Incoming MARTA chief will focus fixing finances and image (law school, salary)

[PKCorey]

Channel 2 discovers potentially dangerous overtime for MARTA... | www.wsbtv.com

Between January 2010 and September 2012, MARTA paid its top earning driver $252,807.49,
$108,997.24 of that was base salary. The rest came from overtime 4,269 hours of overtime -- as much as 82 hours in a single pay period.

I wonder, how long that driver has been with MARTA. whoa!

[oldschoolChevy]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Wha' choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?

REALLY??

Would you like a side of fries to go with that racism?

[mattee01]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Today's story on WSB isn't going to make things easier.

MARTA's top patrolman is paid $348,000 a year, and there are a dozen more right behind him.

MARTA's top bus driver is pulling in a quarter of a million a year and many others are in six figures.

THAT IS F#%$ING INSANE!!!

At the most, these drivers should be bringing in maybe 50k a year without overtime...what do they have, a doctorate in bus driving with no salary caps and all benefits? I MEAN SERIOUSLY... G-O-D-S D-@-M-N!!!

You could pay someone 20$ an hour (btw, most firefighters, police, etc don't make that much...even a base line nurse doesn't unless she's got like 10+ years experience) and if they work 40 hours, they're bringing in roughly 42k per year. That's a very good deal considering all you have to do is take the proper training, get a liscense, and then put up with the stupid ***** on the buses/trains. There's just absolutely no way these guys should be making even a quarter of the amount they're making.

If nothing else would turn someone into a MARTA hater...this right here could do it.

[oldschoolChevy]

Originally Posted by mattee01

If nothing else would turn someone into a MARTA hater...this right here could do it.

^^^^
The fact that the idiot mouth breathers at the gold dome refuse to support MARTA, and then on top of that control MARTA's purse strings while no other rapid transit system in the country gets handcuffed like that should make you hate those morons more than anyone.

[testa50]

$252k sounds like a lot, but we're talking about 33 months of work, and 4,000 hours of overtime is a ridiculous number of hours. Probably roughly 8,000 hours worked total over the 33 month period, or a much less insane-sounding rate of $31.50 an hour. In fact I'm surprised it's that low.

A "quarter million a year" is blatantly incorrect, of course.

Definitely not good management to allow employees to rack up infinite overtime, but it's a far cry from paying a bus driver a quarter million a year.

[mattee01]

Originally Posted by testa50

$252k sounds like a lot, but we're talking about 33 months of work, and 4,000 hours of overtime is a ridiculous number of hours. Probably roughly 8,000 hours worked total over the 33 month period, or a much less insane-sounding rate of $31.50 an hour. In fact I'm surprised it's that low.

A "quarter million a year" is blatantly incorrect, of course.

Definitely not good management to allow employees to rack up infinite overtime, but it's a far cry from paying a bus driver a quarter million a year.

Its cheaper to hire more workers, train and certify them all, and get them on the streets than continously pay overtime.

[mattee01]

Originally Posted by oldschoolChevy

^^^^
The fact that the idiot mouth breathers at the gold dome refuse to support MARTA, and then on top of that control MARTA's purse strings while no other rapid transit system in the country gets handcuffed like that should make you hate those morons more than anyone.

I honestly believe it'd be so much better if the Atlanta metro just became its own state and the rest of the mostly rural, redneck, hillbilly state could have its own backwards policies while we wouldn't have all those leeches attached to us anymore.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by mattee01

Its cheaper to hire more workers, train and certify them all, and get them on the streets than continously pay overtime.

Why not take some of these unemployed law school graduates and put them on as bus drivers and MARTA cops? They'll make more than they would as lawyers.

[rzzzz]

Originally Posted by mattee01

Its cheaper to hire more workers, train and certify them all, and get them on the streets than continously pay overtime.

Is that really cheaper? In my industry it's more expensive to get another worker than it is to just have one dude work 70 hours a week. I know other industries , like medicine, are the same way.

A driver working 80+ hours a week sounds like it shouldn't be happening due to public safety, but that's a different story.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Today's story on WSB isn't going to make things easier.

MARTA's top patrolman is paid $348,000 a year, and there are a dozen more right behind him.

MARTA's top bus driver is pulling in a quarter of a million a year and many others are in six figures.

Those positions probably have pensions too, huh? Wow. Although I realize now it's a 33 month period, so that's roughly $91K/year with no life.

I won't begrudge the driver that. That isn't unrealistic for a senior driver willing to drive THAT many hours.