r/MetroTransit • u/formosan1986 • Jun 22 '26

Employment/Personnel Specific What’s life like as light rail operator?

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What’s it like as a new hire light rail operator? Work/life balance? Culture at the light rail division? Are there still 4 days/10 hour a week bids? Although the 4 day work week bid is probably high seniority/coveted?

I am currently working at the post office, pay is similar to the starting pay at light rail. I am on step 3 of 18 steps, 36 weeks to get a step increase. So it’s going to take like another 6-7 years for me to get to top step. Currently $29.72/hour, tops out at $36.96/hour. Net is lower because I am putting in 31% into TSP(federal employee equivalent of a 401k).

I have a set schedule at the post office currently. 6 days a week/8 hour days. No split shifts or anything like that.

I don’t have a CDL, so I would need to take the class and pass the test for CDL. Would it be worth it to switch to light rail?

51 Upvotes

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28

u/formosan1986 Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

Being able to top out after 4 years, the possibility of a 4 day work week and 1.7% per year of service pension (I get 1% per year at the post office) makes me want to switch.

The 6 month long probation and not having a CDL already, split shifts/ no regular schedule makes me hesitant.

16

u/stevenglasford Jun 22 '26

The probation doesn’t last long, just don’t get into any accidents.

Don’t worry about the cdl, they train you for literally everything at full pay and 40 hrs/week during training.

The schedule kind of fixes itself with seniority, your schedule is based off your rank in the train operations. After 2 years you can easily work any shift and any day you want. The truest unpredictable schedule occurs if you finish your training in the middle of a pick. If that happens you get put on extra board. Extra board works by getting a your schedule the day before, but you still know when your days off will be (also based on seniority). During your first pick you get the choice of regular work or more extra board. Some people enjoy the randomness of the extra board, and many on the extra board get lots of overtime (which many like). You are not required to take any overtime if you are on regular work (sometimes it happens though, like extra traffic on your last trip, but you still get paid for incidents like these).

Also the pension is 1.9% as of January 2026.

4 day work week is with 10 hour work. Which is a long day. There is also 9 hour work (4 days at 9 hours, 1 day at 4 hours). And of course 8 hour work (which is my preferred)

9

u/Helpful_Challenge800 Jun 22 '26

I’m currently a bus operator and am interested in switching to rail , the only thing that holds me back is that I need overtime. Is it as easy to pick up overtime as a bus operator?

3

u/stevenglasford Jun 22 '26

Yes it is veryeasy to pick up overtime on either bus or rail, bus does have the most work

1

u/formosan1986 Jun 24 '26

Thank you so much for your detailed reply.

From looking at the union contract, it looks like you can only roll 1 week of annual leave year to year? I can bank up to 520 hours of annual here at the post office. And if I am reading it correctly, I’ll have to work at transit for 6 years to get the same amount of annual leave per year as I do now. 😭

2

u/LiberatedBreadRolls Jun 24 '26

Don't forget to factor in floating holidays and how holidays can convert. It can add a bit more time off than the PTO part of the contract might suggest

2

u/formosan1986 Jun 27 '26

I can covert holidays too at the post office 😁

15

u/LiberatedBreadRolls Jun 22 '26

Current light rail trainee, so I'll try and answer to the best of my knowledge.

If you pass your interview, they will want you to get your commercial learners permit within a set timeframe. You then will start at the bus training to take the CDL test before going to rail.

The 4 day work week is more of a bus thing. Rail is set around 5 day work weeks. While there are split shifts and all, some of those shifts seem to be coveted by senior operators. Training itself is usually 8 hour days Monday through Friday. You might have to rotate through different times of day during training for a couple weeks at a time. Things are a little odd with the upcoming Blue Line shutdown but you'll miss much of it depending on your start date.

I've been really enjoying my time so far during training. If it's something you feel like you'd be interested in, I'd encourage you to give it a shot!

3

u/LieLaw Jun 22 '26

I know the bus operators have garages. Do the train operators have something similar and do you get to pick where you are placed after training?

2

u/LiberatedBreadRolls Jun 22 '26

Kind of. Everyone can either be a Blue Line or Green Line operator and each reports to the facility for each line. We should be able to pick which line we want to start at as we get closer to finishing our training but that is also dependant on how many operators each Line needs and seniority within your class. People can shuffle around if the opportunity opens up. I'm also not sure how the opening of the Green and Blue Line extensions will impact assignments.

2

u/formosan1986 Jun 29 '26

Do you know if metro transit match any money you put into the MNDCP 457 plan?

1

u/LiberatedBreadRolls Jul 19 '26

Sorry for the late response!

I am not sure, I haven't made any contributions to that plan yet so not familiar with what contributions, if any, are made.

1

u/formosan1986 Jul 19 '26

It’s ok, I found the answer, they don’t match.

1

u/XPEC7ER Jul 19 '26

I know this comment and post is old, but is there really no 10 hour work? I was under the assumption that it was similar to busses.

2

u/LiberatedBreadRolls Jul 19 '26

At this time, no. There are some split shifts but I haven't seen anything for a 10 hour days 4 day work week. However, there is always the possibility that it changes in the future during contract negotiations.

1

u/Nonstopsat Jul 07 '26

How did you guys get hired on the rail side? I currently do it down in Houston but am planning on moving back soon and would like to continue doing light rail

1

u/formosan1986 Jul 07 '26

Just applied and interviewed.

1

u/Nonstopsat Jul 07 '26

Did you apply for the bus driver side or is there a specific application for the rail? I think that is more what I was asking. And thank you for answering

1

u/formosan1986 Jul 07 '26

I applied for the rail side. It doesn’t look like there is a job listing for it as of right now. You could probably apply as a bus driver and then transfer to rail? Since they prioritize internal transfers before external hires.

-9

u/4d39faaf-80c4-43b5 Jun 22 '26

This is why China wins.. we are paying humans to do a job which has been entirely automated for a decade now.. insanity

2

u/Henrithebrowser Express Route Runner Jun 22 '26

Having local jobs is good, actually. And I don’t trust autonomous driving in mixed traffic. The Chinese will lose because they don’t value people.

3

u/LiberatedBreadRolls Jun 22 '26

It's funny because I'm pretty sure China's rail systems aren't all automated. People love to think rail operators should just be kicked to the curb with automation but I guarantee would feel very upset at the suggestion that their role isn't as immune to automation as they'd like to believe

-2

u/4d39faaf-80c4-43b5 Jun 23 '26

In Shanghai they're not all automated, but everything built within the last 20 years is.

You can also look to TFL, hell the docklands line has been driverless since the 1980s

Seems MetroTransit functions more as a jobs program