CTA bus runs

[MRChiCity]

Good afternoon, I would like to know what the difference is between a Full time Run, a Block Run, and a Part time run are? Thanks

[sw4400]

23 minutes ago, MRChiCity said:

Good afternoon, I would like to know what the difference is between a Full time Run, a Block Run, and a Part time run are? Thanks

I can try to answer it to what I think is the best of my ability. Someone like @andrethebusman could better answer this though, perhaps:

• Full-Time Run is a run driven by a Full-Time Bus Operator
• Part-Time Run is a run driven by a Part-Time Bus Operator
• Block Run is a run held in at the garage. My only guess is that it's to save payroll, or it may be because the garage is short-handed, and is using a Bus Operator from another garage to fill-in.

Let's see what andre comes back with..... I don't trust my own definitions 100%.

[andrethebusman]

Full-time is roughly 8 hours. This is your basic piece of work, be it straight or split. You pick five pieces of your choosing, totaling around 40 hours, with two days off per week.

Part-time has two definitions: Weekdays it is a run that pays under 7 hours, again it can be one or two pieces, only the pay hours define it. Weekends a certain percentage of what would normally be considered full-time work have been declared part-time, even though they can pay up to 10+ hours, basically evening runs. This was done so that allegedly more full-time drivers could pick weekends off. (Didn't quite work out that way - so much weekday work was eliminated by the 2010 cutbacks and the proliferation of part-time work since that the ratio of full-timers with weekends off is the same as it was 30 years ago).

Block runs you are completely off on. A block run is one that pays around 10 hours, and is picked as part of a pre-arranged group of four similar-paying runs, with the driver who picks this group having three days off each week (though usually not consecutively).

As an additional comment on part-time work. Much of these are also arranged in groups totaling between 25 and 30 hours, usually four days, but sometimes five. This was set up so that part-timers could also pick a regular schedule instead of being relegated to strictly extra board, like was the practice until a few years ago. Makes the job of the schedule clerk a whole lot easier, too.

[andrethebusman]

A comment also: About late 1990's there was an attempt to have what was called an "area extra board", where a driver could be sent to one of a couple of other garages for the day if needed. This experiment ended very quickly, as it was discovered that most drivers have no idea where routes from other than their home garage go.