Dear RTW,
I’m a new conductor, and I’ve read your stuff. I just wanted to write in to let you know a little about some of the shit that we have to face as new RTO employees. When I was in School Car, they spent all this time teaching you the proper procedure for closing down and observing the platform, but when I actually got out on the road, I quickly found out that was all crap. They say you have to operate “Schoolcar” and that it is about safety, but then they go ahead and write up schedules that you couldn’t possibly keep if you followed the regs.
I mean, I’m pretty fast, but on the 6 train, for example, there is no way to operate according to rule and get in on time. I know, I’ve tried: the first time I worked on the 6 Train, I operated “Schoolcar” and I came in 12 minutes late! I learned my lesson then: the TA doesn’t give a shit about safety – they just want to cover their ass – so they can say that they taught you the rules, and that if you don’t follow them, any accident is your fault. All the time they are writing these schedules that depend on you breaking the rules – and they know it! And if we don’t make it in on time – that just cuts into our breaks and lunch, so we get screwed either way.
One Pissed Off Conductor