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VTA Driver Runs
Standard Disclaimer: This information is being provided by me as a private citizen and is in no way to be considered to be official VTA information.What is a run? How are runs created? What is
bidding? How are driver assigned to a particular route? These questions are frequently asked by people who do not follow the industry. This page is intended to at least partially answer these questions.
What is a run? A run
is the piece of work that one driver does on a daily basis.
These come in several types, see examples from VTA below.
The following sample runs are for weekdays at Cerone Division
(April 1998 sign-up):
A One Piece Regular Run:
RUN BLK EXC REL. ----TIME---- REL. SPD SPLT TOT TRAV ALL REPT ELAP OVER STRT TOTAL
NO. LOC. ON OFF LOC. PLAT PLAT TIME TIME TIME TIME TIME TIME PAY
4127 2671* DIV4 558A 147P FOTA 7:49 0:15 0:04 8:00 8:06
The * represents a block
that operates on more than one bus route.
A Two Piece Regular Run:
4116 2074 DIV4 551A 1125A ZAHO 5:34
3671* CIVC 1230P 442P CIVC 11:57 2:52 8:26 0:20 0:15 0:44 0:41 9:04 10:06
Current contract limits what percent of regular runs can be splits. No more than 40% of weekday, and 10% of weekend runs can fall into this category.
A Two Piece Frag Run:
4734 7771 DIV4 545A 1104A WEMA 12:21 5:19 7:30 0:15 0:30 0:56 9:11 9:11
7773 DIV4 355P 606P DIV4 2:11
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4731 7771 DIV4 545A 1104A WEMA 12:21 5:19 8:34 0:15 0:30 0:56 1:04 9:11 10:47
7773* SD DIV4 251P 606P DIV4 3:15
This is an example of a run that varies between school days and school holidays. The driver bids to work both of those and is responsible for checking each day to see what
service the run will be running the next day.
Part Time Run:
4801 675 DIV4 510A 742A DIV4 2:32 0:13 0:15 3:00 3:00
These are further broken down by a.m. Part Time and p.m. Part Time.
X-Tra Board Run
4904 7071* DIV4 559A 908A WEMA 3:09 0:15 3:24 3:24
These runs are not available for bidding and are driven by X-Tra Board drivers on a rotating basis. They are frequently combined so that one operator does 2 or more of them in one day.
The actual printouts that the driver see are formatted a little better than what is shown above.
Definitions of column headers:
RUN NO.
Run Number,
how the run is identified in the system. The first digit is always the Division number, the second number identifies the type of run (1-6 = regular runs, 7 = Frag Split, 8 = Part Time, 9 = X-Tra
Board.). BLK
Block Number, which block number the driver is going to be on. An asterix (*) after the block number means that runs operates on more than one route.EXC
Exception Code, this identifies changes in the runs for certain conditions, such as school days and school holidays. REL. LOC.
Relief Location, where the driver will take over the bus, or be relieved. This can be the yard or in the field. TIME ON
When the driver starts work for the day, does not include the 10 minute report time for pull-outs. TIME OFF
When the driver is supposed to be off duty.SPD
Spread, the total
hours from TIME ON to TIME OFF, this cannot exceed 13 hours
by contract, CA state law allows up to 15 hours.SPLT PLAT
Split Platform, the number of hours in service on each part of a split run. TOT PLAT
Total Platform,
the total on duty time for the driver, this cannot exceed
10 hours by CA state law.
TRAV TIME
Travel Time, the time paid to a driver who has to travel from one location to another between two halves of a split run. ALL TIME
Allowed Time, the amount of time that is added to a run to make it up to the minimum required daily pay (8 hours). REPT TIME
Report Time, the time given a driver to check out their bus or train. ELAP TIME
Elapsed Time, extra
pay given to drivers of split runs that exceed a certain number
of hours in spread time.
OVER TIME
Extra pay given for platform time over eight hours. STRT TIME
Straight Time, the amount of straight time pay given to an operator on that run. TOTAL PAY
The total number of hours pay for that run on a daily basis. How are runs created?
Run Cutting is the process of creating these runs. There are several objectives in this process, 1) Minimize pay, 2) Minimize # of operators needed, both for bid runs and the X-Tra Board, 3) Minimize the Pay to Platform ratio. All of these must conform to state, federal and local laws as well as any collective bargaining agreements with the unions involved, if any.
What is bidding? How are drivers assigned to
a particular route? Bidding is the process where the drivers
select their runs for the next sign-up period. At VTA and
most other places this is done by seniority. There are several
drivers at VTA, and other places, who only look at the total
pay on a run when bidding. There are others who look at all
aspects of the run, including which trips on a route they
are doing, where and when reliefs are, and when the buses
that they to or from the yard run. Some drivers prefer to
work certain hours during the day and pick runs based on that.
Where no unions are involved, management frequently assigns
drivers at their own discretion.
At VTA there are three basic
things a driver can bid. 1) A regular run, this is by weekday,
Saturday and Sunday, so that a driver would drive the same
thing on all weekdays they work, a different run on Saturdays,
and another run on Sundays. 2) X-Tra Board, these drivers
work variable hours. They are used to fill in for drivers
who are sick, on vacation, and for extra service that is not
normally scheduled. They also are used to cover the X-Tra
Board runs. 3) Group Relief, these drivers cover the runs
that are not bid. Example, driver A bids a run on weekdays,
but has Tues. and Wed. off, the weekday run he bids would
wind up as part of one or more group relief packages on Tues.
and Wed..
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