bus driver

maintenance electrician

diesel mechanic

mechanic

maintenance mechanic

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas

Today a bus driver needs to be making $32-$33 an hour and nothing less.  Union Benefits are terrible, $50 for specialist visits. These days you can have every week or three times a week. To have Vision you must medical insurance. Your lens on your frame of glasses will cost $200-$400 dollars. That's just for you. If you have a kids double to triple that up. Vision is free does not help you.  Bus Drivers in certain facilities have funeral flyers everywhere especially at Polk facility before the pipes burst. Having all those funeral flyers on the wall let you know this job will kill you. Union will not speak up for you as much as labor relations. Union will tell you , that you haven't been here long enough for them to speak up for you. Don't pay into union, because you don't need to. Bus Driver can't strike so don't come here. No pension. No bus driver should work a split, that's part time work. So many street names are wrong on metro bus driver map, safety will not fix. So many trees next to bus stops that cause hits to buses mirrors , and safety will not fix. Polk facility is a old small building. Pipes burst flood entire building. Instead start a new building state of the art to provide to the bus driver being there all day and night, rather bus driver to work in a stressful environment inside and outside. 
 

Metro covers 4 counties and carries thousands of persons each day to and from all areas. I enjoyed the travelling, and meeting so many different people. I worked closely with other officers as a team to return all traffic flow back to normal as quickly as possible after an incident whether it be an accident or major traffic tie up.

Myself with one rookie officer travelled with the remaing people removed from the Astrodome to Dallas for their safety when Hurricane Rita threatened Houston. At the same time we emptied the Gray Hound Bus Depot and 3 nursing homes. It was my responsibility for the safety of over 500 persons both adults and children.

We travelled for 14 hours on an Amtrack train with 6 double decker cars loaded arriving in Dallas and returning the following night bringing with us 97 satallite phones to Transtar for the Management team headed by the Mayor of Houston.

Metro covers 4 counties and carries thousands of persons each day to and from all areas. I enjoyed the travelling, and meeting so many different people. I worked closely with other officers as a team to return all traffic flow back to normal as quickly as possible after an incident whether it be an accident or major traffic tie up. Myself with one rookie officer travelled with the remaing people removed from the Astrodome to Dallas for their safety when hurrican Rita threatened Houston. At the same time we emptied the Gray Hound Bus Depot and 3 nursing homes.

We travelled for 14 hours on an Amtrack train with 6 double decker cars loaded arriving in Dallas and returning the following night bringing with us 97 satallite phones for Transtar for the Management team headed by Mayor Bob White.

This job is a thankless one! Management expects you to be everywhere at one time, and is quick to attempt formal discipline including suspensions.   There is little to no guidance from command staff, who seem completely inept.  Advancements are based on Officer senority... unless command staff decides its not. Then it's a popularity contest.  There is little to no representation from the police union with regard to Officer complaints.  Metro is more concerned with maintaining income requirements for the business over providing Police with the equipment necessary to do our job.  

Beware of this employer. Apply only if you're about to reach your 2 year limit out of an academy... or if you're alright with a multiple years long stagnant career with little to no personal advancement or in assignment.

There is great comradery with other operations employees. There is tremendous favoratism in assignments given by management. Bus operators are deemed guilty of so many policy violations until proven not guilty. The superintendents and assistant superintendents act in an adversarial role. Any accidents are deemed preventative or non-preventative, and even if the operator was not at fault legally, he/she can be charged with an accident. Three preventable accidents in a 12 month period is cause for discharge. The relative severity of an accident does not mitigate an accident charge.

Environmentally very good for learning new technical skills but management plays a lot of politics. Too many chiefs and not enough Indians. More supervisors managers directors than actual workers in information technology. Exposed to a lot of good technology but management doesn't compensate you well enough compared to the market. The one main positive is the actual workers are very good people and fun to work with. Another perk is free bus in train for employees although the pension was taken away for new hires about 10 years ago. 401k is okay but they don't match enough  The current CEO is much better than the previous two  CEOs who left under scandals.

•	Prepared scope of work from concept to final design for transit related infrastructures such as rail, rail & bus operating facilities, operating facilities, park & ride, WWTP, illumination, substations, generators. 
•	Conducted bid evaluations, prepared bid tab, recommendation & approval, design fire alarm system.
•	Planed, scheduled and coordinate projects and assigned project to A/E firms, reviewed submittals and shop drawings, validated bids and provided guidance and technical support to junior engineers.
•	Provided field inspection for construction projects; managed and supervised projects; and oversaw maintenance activities. Sized emergency generation, switchgear, cables, panels, and UPS.

Sr. Network Support Specialist:
Current assignment is Implementation/Support /Documentation of the Cisco Call Manager and Cisco Unity Express; this includes the configuration and implementation. Sr. Administer of the Blackberry Enterprise Server this includes the support and deployment of all cell phones. Support for the Crimes application for Metro’s PD department. Conduct quarterly Wireless Surveys at the Bus Facilities and Park and Rides, so the buses can download their daily route schedules. This also includes installation & support for all the WAP (Cisco 1550, 1400, 1300, 3200’s and 3500’s) at all of Metro’s Park and Rides and Bus Operationing Facilities

Houston Metro has terrible management. From the top down they treat their drivers like garbage. From the superintendents at the garages to the street supervisors, they talk down to you in a very condescending manner, and god forbid if you try to stand up for yourself they will go to the end of the earth to try and nail you for any little thing they can. The pay is very subpar compared to most major cities. It is very hard to get any time off. They make you take your full week at once and if you need any other days off throughout the year you have no choice but to call in sick. If you call in sick more than twice in 90 days then they say it’s a pattern and suspend you without pay for 3 days. Just a rotten company to work for. 

The training leaves much to the imagination, there is no structured training for this position, you sit with multiple trainers and everyone does the job a different way. When you talk to management about it they just shrug it off.  Your schedule changes constantly.  The "trainers" talk about the trainees and other dispatchers on the floor and complain about management.  No one is on the same page and they blame each other for the training a new hire has received from a previous trainer on the floor.  The insurance is higher than other agencies.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Bus driver 4 salaries reported	$23.30 per hour
Maintenance electrician 3 salaries reported	$30.48 per hour
Diesel mechanic 2 salaries reported	$26.00 per hour
Mechanic 4 salaries reported	$29.87 per hour
Maintenance mechanic 2 salaries reported	$29.78 per hour

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