The Transit Authority is looking for a few good men and women to keep its trains on track.
For the first time ever, the TA is offering non-employees an opportunity to become train operators, a job formerly open only to conductors, cleaners, station agents and other transit workers seeking promotion.
The qualifying exam will be open to all comers – not just current transit workers seeking promotion.
And this year’s multiple-choice exam, testing general aptitude and abilities, won’t include difficult questions about subway rules, trains and safety issues that conductors have had to answer in years past.
“The test will measure reading comprehension, ability to understand and apply procedures, the ability to read and understand schedules, including those in military time,” said Denise Collins, spokeswoman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Service.
“Candidates do not need to have specific knowledge of the transit system.”
The exam will be given Jan. 8.
Just 21 percent of test-takers – 832 out of 3,961 – passed the last two promotional exams given, the TA said.
Those transit workers will be given preference for immediate openings.
But the TA still faces an “insufficient pool of candidates” to fill the 300 to 350 spots that open up annually and that’s why the exam is being offered to the public, said TA spokesman Al O’Leary.
“We need more people. The last test did not provide nearly enough candidates to fill the vacancies,” he said.
Train operators earn $20.40 an hour – about $1.50 more than conductors – and receive good benefits.
But the job entails late-night shifts and the awesome responsibility of safely carrying millions of straphangers.
Still, many New Yorkers would jump at the chance.
“I’d take the exam,” said bike messenger Mike Ramirez, 24, of Brooklyn. “It’s a better paying job and I’d get benefits I don’t get now.”
Security guard Vincent DeJesus said he wants to drive the D train – not just ride it to and from work.
“Being a train operator is definitely a good job. I’d get paid way more than what I’m making now. A lot of people are going to want to get in,” he said.
That’s precisely why union officials and transit workers are angry over the TA’s decision to open the test.
“When you open up the exam to the public, you deny our employees the opportunity to better themselves. There are enough people inside the system who can be promoted to train operator,” said Corrine Scott-Mack, vice president of the Transport Workers Union.
A-train operator Roger Matheson agrees. “I don’t think opening up the test is a good idea. People should know about the system before they operate a train,” he said.