If anyone is interested or want's any information on Transam here is my story so far. I am not sure if the final result of my experience will be considerd bad or good so I will give Transam the benefit of adoubt.

Long bus ride due to weather. Hotel in Olathe is more than adequate. Minimal transportation avaliable so plan on walking but things are pretty close. The content of the orientation was useful. Lunches served were very good.

If you are comming here and there are no snags you can expect this for a schedule.

Orientation Wed, Thur and Fri
You will go with your trainer for about 3 weeks starting as early as Friday or as late as Monday with no snags.

You will return to Olathe for paperwork and testing. this will probably take a week.

With no snags you will get your truck and your first solo runs and you should be home in about 8 days.

At this time there are some snags and people have bee waiting for trucks since a few days before Christmas. This is supposed to clear up this week and return to normal. From what I gather from other drivers that have been here for a while under normal conditions there may still be a wait. You will stay in Olathe if you want to get paid and keep your place in line for a truck.

I am the first student for my trainer ( coach) he has been with Transam for 18 months. Personalities aside he sounds like he knows what he is talking about. An educated guess from me is that he probably is a good driver but the training he recieved to learn how to train other drivers is probably ineadequate or he did not pay attention. I will let you know. Anyway it is just 3 weeks and if I can get out of the truck and say I really learned something it will have been a sucess.

We were supposed to go out on Friday but his truck blew a Turbocharger so we are waiting. ( I guess it must have happened just miles before he pulled into the shop.)


The people at Transam are really pretty nice. I think Johnny the owner is as sincere as he can be. It would be my bet that the person who is incharge of driver coaches is not in touch with reality or living in denial from what I have seen and heard.

I would not say you are pressured to be a lease operater but anyone in the company who knows about the program will talk to you about it.


This is as factual of a representation of Transam as I can give at this time.

I am thinking of going to trans am next month. I find your post to be helpful. I was wondering what orientation is like. Is there a road and skills test before you go out with a trainer, if so what is that like and how forgiving are they. I have been out of school for over a month waiting on transam to give me an orientation date.

I am not the op but just saw the post I can answer a few things.
You will get a road test . the backing and all that #### comes after you get your 3 weeks with trainer.
day one we did the most we went to doc for piss and phyiscal ,road test and start some paperwork
day two all paperwork super boring
day three more paper work but short day if on time this day you will be doing truck picks if they have them .

The road test is short and simple dont run over anyone are bump curbs and you will be fine They didnt have us backup at all the last guy on the test put it in the parking spot when we where done that was the only backing

__________________
There's 2 types of truckers
Car Haulers
And those that wont to be Car Haulers

You could do a LOT worse than TransAm. Bill found out the hard way. We should have just stuck it out there for a year.

__________________
Billsgirl
My trucker is my true love and my best friend!!!!!!!

alright someone wanted to know about the road test before trainers yes u do take one but it ain't the serious one they just take u around the block and come back no big deal the one when u test out is the big deal if u see a bridge call out the height espically when u are getting on i-435 there one as u are merging on the highway don't miss it or u fail the test goodluck

oh yeah be on time checking out the hotel bus driver joe will leave ur behind

Hey folks. I'm working on my CDL training right now and TransAm has a rather tempting recruiting poster at our school. The school is not your typical 3 week course it is actually 10 weeks and by all indications a whole lot of recruiting goes on near the completion date. Please enlighten a career changer who really wants to drive what to expect.

Hi there, Im a coach at transam. The person you hare speaking off is lee tubbs, he is the person in charge of the training department. If you feel that your trainer is not teaching you properly, you should definitely let him know. Lee goes thru a great deal to make sure you succeed and I can say this from experience being at transam for a little over 2 years.

No company is perfect including this one, the best advice is stay optimistic and vigilant. Get out of it as much as you can and put in the same and you'll be alright.

Leasing is not for everyone and I am totaly against the way they cram it down your throat, especially when you're a new hire. The way I see it is if you cant even back your trailer in properly, you have no business leasing a truck. Learn the industry first, then make a decission.

Lastly, I find it kind of funny that you are putting down your trainer when you are fresh in this industry. Id be more concerned about learning if I were you rather than coming up with un-educated guesses. Just a thought.

good luck and pm me if you run in to any troubles, Im more than happy to help.

When a company thinks a person only needs 90 days with the company to be a trainer, somethings wrong. My trainer only had 6 mos experience total and I was his 2nd student. The school he went to was a true CDL mill and didn't teach him bumpkiss. Had to teach him about doing a tug test myself since he had never learned to do it. Didn't think it was nessaccery till the night we almost dropped a trailer because it hadn't latched properly. Damn good thing I actually look at things like that and caught it before I pulled out. Don't know if he does a test now or now. We're much better friends now than we were when we finished with each other. Just my cents.