100000% attention and nervous as fuck. Make sure you cut him and off, finger him, and brake check him!!!

[bcrdukes]

I feel assured that my taxes are properly put to use now.

[68style]

Lies! You don’t even pay taxes here!

[whitev70r]

Yah onrdukes! Your taxes go towards TTC, that highly efficient transit system!

But honestly, the process that dark listed sounds hard and rigorous to me, as it should be, because you have a lot of people's lives under your responsibilities. I wouldn't want some flake at the helm of a bus.

[bcrdukes]

Busted :inout:

Take The Car! :buttrock:

[Badhobz]

You just called dark a flake !!! Bahhahaha cut him off !!!!

[TypeRNammer]

To be honest, it is "hard" and "easy" at the same time. I have RS Translink GURUs at my disposal which I harassed them daily for like hours on end and be like.. what is this... how is that.... WTF do i do here.... how are the exams appointed... what are they looking for lololol

Yes, getting harassed during the entire training duration (6 weeks) was not fun :lawl:

[SSM_DC5]

So what's protocol when dealing with difficult riders? For instance, someone who walks on without paying, someone who spits on you, someone who is being a nuisance to other riders

[bcrdukes]

^
I'd be curious to learn how Translink drivers deal with that.

Here in Toronto/GTA, bus drivers/operators have a door/window where they don't talk to you whatsoever. Directions? Get bent. Need help? Get off the bus. Don't pay your fare? No fucks given. It was an interesting world when I moved here and was confused at how little interaction they have with passengers.

[Badhobz]

everyone go spit on dark and find out!

[RabidRat]

^
I'd be curious to learn how Translink drivers deal with that.

Here in Toronto/GTA, bus drivers/operators have a door/window where they don't talk to you whatsoever. Directions? Get bent. Need help? Get off the bus. Don't pay your fare? No fucks given. It was an interesting world when I moved here and was confused at how little interaction they have with passengers.

Ah... I don't know that that's universally true / true anymore...

Lately my 2 year old has been really into buses, so we've been riding TTC, GO, and VIVA buses up and down Yonge street on morning weekends for fun.

I don't remember seeing any barriers. And they were always happy to chat, give me advice about routes/transfers, chat with my kid playing along with the whole "holy shit, yes that's the driver from Wheels On The Bus!!!" schtick.

[Traum]

People are far more accommodating and friendly when you're with a kid though, esp when the child is young. So I wouldn't treat your interaction experience with bus drivers when you are doing so with your kid as "normal when interacting with adults".

[bcrdukes]

Ah... I don't know that that's universally true / true anymore...

Lately my 2 year old has been really into buses, so we've been riding TTC, GO, and VIVA buses up and down Yonge street on morning weekends for fun.

I don't remember seeing any barriers. And they were always happy to chat, give me advice about routes/transfers, chat with my kid playing along with the whole "holy shit, yes that's the driver from Wheels On The Bus!!!" schtick.

Evidently, we are taking very different routes. PJSalt

[whitev70r]

^ That and commuting to work on a Mon-Fri =/= Saturday morning joy bus ride.

[Gerbs]

Holy crap, with you hitting sales awards and the brand itself doing really well. It's only $70-80K at Hyundai?

[EvoFire]

Holy crap, with you hitting sales awards and the brand itself doing really well. It's only $70-80K at Hyundai?

It's got less to do with the brand and more to do with how the dealership ran things

[Gerbs]

Damn buying a Rolex and brand new cars on a 70-80k family salary is insane

cheap housing costs!

[Badhobz]

Well in his defence it was during the pandemic and he broke 6 figures selling Hyundais. It was a reward to himself. Now he’s a Rolex driving bus driver.

[headhunt3r]

Guys serve dim sum in Rollies, so why not bus drivers.

[Gerbs]

What's the difference between spending $10-20K on a rollie and spending $10-20K on sports, travel or drinking. Nothing!

[bcrdukes]

The Rolex has retained equity.

[Gerbs]

The Rolex has retained equity.

My international ski and golf trips pays lifetime daily dividends of invaluable memories with great company!

The exercise and companionship gives me retained equity on my joints and mental health.

[EvoFire]

The Rolex has retained equity.

It's a fallacy, most people do not sell them so the equity is just a myth.

[lowside67]

It's a fallacy, most people do not sell them so the equity is just a myth.
Just because something is not for sale does not make equity a myth. Your house isn't for sale today, is the equity you have in your house a myth? Of course not. You could say that the equity in your Rolex can't be accessed if you don't sell it, but it's not a myth.

In fact - while a Rolex is not a very good investment, it is a far better choice than a car or a diamond if that helps anybody sleep better. If a couple was financially astute, they'd buy the wife a cheaper engagement ring and the husband a better gold watch... that sure sounds like an easy sell!

-Mark

[CivicBlues]

You can access your home equity thru a HELOC or reverse mortgage, what sort of financial instruments allow you to access equity on your rolex? Vinny the loan shark might take it on as collateral?

[underscore]

Cars and diamonds are about the worst "investments" there are, it's not hard to beat them lol.

[Gerbs]

Hey, I bought every car i owned as an investment!

[yray]

when do you get to drive the bendy bus? or can you drive them straight out of the gate?

[noclue]

What’s the diesel tank size and range? And whats the mpg for heavy stop and go city driving lol

[mikemhg]

Devil's advocate for Dark as well, the Rolex also might buttress to his role as a sales guy.

Sales are all about optics, the illusion of success, it's the same reason your average real estate agent drives around in a Beamer/Benz, tailored suit with a nice watch.

That purchase is essentially him "investing" into his career, projecting success to his clients.

It's all very stupid, but the way the world works.

[Eff-1]

This thread reminded me of something from many years ago. There was a guy who worked in advertising and he decided to quit and be a bus driver. He started a blog and wrote about his training and his adventures (this was like 10 years ago when blogs were still a thing).

It was really entertaining. I tried finding it again but looks like it's gone, however he did instead publish a book. I bet it's pretty good tbh. https://www.blurb.ca/b/3797129-advertising-vs-bus-driving

(Spoiler: He's no longer a bus driver, he didn't pass probation, I won't share the details in case you want to read it).

Here's one except I found on his FB page.

The Ghost Bus

The 20.

The bus all the other drivers warned me about. Don’t sign it, don’t trade for it, don’t even look at it. Well, guess what I got on a Saturday night at 2:30 in the morning? Yup, and it’s the super deluxe version, avec fromage. The N20. The late night version of most notorious route going.

It did not disappoint.

I diffused a race war, solved a crime, got boarded by the Transit Police and I had a very strange encounter with a 90 something woman I picked up outside of a McDonald’s on Commercial Ave. This is mostly her story.

I had two more runs to go before I could call it an evening. Or was it a morning? When you start to mistake early morning joggers for people running for your bus the line gets very blurred.

My first run would take me on a route down Commercial than east bound on Hastings till I hit the downtown corridor. The second would take me in the opposite direction back towards Commercial. I picked up an old woman outside of the McDonald’s, she seemed to be aproximately the age of at least two of the surviving Golden Girls put together. She boarded my bus with a large fry in her hand and a comically slow shuffle that would remind my parents of a young Tim Conway.

Grandma Shuffles,“ Excuse me driver do you mind waiting for my friend, he’s still in there.” I checked the McDonald’s and my time and decided I probably could. “Not a problem mam, we’re ahead of schedule, we can afford to wait for a bit.” Shuffles seemed happy with my response and at roughly the speed of tectonic plates shifting she took her seat.

After about 3 minutes had passed and no one had joined her I started to wonder. “Mam?” I tried to get her attention but couldn’t seem to. “Mam?” Nothing. Loudspeaker, “Mam, has your friend joined you on the bus yet?”

“Oh yes. Thank-you.” The seat beside her was empty.

“Okay, we’re going to take off now.”

“Thank-you dear.”

After that I kind of lost track of her. The bus filled up quickly and before I knew it, it was standing room only. Half filled with the recreational drug users on Commercial and the other half with the hard core downtown crowd.

The route hit every seedy bar on Canada’s most notorious street, the boulevard of broken dreams and intact meth pipes, Hastings Street. And because of that the bus often gets boarded by the transit police looking to keep the peace and protect the driver.

Yeah right. All the transit cops managed to do was infuriate all the passengers on board by charging them full fare then leave me with a bus full of angry drunks. Before I knew it I was 15 minutes behind schedule and heading back towards Commercial with an over capacity, overly intoxicated bus.

After dropping most of my crowd off at the Skytrain Station without too many incidents I was surprised to see that Shuffles was still on board. In fact I ended up dropping her off directly across the street from where I picked her up. I think she took the 90 minute loop downtown just so she could cross the street. I apologized for the craziness and asked her if she was okay, her only comment was, “Too much excitement for us.”

She still had her large fry and she was still alone. I lowered the bus and she shuffled off into the early morning light.

:lawl:

[68style]

Why everyone harping on Darky about his watch, dudes are BORN to waste money on shit we don't need constantly... I'm happy for him, took a huge risk out of his comfort zone at some sign place, doubled his income even if it was only temporary... he needed to wild out with all his family responsibilities that's cool.

Now he can blind other drivers with all that blang doing a gangsta lean out the window in the summers. Or some hobo in downtown will grease it right off his arm. Either way!

[Badhobz]

Devil's advocate for Dark as well, the Rolex also might buttress to his role as a sales guy.

Sales are all about optics, the illusion of success, it's the same reason your average real estate agent drives around in a Beamer/Benz, tailored suit with a nice watch.

That purchase is essentially him "investing" into his career, projecting success to his clients.

It's all very stupid, but the way the world works.

if i saw a hyundai guy come up with me with a rolex id punch him in the face first, and then steal his watch. SeemsGood

[noclue]

You will gasp if you go to HK and see average joes from all walks of life with a rolex. Not sure how authentic it is though lol. Plus if I remember the photo he got a regular date just, not a GMT/daytona or a precious metal president.

[JDMDreams]

Well it's also no tax in HK

[Gerbs]

I bought the poor man's rollie just to realize I'm not a watch enthusiast

[Badhobz]

thats like you buying a ferrari and realizing you dont like cars. excellent!

[68style]

You will gasp if you go to HK and see average joes from all walks of life with a rolex. Not sure how authentic it is though lol. Plus if I remember the photo he got a regular date just, not a GMT/daytona or a precious metal president.

I read in one of those airplane magazines on Cathay Pacific a few years back while flying to HK that HK alone buys 65% of all the luxury watches sold in the whole world. This was like.. 2017? But even back then that's pretty nuts.

[EvoFire]

You will gasp if you go to HK and see average joes from all walks of life with a rolex. Not sure how authentic it is though lol. Plus if I remember the photo he got a regular date just, not a GMT/daytona or a precious metal president.

We call those Super A products :lawl:

[hc529]

To be honest, it is "hard" and "easy" at the same time. I have RS Translink GURUs at my disposal which I harassed them daily for like hours on end and be like.. what is this... how is that.... WTF do i do here.... how are the exams appointed... what are they looking for lololol

SUPER DUPER LONG READ (I cant write concise, lolol sorry guys, but I think its interesting)


****it is a long ass process to get hired though.... I guess it is the same for all public sectos....


1. I havn't been back to school for like 2 decades (but the amount of reading expected of you is absurd) (of course I didn't read the material, I uploaded the pdfs to various AIs and read summaries) and even then its a solid 45min to 60min of reading every single day (there is an online quiz every day, you have to keep up 80%)
- legit have somone fail on this part... which was... but I understand, some students kepts a second job during training which was crazy to me

2. written exams (mid term and final) to maintain 80% as well, you get a 2nd chance to take one big final exam if you fucked up the midterm + final
- one of our student did that as well... and honestly not his fault, English was like his 3rd language.... and the multiple choice answers are tricky (as in even if you knew the answer, they word it in a way where even I have to read it 5Xs over and be like... ahhh ok!)

3. driving in general... this is the "easy" or "hard" part... You are expected to 100% make mistakes, and LOTS of mistakes at that... they just want to see how you react to your mistakes.... there are A LOT OF POLICY AND PROCEDURES that are there to protect you, your passengers and other road users in a SAFETY FIRST manner. when you fuck up... and lemme tell you, during training i fucked up.... they want to see that you can
remaing calm. deep breath
do the proper PROCEDURES in the correct order to resolve the mistake
- this part of the program is also based on "lucK", you can have bright sunny days, with calm traffic, courtes drivers and easy going passengers, you can have a very "smooth" day... or you can have drivers trying to cut you off, pull out of parking without seeing you coming up to them at full speed (which I hate the most, you stomp on brake, you might send passengers flying and injure them) you lay on your horn, the car might freeze up and just cont to occupy the space which now you bus is gonna occupy in the next 2 seconds... yes they teach you defensive driving (which shameless plug here, it overlays the PRS class 6 motorcycle school pretty extensively) helped me alot since I already practice a lot of these things for the past few years), but yea, if you are unlucky, from what I heard from classmates, the "incidents" that occured which we are told "so and so" are no longer with the program, half of it is how they handled it once it happened, but also a portion of it being "lucky" it just so happens to happed to them in the first place

4. Road test... road test is easy, just like every other road test bascially the jest of it is "dont do stupid shit"... the only unconventional part of the road test is before driving, you are given 45 minutes to articulate your "pre-trip", ie checking the commercial vehicle over to make sure it is road worthy before putting the vehicle on public road. You are required to do this daily if you are the first driver of the bus brining the vehicle out of the yard. You need to tell your examiner during the test, ofc when you do it yourself in the future, you don't need to speak, but do make sure you still check. Because if the bus fucks up during your shift and it was something that should "have been found during your pre-trip".... get fucked...

5. Trolley... this is the part where alot of students gets fucked (I almost did as well, I just got lucky tbh).... so you are driving this large vehicle for probably about 20 hours in total (unlike other vehicles, you "cant" practice at home, so the 1 to 2 hours everyday is all you get). You are trying to keep your bus straight (even on the Oak/Granville skinny lanes), not to have poles wipe out your mirrors, look for other road users, traffic lights, bus stops, pedestrains, e-scooters, e-bikes, etc etc)... now you gotta look up at the wires in the sky... the trolley wires are from 1940's, they are "NOT" automated, there is a switch inside of the bus that you must control during "switches", and the switches are very sensitive to the angle/speed which your bus approaches them... for the longest time I can't do it, my eyes are so busy doing everything else (especially in downtown where there are a million delivery "silent" e scooters and bikers that likes to get in a few inches of your stupid bus) I just dont have the time to look up.. and sometimes the wires blends into the tree shadows... etc etc....
-we lost the bulk of our students here

6. Final evaluation drive on a trolley.... once again this comes down to luck... i got extremely lucky, in all the test routes, i got the easiest.... #41 bus.... its a straight line from Joyce to Crown and back... no routes to remember, just a few switches near the major intersections that I need to be careful of, nice wide lanes, nothing to "squeeze thru"... some of my classmates got the effed up routes with a million turns... or the nightmare.... a million turns in downtown that goes into DTES (nothing against DTES, but once again just one more factor that you can't control, they like to "hang out" on the street, and cross the road with 0 regards of what around them) etc etc.....

***oh and yes what dukes said, be humble, you are there to learn, once again they expect you to make mistakes, lots of them, as long as they are not super repeated, and you improve everytime you make the "same mistakes", if there are progress you are good, unless it is a blant dangerous action like running cyclist off the road or going thru a red light //// and yea.. the last thing you want is to start some shit with your instructor, they have a huge wait list of applicants, they are not here to cater to you, one of our classmates comes from a class 1 big rig background, not going into details, he argued that he has more "hours" driving large vehicles than the intructors, got into a heated argument and was escorted out the building and we never saw him ever again //// it could be down to personality, but I jivved with every instructor, all of them are easy going, thats why they are in the training department, if you dont bring an ego in, you will have a good time like I did //// did I think every note on my daily assesment is "fair", mayyyybbeee someone are a bit over critical, but I am not gonna start making excuses and defend myself /// let it go /// as long as it doesnt affect my graduation who gives a f


Now the real test starts.... probation is about 5 months, union basically told us, they are pretty much powerless to help us during probabtion, so dont fuck up.... once you pass probation, then the Union can fight for you going forward... so... wish me luck guys!!!!

I will bring the good new after Spring Break lololol


Fucking RS gurus. GTFO. i lost so much sleeping helping your damn ass do your homework. LOL but congrats. welcome to the slavery! TypeRnammer and I are still waiting for our Daimanya meal!

[Badhobz]

pathetic ! DESTROY HIM NAO !!!!

[hc529]

pathetic ! DESTROY HIM NAO !!!!

He's getting destroyed by the system alone. HAHAHAHAH
He thought he can ride this career on a cushion to retirement. LOLOL

But during training, dude was stressed out as fkkk.

Jacky I'm just joking. You're doing good! Go kick some DTES Ass and be the best transit operator!

I got the fk out of Vancouver Transit Center asap from graduation. Aint no joke when it comes to the DTES shit. I unfortunately got forced back to VTC for 1 year, but thankgoodness i was a little more senior and I signed something called the Holiday Block (so i cover 1 week at a time) and I managed to sign work that avoids DTES

Now I'm just driving out of Poco Transit Centre. Cushion work for sure!

[SSM_DC5]

^ Samsung wasn't doing it for you?

[TypeRNammer]

Fucking RS gurus. GTFO. i lost so much sleeping helping your damn ass do your homework. LOL but congrats. welcome to the slavery! TypeRnammer and I are still waiting for our Daimanya meal!

Legendary response :lawl: after years of not logging in RS

[hc529]

^ Samsung wasn't doing it for you?

Holy shittt... That's like ancient times... 🤣 2017? 🤣 So long ago bruhh. Found out my manager at that time (which was my ex's cousin) has a sexual harassment case going on against him.by 3 female employee . So I said fuck it and left. 🤣



Legendary response :lawl: after years of not logging in RS

LMAO! Seriously I've been mostly lurking on and off maybe once or twice a year. And then saw this post. I had to fking reply. The amount of help Dark asked for was ridiculous 🤣 felt like TypeRnammer and myself did the training ourselves instead.

[Badhobz]

The amount of help Dark asked for was ridiculous 🤣 felt like TypeRnammer and myself did the training ourselves instead.

:heckno:FINISH HIM !!!!!!!!!:heckno:

[headhunt3r]

I suspect you originally typed "anal", then had to make the quick edit.

[Teriyaki]

Damn feels just like yesterday when we were hearing of the jump to Car Sales then the weight loss. You might be single-handedly keeping the RS forum alive with your major life events

[Badhobz]

Next up: guys how do i cure aids? i got attacked by some crazies on the N20 bus and they bit me. Will i turn into vampire nao?

[EvoFire]

Next up: guys how do i cure aids? i got attacked by some crazies on the N20 bus and they bit me. Will i turn into vampire nao?

More likely a zombie than a vampire. You look too highly upon those :badpokerface:

[JDMDreams]

Then isn't he set for life, he's union and wcb??? Profit rolexes every month

[hc529]

Then isn't he set for life, he's union and wcb??? Profit rolexes every month

LMAO no way he's set for life. He's gonna be making less than $2k per cheque for the next 2 years or so. :badpokerface:

[Badhobz]

seriously!? he was bitching that the hyundai crap wasnt enough $$$. i thought he'd be making close to 100k driving da bus.

[hc529]

seriously!? he was bitching that the hyundai crap wasnt enough $$$. i thought he'd be making close to 100k driving da bus.

to make $100k a year driving da bus, he needs to grind OT and shit, and he already said He ain't about that life. So he'll most likely be taking home approx $80k before tax a year without OT at max rate (which is 24months from now)

[Badhobz]

oh thats not so bad! 80k you can feed a family of 4..... i think?

[hc529]

oh thats not so bad! 80k you can feed a family of 4..... i think?

LOL i'm on pace to make about $95k before tax this year and I can barely feed a family of 3 humans and 5 pets.

[Badhobz]

hes gonna have to go uber chinaman and pull some "smart home economics"....

spam and eggs
superstore no GST days
Walmart clearance aisle

[hc529]

hes gonna have to go uber chinaman and pull some "smart home economics"....

spam and eggs
superstore no GST days
Walmart clearance aisle

He living life like the car sales day still. Bought a brand new watch just for our pre-tripping the bus. We need to do a brake hold test for 1minute. Most of us Bus Operator, we don't even wear a watch no more, we just use the Tmac screen to count 1 minute. Mr. Dark here living ballllllling!

[Badhobz]

really!? it better be a fucking hello kitty digital watch and not some $$$ swiss shit.

[hc529]

really!? it better be a fucking hello kitty digital watch and not some $$$ swiss shit.

it was brand new citizens watch. not balling balling watch, but balling for driving a bus. LOL I use my phone, or the tmac screen. I can't afford going out there buying a watch just for the 1minute pre-tripping buses. LOL


I can barely feed myself and my family and my pets.

[SSM_DC5]

Hc is next for the soap opera. His 95k income isn't enough, yet he's got 2 cars that are no where near being old and FIVE pets! Time to give away the pets to hobz and change to 10+ year old cars to stretch that 95k

[Traum]

Funny how FB has just fed me this post after I read through some posts here:

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=25332975849666810

As one of us have already mentioned, everybody is rolling in a Rolex in Hong Kong...

[GS8]

Is this the coffee thread?

Because it smells like Dark Roast in here.

[Eff-1]

ngl, I was having breakfast the A&W next to Phibbs Exchange yesterday morning and I saw a bus driver walk in. Fully kitted out in safety vest, backpack and translink toque. Super young looking asian guy who looked kind of nervous and I was like "is that dark0821?" haha

[RabidRat]

I hope you said that out loud :D

[dark0821]

lol i 100% make fucked up financial choices.... so dont be like me gais lololol

i am not all about the OT life... but goodaaammmnnn i cant keep my bus on schedule, so i am OTing every day on every shift lmao....

all I can so far is.... guys... its a good gig... if you like driving + just meeting all sorts of rando people... this is for you

[headhunt3r]

if you can't keep your bus on schedule and as a result, have to drive past your scheduled shift end, is that unpaid OT?

[Badhobz]

Im going to find this boy, and attack him while hes driving the bus!!! ATTACCCK!!!!!!! *throws XLB's at his face

and i aint gonna pay your stupid fascist fare. Whaddya gonna do about it!?!?!? call the dogs and the bees!? and when they bark they shoot bees out of their mouth?!

[dark0821]

if you can't keep your bus on schedule and as a result, have to drive past your scheduled shift end, is that unpaid OT?

nope. its OT OT

[Eff-1]

if you can't keep your bus on schedule and as a result, have to drive past your scheduled shift end, is that unpaid OT?

the day a union allows unpaid OT, pigs will fly.

[coneZONE]

Congrats dark!! I missed this thread the entire time oops.
Thank you for helping my friends out with their car before you left though! I thought i might bump into you at a Noob Meet but still haven’t
Welcome Aboard! I’ll keep an eye out for your grad class on SharePoint
TBH i wanted to be a conventional operator since high school (i still wanna drive buses HAHA) but now that i’m in my current position, it doesn’t make sense for me to go that route. Maybe you’ll be one of the bus bridges for us when our trains break down :lol:

[headhunt3r]

Wouldn't drivers be incentivized to be running late to pick up a few extra OT dollars?

[dark0821]

its a very gray area.... you miss ypir breaks when you are late... i been getting mix messages

some senior tell me, dont worry about time... take your breaks regardless how late you are

other seniors says you are already late... you should commit to start service right away at terminus aftwr you dropped off passengers

i been cutting my breaks short... lile i will go to washroom... then i will turn on my bus again and start my service... just to maximize running time

[J____]

Oh wow, didn't realized there's a bus driver thread on here. I joined in 2024, long story short, I had nothing to do after moving back from overseas and wanted a class 2 so i can drive an RV, didn't want to pay $5k for the course so applied for Translink for shits and giggles to get a free license after learning about it from my friend that works in the company. Now I like the job so much I decided to stick around haha. The wife thinks I'm wasting my talents and the pay sucks compared to my other work but whatever, there is ZERO stress with this job and all i think about everyday is where to go fishing on the weekend and where to go for the next vacation.

But I always take my full break even if I'm late because:
1. it's not our fault if we're late so don't punish yourself, if you're a few mins late, take your break and continue late. If you're 20+ mins late, call tcomm and ask for a short turn to get back on time.
2. it's unsafe if you rush through and try to get back on time, I'd rather be 15 mins late than crash because I want to catch up a few minutes. The company will never punish you for being 15 mins late because you needed a break, but they will hold you accountable if you hit something because you drove aggressively or sped to catch up on a few minutes.
3. you have to get out of the seat for health reasons. Sure we're only a few years in and don't feel it, but do this for a few decades, not getting up and walking around will mess you up. I was talking to an old ops guy and he said on average bus drivers die within 3 years after they retire.
4. there's always another bus a few minutes behind you, not worth risking all the above to be on time. Safety and health first because if you risk it all to be on time for the passengers, they won't appreciate it anyway.

Some of those senior drivers need a mindset change. Our only purpose as a bus driver is to get passengers safely from A to B, not to get them there on time. I've never gotten any gratitude from passengers for getting them to where they're going on time, but plenty for giving them a smooth ride, even when I was 30 mins late due to traffic. The bus really amplifies motion and aggressive driving. If you rush, they're going to have a shit ride.

And no, this doesn't incentivize me to drag out for OT. We can be -20 mins behind after a run and by the time we get back to the yard, we're only a few minutes late equating to an extra few dollars. Makes no sense to go through all that effort to purposely be late to get a few bucks extra a day. The scheduling is really tight and you'd literally have to be going 30 all the way to drag out the schedule sometimes depending on the depot. I drive normal, take my breaks, and get there when I get there.

[noclue]

Yeah you sit all day and cant freely walk around to stretch the legs, compression socks might help. Also get off night shift asap, night shift's not good for life expectancy. Use sunscreen too.

[hc529]

Oh wow, didn't realized there's a bus driver thread on here. I joined in 2024, long story short, I had nothing to do after moving back from overseas and wanted a class 2 so i can drive an RV, didn't want to pay $5k for the course so applied for Translink for shits and giggles to get a free license after learning about it from my friend that works in the company. Now I like the job so much I decided to stick around haha. The wife thinks I'm wasting my talents and the pay sucks compared to my other work but whatever, there is ZERO stress with this job and all i think about everyday is where to go fishing on the weekend and where to go for the next vacation.

But I always take my full break even if I'm late because:
1. it's not our fault if we're late so don't punish yourself, if you're a few mins late, take your break and continue late. If you're 20+ mins late, call tcomm and ask for a short turn to get back on time.
2. it's unsafe if you rush through and try to get back on time, I'd rather be 15 mins late than crash because I want to catch up a few minutes. The company will never punish you for being 15 mins late because you needed a break, but they will hold you accountable if you hit something because you drove aggressively or sped to catch up on a few minutes.
3. you have to get out of the seat for health reasons. Sure we're only a few years in and don't feel it, but do this for a few decades, not getting up and walking around will mess you up. I was talking to an old ops guy and he said on average bus drivers die within 3 years after they retire.
4. there's always another bus a few minutes behind you, not worth risking all the above to be on time. Safety and health first because if you risk it all to be on time for the passengers, they won't appreciate it anyway.

Some of those senior drivers need a mindset change. Our only purpose as a bus driver is to get passengers safely from A to B, not to get them there on time. I've never gotten any gratitude from passengers for getting them to where they're going on time, but plenty for giving them a smooth ride, even when I was 30 mins late due to traffic. The bus really amplifies motion and aggressive driving. If you rush, they're going to have a shit ride.

And no, this doesn't incentivize me to drag out for OT. We can be -20 mins behind after a run and by the time we get back to the yard, we're only a few minutes late equating to an extra few dollars. Makes no sense to go through all that effort to purposely be late to get a few bucks extra a day. The scheduling is really tight and you'd literally have to be going 30 all the way to drag out the schedule sometimes depending on the depot. I drive normal, take my breaks, and get there when I get there.

OH SHIT! what depot do you drive out of right now? I wonder if I know you in real life. LOL

[Badhobz]

you bus bros need a wayyy louder horn. you need one of those semi truck air horns so you can blast these foo's in front of you

[bcrdukes]

I can't believe how a bus thread has people posting from out of the woodwork.

[EvoFire]

What they need is side horns and rear horns, so they can honk at people in whichever direction they need.

[EvoFire]

I can't believe how a bus thread has people posting from out of the woodwork.

I'm surprised we don't have more bus enthusiasts. Though admittedly the buses we used are pretty shitty compared to the ones made in Europe. One of the few models that Translink has that's interesting is the Enviro500 double decker they use in the Delta routes.

Their experimentals were interesting as well with all the different colour schemes, but I think they've all retired a decade ago.

[hc529]

you bus bros need a wayyy louder horn. you need one of those semi truck air horns so you can blast these foo's in front of you

Bruh, wait til you hear the 18xxx and 19xxx CNG buses from Surrey (some are located in Poco Depot now... They are a higher squeal and not loud at all. Sounds like a little girl honking, instead of a 15ton bus coming at you.


I can't believe how a bus thread has people posting from out of the woodwork.

LOL I've been gone for so long, thanks to Dark. I am back.

I'm surprised we don't have more bus enthusiasts. Though admittedly the buses we used are pretty shitty compared to the ones made in Europe. One of the few models that Translink has that's interesting is the Enviro500 double decker they use in the Delta routes.

Their experimentals were interesting as well with all the different colour schemes, but I think they've all retired a decade ago.


The Enviro500 Is one of the better buses. I love driving the decker and can't wait for the Poco depot construction to be finished so the 555 goes back to the poco. A lot of the older operators here do not like the double decker. Perfect. It should go to a junior like me. LOL

last consolidate sign up I almost went back to Richmond just for the double decker.

[whitev70r]

Translink driver meet? At Park & Tilford or Sunset Coquitlam.

[68style]

^ Which one is more bike accessible?

[whitev70r]

I was thinking Translink driver/employee exclusive meet.

[68style]

I wasn't expecting you to attend, just peer over a fence from a distance and verify the meet happened

[noclue]

When you guys do the walk around can you put REVSCENE on the digital board in front of the bus?

[bcrdukes]

I wasn't expecting you to attend, just peer over a fence from a distance and verify the meet happened

Are you talking about trollface or whitev70r? Not sure if they are one and the same. :suspicious:

[whitev70r]

same.

[bcrdukes]

Racist and bush-hider. I knew it.

[whitev70r]

A shy racist >>> an arrogant, extrovert racist !!

we digress from this very interesting thread so last comment.

[J____]

OH SHIT! what depot do you drive out of right now? I wonder if I know you in real life. LOL

RTC you? I'll never go to another depot after RTC, best runs, and I love the split shifts because I live so close. Do 1 round trip, go home for 5 hours, do another round trip, done. Doesn't even feel like work..

[J____]

I'm surprised we don't have more bus enthusiasts. Though admittedly the buses we used are pretty shitty compared to the ones made in Europe. One of the few models that Translink has that's interesting is the Enviro500 double decker they use in the Delta routes.

Their experimentals were interesting as well with all the different colour schemes, but I think they've all retired a decade ago.

The double deckers are so crap, they break down all the time. I drive one every morning on the 351. So many times I drive out, break down on the road, wait an hour, mechanic comes and says he can't fix it, I drive it back to the yard and then go home. All that money to get 0 passengers to where they want to go haha.

[J____]

When you guys do the walk around can you put REVSCENE on the digital board in front of the bus?

Unfortunately we can't manually type in the words. But tomorrow I'll write Revscene into the grime on the rear of my bus in the morning, see if you guys can spot it on the road. They don't wash the busses much in richmond so it'll be there for a while haha. It'll be on a Double decker so look out for it up and down highway 99 from bridgeport to white rock or from bridgeport to tsawwassen ferry terminal

[Gumby]

^
That would make an awesome “spotted” post!

[TypeRNammer]

RTC you? I'll never go to another depot after RTC, best runs, and I love the split shifts because I live so close. Do 1 round trip, go home for 5 hours, do another round trip, done. Doesn't even feel like work..

Oh shit I'm in RTC too but I'm junior as shit compared to you :lawl:

If you look at the operator list, you'll easily find my name because I'm the only Vietnamese operator out of RTC

[GLOW]

Unfortunately we can't manually type in the words. But tomorrow I'll write Revscene into the grime on the rear of my bus in the morning, see if you guys can spot it on the road. They don't wash the busses much in richmond so it'll be there for a while haha. It'll be on a Double decker so look out for it up and down highway 99 from bridgeport to white rock or from bridgeport to tsawwassen ferry terminal

it's raining too hard, better identify yourself by just drifting Kappa :nyan: :fullofwin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThbAVSx6X7A

[bcrdukes]

Oh shit I'm in RTC too but I'm junior as shit compared to you :lawl:

If you look at the operator list, you'll easily find my name because I'm the only Vietnamese operator out of RTC

Does this apply to you?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQm6muREtVt/?igsh=NTVhanQxY2VlZGhq

[hc529]

RTC you? I'll never go to another depot after RTC, best runs, and I love the split shifts because I live so close. Do 1 round trip, go home for 5 hours, do another round trip, done. Doesn't even feel like work..


I was at rtc when I first graduated. Went back to vtc for a year. Then now driving in poco .

What's your seniority?

[J____]

Haha our buses are so slow. Can't even do burnouts.

Alright wrote revscene across the back of double Decker bus R19423. See if you guys spot it. It wasn't too dirty so not that visible

[J____]

Oh shit I'm in RTC too but I'm junior as shit compared to you :lawl:

If you look at the operator list, you'll easily find my name because I'm the only Vietnamese operator out of RTC

Oh nice, I'll look for you, are you an 88xxx?


I was at rtc when I first graduated. Went back to vtc for a year. Then now driving in poco .

What's your seniority?

Heard poco is real nice. I'm a 874xx you?

[RabidRat]

I wonder if we RSers are all destined to semi-retire to driving buses.

Seems actually like a pretty sweet life from what J____ is describing haha. He's doing it right!

[J____]

I wonder if we RSers are all destined to semi-retire to driving buses.

Seems actually like a pretty sweet life from what J____ is describing haha. He's doing it right!

Yea if you pick the right depot and work, it's so chill. Free benefits for your entire family, pension after 10 years, max after 30.

Pretty fun gig to get into when you're 40 and done busting balls in early life. Work a split and still have 5 hours a day to do a side hustle or whatever. Only thing is gotta stay active and exercise or the sitting can take a toll on your body. We got a group of drivers here that go fishing on the fraser or crabbing in tsawassen during our split haha. I max out my dungeness crab limit in between shifts everyday last spring. That's like $200 worth of crab everyday for a month.

[TypeRNammer]

Oh nice, I'll look for you, are you an 88xxx?




Heard poco is real nice. I'm a 874xx you?

Fuck I'm getting old, I thought your post said you joined in 2004 but in fact it's 2024 haha

I joined in 2015, I'm an 836XX number

[J____]

Fuck I'm getting old, I thought your post said you joined in 2004 but in fact it's 2024 haha

I joined in 2015, I'm an 836XX number

Oh shit you're way senior compared to me! I don't even get to work on stats haha

[noclue]

Question, is that transit supervisor job a chill promotion? The one where you just go to broken down buses or road closures in a ford explorer?

[EvoFire]

Question, is that transit supervisor job a chill promotion? The one where you just go to broken down buses or road closures in a ford explorer?

IIRC they don't get OT, and they end up making less in the long run so not everyone wants to make that move.

[Badhobz]

And you’ll be a narc ! Isn’t that a management position ?!? Eat shit management !!!!

[Oshiguru]

Unfortunately we can't manually type in the words. But tomorrow I'll write Revscene into the grime on the rear of my bus in the morning, see if you guys can spot it on the road. They don't wash the busses much in richmond so it'll be there for a while haha. It'll be on a Double decker so look out for it up and down highway 99 from bridgeport to white rock or from bridgeport to tsawwassen ferry terminal

This is the bus i take when im too lazy to drive from WR to DT/Richmond

Maybe i'll plan to go this weekend just for a chance at the revscene double decker 351

[radeonboy]

But tomorrow I'll write Revscene into the grime on the rear of my bus in the morning, see if you guys can spot it on the road. They don't wash the busses much in richmond so it'll be there for a while haha.

I spotted a double-decker yesterday but couldn't find the RS lettering - it was too dark to spot in the evening while driving down the highway stretch towards the Mills.

Which part of the bus did you write on...or did you even write it in the end? :lol

[Badhobz]

Go scribble it on those dumb ass realtors face that’s usually plastered on the back of it. I always laugh at those because sometimes their face clips into the trolly lines or certain bulges in the back of the bus and they look like they got a facial deformity.

[GS8]

Go scribble it on those dumb ass realtors face that’s usually plastered on the back of it. I always laugh at those because sometimes their face clips into the trolly lines or certain bulges in the back of the bus and they look like they got a facial deformity.

https://i.imgur.com/0SjeaG4.jpeg

This is my favourite one

[J____]

I spotted a double-decker yesterday but couldn't find the RS lettering - it was too dark to spot in the evening while driving down the highway stretch towards the Mills.

Which part of the bus did you write on...or did you even write it in the end? :lol

On the gray panel above the license plate at the back

[hc529]

Oh nice, I'll look for you, are you an 88xxx?




Heard poco is real nice. I'm a 874xx you?



I'm a 866xx

Are you in ABS chat on whatsapp?

[dark0821]

I am an 88XXX lololol

[freakshow]

Unfortunately we can't manually type in the words. But tomorrow I'll write Revscene into the grime on the rear of my bus in the morning, see if you guys can spot it on the road. They don't wash the busses much in richmond so it'll be there for a while haha. It'll be on a Double decker so look out for it up and down highway 99 from bridgeport to white rock or from bridgeport to tsawwassen ferry terminal

Spotted?
https://i.imgur.com/VkzNfvw.jpeg

[dc5typeS]

Fuck I'm getting old, I thought your post said you joined in 2004 but in fact it's 2024 haha

I joined in 2015, I'm an 836XX number

I just found out who you are LOL

[J____]

Spotted?
https://i.imgur.com/VkzNfvw.jpeg

Haha nice.

I out another on a smaller 40 ft city bus. See if you guys can spot that one ��

[Badhobz]

oy you bus boys are having too much fun. start slamming the brakes and see how many old geezers and ladies you can make fall over.

The winner gets to be crowned KING BUS GAY, i mean guy.

[Dbone]

When I lived in the Lower Lonsdale area I took the bus down to the Sea Bus most days to commute to work. There was a driver that came on for a couple of months and he was an awful driver.

Granted it's a steeper road, but each stop he'd just smash on the brakes and people would all groan and try to hang on while they bashed awkwardly into the stranger next to them. Usually you'd get at least a couple of people going down each morning.

I have no idea how that guy got the job. That was in 2014.

[bcrdukes]

I would be curious if driving quality is a performance metric bus drivers need to meet? i.e. Assume someone complained about said bus driver, would this be reflected in their performance review?

I am being facetious when I post this, but I can only assume the bus driver on your SeaBus route is probably a supervisor+ and making $250K+ right now.

[Eff-1]

I remember reading somewhere that if you send a compliment to translink about a bus driver, they get like an extra paid hour or something.

I've had two good results from complaining about negative things too.

The first was a west van bus driver stopped his bus, left his seat and yelled at another car. I can't remember the circumstances but even me, I was like damn that's not professional. So I wrote and they wrote back:

Thank you for your costumer report.

We expect our drivers to provide a safe courteous ride at all time.

This incident was clearly unprofessional and we will be talking to the driver

^ actual email response from west van transit supervisor.

And the other time was when I realized I kept missing the seabus connection to the 228 by like 3 or 4 mins, so I asked translink if they'd change the schedule by a couple mins and they did!

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding the connection with the 228 & the Seabus. We have adjusted the 228 trip to depart Lonsdale Quay at 5:21 to allow more time for you to meet that connection.
We hope that this will make your commute more reliable and effective.
Service Design.