T Drivers: Bitter or just misunderstood?
You're late. Really late. You could take a cab but after you look in your wallet you realize that there's less green than in the Sahara.
So, you throw on that pair of jeans thats been lying in the corner of the room for the past four days and run out the door.
There's a T in the distance. If you hurry, you may be able to catch it. Running as fast as you can, you manage to get to its rusted folding doors before it pulls away. At last, some luck! As you struggle to catch your breath, you knock on the door. The driver shoots you a furtive glance, only to look away before he/she can make eye contact you. Hmm. Maybe he didn't hear you. You knock again, louder than before. Again, the driver ignores the pleading raps on the door, takes another sip of his red bull, and scratches his groin.
After about a minute of you standing outside the door, which he could've easily opened, the T slowly drives off into the horizon. You, on the other hand, stand on the sidewalk shlepping your backpack around like a sad clown. That driver could have easily let you into his chariot, but instead he left you to the wolves and the cold unforgiving asphalt of Boston.
Why would he make the decision to do such a thing? Is it pure malice towards the passengers, or is it something deeper? Is there something so inherently depressing about being involved with the wretched MBTA that pushes its employees to melancholy?
My observations would point towards the latter.
So often I find myself riding aboard the T and hear the driver come on the loudspeaker: "Next stop, Kenmoah Squayah". Its not the accent that drives me mad, its the disdain with which he or she spits out the stops like it's chunks of rotten cheese. "Move into the train people. FOLKS! Move all the way back!" I hear these things every day. The MBTA drivers seem to be living lives of quiet desperation, and as statistics show they're all looking for a means of escape.
In a report published in July 2005, the MBTA Advisory Board (www.mbtaadvisoryboard.org) found a startling trend amongst the fine men and women of the T. The report found that absenteeism has been growing steadily for the past ten years. The report defines absenteeism as, "Absent for any reason, including paid sick leave, unpaid sick leave, industrial accident leave, and absence without leave, but not including scheduled vacation"(Regan, 1).
1997 -------- 15.95
1998 -------- 15.24
1999 -------- 15.42
2000 -------- 16.47
2001 -------- 20.50
2002 -------- 21.44
2003 -------- 21.62
These statistics are certainly thought provoking, considering this statistic: "The Bus and Subway divisions comprise 69% of the workforce, yet make up 84% of all absences in 2004"(Regan, 3).
Not only do the numbers in the graph above show increased signs of absenteeism, the report also has this grim outlook for the present year: "Numbers for the first quarter of 2005 are not encouraging"(Regan, 4).
Although the MBTA concedes that they are not sure of what is causing the growing trend of MBTA absenteeism, they do offer this insight: "Lax attendance policy or inconsistent application and enforcement thereof, poor work ethic, undesirable or inflexible work shifts or days off, feelings of alienation/unimportance, low morale due to cancelled leave, lack of systematic attendance tracking and abuse of leave policies"(Regan, 5). I'm not making those words up, folks. They used the words "low morale" and "feelings of alienation/unimportance" themselves.
As a citizen of Boston, I feel as if the MBTA needs to take a more extensive look into psyche of the average T driver. Maybe this has been a problem that has been simmering for years; only now is it finally coming to a boil. And in the end, we all get burned.
Why? Because this increase in unexcused absenteeism is hurting that very same wallet of mine that can't afford money to take a cab. "Every day of absence...needs to be covered either by employing additional operators and technicians or paying employees overtime to work extra shifts, the high absenteeism levels translate into significant costs for the Authority"(Regan, 4).
Since the MBTA is a state run institution, it is pretty clear who has to foot the bill for all these "significant costs": us, the taxpayers. We're getting taxed up the wazoo for a couple of lazy T drivers who don't feel like sitting on their ass and accosting passengers. No wonder they call this state Taxachusetts. An independent consultant projected "Potential cost savings [for decreased absenteeism] to be $2.5 million in 2000, when absenteeism levels were lower than today. The current savings potential is likely to be higher"(Regan, 4).
More than $2.5 million? That's money that could be spent on buying new cars so I don't have to wait for an hour and a half in the rain. That's money that could be spent on making the underground stops look a little less like Dante's ninth circle of hell. In short, it's money that could be spent on many better things than paying overtime to other drivers.
Maybe that money could be spent on some psychological counseling for the T drivers. That way, next time I come sprinting up to the T I'll be greeted with an open door and a big smile.
Not only do the numbers in the graph above show increased signs of absenteeism, the report also has this grim outlook for the present year: "Numbers for the first quarter of 2005 are not encouraging"(Regan, 4).
Although the MBTA concedes that they are not sure of what is causing the growing trend of MBTA absenteeism, they do offer this insight: "Lax attendance policy or inconsistent application and enforcement thereof, poor work ethic, undesirable or inflexible work shifts or days off, feelings of alienation/unimportance, low morale due to cancelled leave, lack of systematic attendance tracking and abuse of leave policies"(Regan, 5). I'm not making those words up, folks. They used the words "low morale" and "feelings of alienation/unimportance" themselves.
As a citizen of Boston, I feel as if the MBTA needs to take a more extensive look into psyche of the average T driver. Maybe this has been a problem that has been simmering for years; only now is it finally coming to a boil. And in the end, we all get burned.
Why? Because this increase in unexcused absenteeism is hurting that very same wallet of mine that can't afford money to take a cab. "Every day of absence...needs to be covered either by employing additional operators and technicians or paying employees overtime to work extra shifts, the high absenteeism levels translate into significant costs for the Authority"(Regan, 4).
Since the MBTA is a state run institution, it is pretty clear who has to foot the bill for all these "significant costs": us, the taxpayers. We're getting taxed up the wazoo for a couple of lazy T drivers who don't feel like sitting on their ass and accosting passengers. No wonder they call this state Taxachusetts. An independent consultant projected "Potential cost savings [for decreased absenteeism] to be $2.5 million in 2000, when absenteeism levels were lower than today. The current savings potential is likely to be higher"(Regan, 4).
More than $2.5 million? That's money that could be spent on buying new cars so I don't have to wait for an hour and a half in the rain. That's money that could be spent on making the underground stops look a little less like Dante's ninth circle of hell. In short, it's money that could be spent on many better things than paying overtime to other drivers.
Maybe that money could be spent on some psychological counseling for the T drivers. That way, next time I come sprinting up to the T I'll be greeted with an open door and a big smile.
posted by Tyler @ 3:28 PM
9 Comments:
Absenteeism is a problem at the T, however, if you're going to quote statistics, don't leave out numbers that don't square with your argument. Absenteeism was down to 17.35 days in calendar year 2004 and the T continues to make progress. Yes, that's still high, but the trend is reversing and the MBTA has put an emphasis on enforcing its attendance policy.
I will concede the fact that absenteeism is dropping in the past two years.
But just because absenteeism is decreasing doesn't mean that the quality of their work is increasing! Yelling at passengers for not "hurrying up" to get up the stairs and get their change out? Sounding like the voice of death over the loudspeaker? Forcing an old lady to get back on the street because she doesn't have the money to pay the fare? Refusing to open the doors for a poor soul even though the T itself isn't moving, it's just waiting for the light to change and doesn't want to bother with being held up an extra second?
These are all things that I've seen in my time. The point of my post was not to blast their ability to get to work, it was their ability to cheer up a little. The addition of the absenteeism statistics were to show a waning interest in going to work. The fact that absenteeism is decreasing as a result of more stricter MBTA attendance laws SUPPORTS my point. If the only way that the MBTA can convince its employees to come to work is to force them with threats of termination, that's not healthy at all. Anyone should look forward to going to work; not punished for missing it. If the MBTA rules with fear tactics, it won't help the situation. As I said, the MBTA should use staff counseling, POSITIVE reinforcement, and a generally more holistic approach to managing its staff. For, if the majority of Bostonians ride the T multiple times during the day, we'd expect a service that doesn't generally depress us. We DO pay for it.
dealing with drunks, assholes and people who don't respect you is enough for anyone to lose the passion....
As a T driver, I feel it is my duty to clarify a few things. We have rules that are in place to help maintain our schedule. We are responsible for the riders that on the platform at the time that we pull up, the riders that show up after the platform is clear and we've closed our doors, are the responsibility of the next schedule trip. Waiting for people and reopening our doors causes delays, which snowball throughout the rest of the trip and/or will result in express trains, both are not good things. Most of the traffic signals give us a small amount of time to make it through a intersection, in most cases we can tell when the lights are about to change, if we appear we are just sitting and won't reopen, this may be that we know the light is about to change and we couldn't get the doors open and reclosed in time to make the light. You may think that one light isn't going to make a difference, but it does( the snowball effect again). We are on a schedule and we have officails along the way to help us adjust to maintain the "headway". Dollar bills are a HUGE problem, the T just has not provided the right equipment to handle this form of currency(our bad, lol). Ultimately, the T was hoping to force riders to all purchase T passes by making it so inconvenient to use paper money, but that is unrealistic. This will, hopefully, become a mute point when the Charlie Card comes out. DON"T HOLD DOORS!!!!! What frustrates a drive more than anything is the selfish, idiots that run ahead to hold the doors for people who haven't even made it through the turnstile or across the street yet. This causes delays and everyone else suffers because of it. Elderly on the BC line, PLEASE use the center doors on the new trains, one step and your in! Too may times an elderly person makes the trek up the front steps and as they moan and groan their way up those 4 steps quipping that they are getting to old for this, I agree, they are, use the center doors! These are a few thing I wanted to share with you, from my perspective, thank you for this forum to respond.
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Yeah, don't blame the T drivers. For every grouchy one there are several drivers who are very nice. It's just your luck that they're not on your bus or train, haha.
During the D line construction I was out on Brookline Ave (I think it was Brookline) late on a Saturday waiting for the shuttle when we saw a 60 Bus headed for Kenmore. We thought, oh damn it's not the right one but we'll get on it anyway and walk home from Kenmore back to the Fenway stop. However, the T driver pulled the Bus over and asked us where we were going and told us to get on the bus and not to pay because we were waiting for the shuttle. The driver then asked us where we needed to stop and offered to swing into the Fenway green line station, but I was grateful enough and took his offer to stop at the Riverway/Brookline intersection. So, not all T drivers are mean people.
The slow service is due to number of trains, not to the drivers.
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As a T driver a lot comes into play rude customers rude employees and management does not give ain't s*** about us as employees they don't even call us by our names we are known as a badge number so when it comes to bend over backwards for the company employees will not and cannot do it for them because they do not do it for us.so if you think of the customer you're the only one that gets treated like s*** try working for the MBTA and I guarantee you your thoughts and everything else you think of the employees will totally change within a few months
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