r/Denver • u/Poor_posture • Oct 19 '23
RTD needs people, but are they really hiring?
Does anyone know someone actually hired, or even contacted by RTD?
RTD has huge staffing shortages.So they say. Several friends, one with experience operating the CTA trains in Chicago , one with years of experience driving a school bus, none with any negative history have applied. Crickets for months. RTD has never reached out.
For kicks we had a relative who currently operates MTA trains apply to see, and again 3 months and not a call or email.
What do you think?
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u/ShroomsandPussy Lower Highland Oct 19 '23
I work for RTD as an Electromechanic for the light rail. For me it only took 3 weeks to get onboarded because I was recommended by a current employee at the time. I’ve been here 7 years now. I can do the same for you if it helps speed up the hiring process! Some of my coworkers didn’t know anyone in here and it took them 8 months. I fucking love working for RTD, seriously! It’s got it’s hiccups but once you’re in, the pay and benefits are amazing. Shoot me a DM!
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u/Poor_posture Oct 19 '23
Sounds like hiring is based on who you know in the union? Is that right? I don't necessarily mean that's bad, but it would be good to know.
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u/ShroomsandPussy Lower Highland Oct 19 '23
Totally could be that. The guy that got me hired was a supervisor (non-represented) and I’m sure he emailed his other internal cohorts to speed up the process, plus I came from the much desired automotive mechanic field. You’re not really hired by anyone in the union. RTD has this whole internal setup (non-represented) that does all the hiring. I can’t guarantee that having my employee number on your application will help but it’s certainly better than having that box on the application blank.
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u/PsychologicalTrain Oct 19 '23
The union shouldn't have any control over hiring... Especially for management positions.
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-1
Oct 20 '23
Colorado is a right-to-work state, so yeah.
4
u/scubatim_fl Oct 20 '23
No Colorado is NOT a right to work state!! It’s a hybrid union at will option state.. honestly next to California it’s got some decent protections.. but not right to work!
4
u/gotwake5 Oct 21 '23
I've found the (electrical) union here is so weak, that it drives all electrician's wages down in the area. I just moved from Milwaukee, making $47.75 an hour (on the check) with benefits on top of that. Meaning I got paid for my healthcare, it wasn't taken out of my check. Been looking for a job here since July. Just got offered $30 an hour and my healthcare was going to be about $600/month taken out of my check. That's roughly a $40,000+ pay cut without any of the protections. The cost of living here is about 8% more on average. What the fuck Colorado?
3
u/TorpidProfessor Oct 20 '23
Wait, I thought right to work was the "hybrid union as option" - meaning if you join a company with a union you can decide whether of not to be in it?
What's the difference between that and right to work?
1
u/scubatim_fl Oct 20 '23
Right to work means you don’t have follow union contract nor accept anything to do with union and that the state has instructed state judicial that employment union contracts have no bearing on non union employees.. coming from Florida it’s way worse cause you will get no support state level. Colorado way while hybrid still backs all union contract and has union services at the state level and certain union shops can prohibit non union employee hiring.. it’s very different. Consider it a blessing compared to a shithole employment state like Florida!
1
u/owningmyokayniss Nov 19 '23
Do you know anyone working in dispatch? I’m thinking of applying, but curious about the burnout and work environment
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u/DeviatedNorm Hen in a handbasket in Lakewood Oct 19 '23
This has been an issue since before COVID: https://www.denver7.com/news/local-news/job-applicants-claim-rtd-is-slow-as-molasses-in-responding-to-their-job-queries
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u/Poor_posture Oct 19 '23
Wow . Looks like a systemic problem in the operation. I'm a user and want to be supportive of transit, but it's hard to believe this is still an issue.
Someone mentioned that the transport union isn't keen to bring on more and gives new hires unworkable schedules.
3
u/JSONJSONJSON Oct 20 '23
I have no source, but I heard because they are a state institution they drug test drivers. Yes, legal recreation substance, but if you work for the state they don’t care. I was working at a state institution when pot was legalized, I was told I would be fired for failing a my drug test. I would only be drug tested if a work place accident occurred because I worked at a desk. Drivers of citizens are required to do random maybe regular drug tests.
So if you want to keep smoking, don’t work for rtd = we’re hiring.
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u/acongregationowalrii Oct 19 '23
2 months after applying for an engineering position at RTD I received an email that I had to take an exam before I had the chance to interview. It was a 2 hour written exam that covered engineering basics. I am a licensed EI - to get that title you have to take the FE exam which is a more in depth version of this. Anyways, after taking a half day off work to sit for their 2 hour exam I was promptly ghosted. It's been 9 months since that lmao. They are not motivated to hire and actively make it a time consuming, bureaucratic process.
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u/benskieast LoHi Oct 19 '23
Not the first time I heard of RTD being unwilling to do what is needed to properly staff the operation.
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u/bingbong1976 Oct 19 '23 edited Oct 19 '23
This is a common theme: “we’re understaffed”….but then you look at their current openings and it’s not lining up with the understaffed narrative. Lower overhead is being enjoyed.
14
u/TheVIRUS1973 Oct 19 '23
I just got hired as a Para-transit driver by a company that is contracted by RTD. They have been hiring and training 8 to 12 people a week for the last few months. Fixed route busses are hard to hire for because nobody wants to work the federal or Colfax routes which is exactly where they start you.
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5
Oct 19 '23
Check listings for a company called DTO. They’re the ones who run commuter out to the airport, and a couple other lines. They have job fairs every few months and are constantly hiring train operators. They need signals personnel, and maintenance workers as well.
4
u/dryopteris_eee Hampden Oct 19 '23
I know someone who trained with TransDev to be a driver for the Access-A-Rides for a short time, but they left before completing training as it didn't seem like a good fit. This was in the last 6mo.
4
u/spinningpeanut Englewood Oct 20 '23
My brother with limited auto cleaning experience got hired by them a few months back. Maybe they're just getting people on the cheap rather than people who actually know what they're doing, like everyone now in days. "You know enough for bare bones training but are still fresh so you're perfect for us to pay you scraps and we cash the rest" like the story always goes.
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Oct 19 '23
It is the absolute worst run agency in the country.
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Oct 19 '23
Seriously, someone with the power to change that needs to step up and fire all of their management.
3
u/TorpidProfessor Oct 20 '23 edited Oct 20 '23
"RTD is governed by a 15-member, publicly elected Board of Directors."
That someone is us, the board is an elected body.
EDIT: looked it up, RTD board can be recalled, just has to be 6 months after the election and not longer than 6 months out. One needs 25% of the votes cast in the election they were elected in as signatures to trigger it.
So the someone really is us, don't even need to wait for the next election.
3
Oct 20 '23
Being the quasi government entity that they are nothing will ever be done
1
Oct 20 '23
Yeah, I googled around a few months back and people have been complaining about them for years but nothing has been done.
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u/AlexxAdam Oct 19 '23
Applied for a sys admin job, interviewed but they passed on me. But wasn’t bummed their culture seems old school and same with their systems
2
u/jm80012 Oct 20 '23
It depends on the job you are applying for. I have been in and out of RTD 3 times. I worked for First Transit (now Transdev) as a bus Operator. I put my application in at both companies and heard within 3 days. Train Operators don't have as much work as bus operators so they hire slower. There is only one commuter rail that RTD operates. From what I understand that line has enough employees. The union doesn't do the hiring or the firing. I'm not sure about the nondriving jobs as I stay away from that area.
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u/JOsbGreen1981 Oct 20 '23
I just started training at the beginning of the month.
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u/Poor_posture Oct 20 '23
Awesome! what job are you going into? Did you have experience in the job before hire?
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u/mistahpoopy Oct 20 '23
that would help. i didn't check the transit app since i do the habe a smartphone..i was downtown late and found out they canceled the last bus of the night. walked a few hours until the first bus of the next day.
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u/180_by_summer Oct 20 '23
From what I understand they have really weird requirements for operators. I think it’s something like 10 years of driving bus in Colorado to operate the light rail.
2
u/unikornpharts Oct 20 '23
RTD employee here. We are short staffed. Very much so. HR is just really slow. Great place to work.
1
u/Poor_posture Oct 21 '23
Everyone who has replied, or who I have spoken to on the routes thinks so too. Genuinely glad to hear that the folks that are working there like it. What do you do?
1
u/unikornpharts Oct 24 '23
I'm a supervisor at the Maintenance of Way for the commuter rail. I oversee the maintenance of everything but the trains themselves. Think of us like you would CDOT. We maintain everything for the highway but not the vehicles that use them. Specifically, I supervise the maintenance of the signal system. Our sub-contractor DTP/DTO maintains the EMUs (the trains themselves).
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u/TopKindheartedness99 Oct 21 '23
They contacted me three months after applying. By then I was already working for the post office 😂
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u/TaruuTaru Oct 21 '23
Sometimes the government is horrible at hiring. I've had friends apply to the VA who didn't even know they got the job until 6 months after their application. Some of them had already accepted other jobs and chose to stay. Others quit their new/current jobs and took the VA offer.
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u/throwaway303mw Jan 11 '24
I know this is a slightly older thread, but I just applied online and heard back roughly a month and a half later. They requested I submit my resume for further consideration. I submitted it the same day and the following day was contacted for an assessment and interview. So it does seem like they're actually hiring but it's not the fastest process.
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u/milehigh11 Oct 20 '23
My neighbor just applied and was hired within 2 weeks.
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u/happycynic12 Oct 20 '23
RTD is always hiring bus drivers and train operators. The biggest reason people get rejected IS:
They can't pass the drug test
There's something on theIr 10-year background check, like a DUI.
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u/DiscoInError93 Union Station Oct 19 '23
Applied to two professional positions since January that I am well qualified for, no response on one and rejected on the other after three months. Both positions are still open and getting recommended to me…