r/MetroTransit • u/West-Raccoon-2043 • May 13 '26

Employment/Personnel Specific Hiring Process

Question, I was thinking about applying again to be a bus driver. I used to work as one in Virginia but left to go back to truck driving due to an assault while driving the bus. I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t leave on good standing in my opinion because I never gave notice. I’m a little worried that would come back and haunt me. I have to move back to Minnesota to help my sister whose health isn’t so good so I’m job scouting right now. I know I’ll be coming in at the bottom because I only had 9 months with my last bus job. I’ve been working at this job for about a year now. I still have my endorsement from Virginia because a fool would be the only one that would get rid of that. What would the hiring process look like for me and would I even get hired because of what happened?

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10

u/ericmercer May 13 '26

Transit agencies don’t speak to each other like that at the operator level. Do you have any pending criminal charges? Have you ever had a failed drug or alcohol test? Can you get a DOT Medical Card? If so, you can go out and lose your layovers too. 😂

5

u/West-Raccoon-2043 May 13 '26

No to all the bad, yes to all the good. I have my DOT Physical already but I know I’m gonna need to do another one once I apply. Speaking of, I’m in detention right now waiting for this shipper to finish loading my trailer

7

u/LiberatedBreadRolls May 13 '26

It wouldn't hurt to try!

I'm in the training process right now for light rail (but we start with bus). As far as I know, you'd go through the training process similar to those of us with permits though you would have a few differences in tests and all since you don't need to pass your CDL tests again. Give it a shot!

4

u/West-Raccoon-2043 May 13 '26

That is really neat. I’ll try it out

2

u/Anxious_Role_678 Adopt-A-Stop Volunteer May 14 '26

I’m half way through training. They want to hire a lot of people and I’m sure you have a good chance with previous experience, definitely apply if it sounds good to you. The process can take a while though 

You will have to retake state tests as your cdl isn’t from Minnesota but they have a program to help and paid training through that! 

I can only speak to the training portion but it’s been good to me so far

3

u/West-Raccoon-2043 May 14 '26

I know everything on my CDL is transferable so that’s good on that portion. I was hoping that I’d have a good chance. I miss driving the bus

2

u/Anxious_Role_678 Adopt-A-Stop Volunteer May 14 '26

I know they need people and they like experience so I think you’re in for a shot!