Dart Transit - Super Singles, No Yard Move, No Personal Conveyance

I had been talking to a Dart recruiter for three weeks.
Dart Transit, south Dallas TX

I had specific things I was Looking for in a company.
I wanted a decent cent per mile wage, I wanted a newer truck with a refrigerator/ APU or climate control. I was willing to go OTR, for several weeks at a time as long as I had these basic comforts.

I asked the recruiter if the trucks had refrigerators. “All our new Peterbilts have refrigerators!”
I asked if they would have a truck ready for me in Dallas…”We have plenty of trucks!”

I agreed to drive up to Dallas on my own dime, and they put me in at the Holiday Express for three nights.

The onboarding process was brutal.
There were hours of videos and tests to be completed over the computer. They had us do a normal drug screen at the terminal (though, this was chaos, and I’m pretty sure the testing company didn’t follow proper protocol. No gloves, pouring pee from the cup in the hallway, not sure she even washed her hands between drivers)
They were also doing hair testing, which feels really invasive and violating. They also had us do this test where they put electrodes all over our body and had us do exercises in some underwear.

after all this, we learn as a group that Dart doesn’t allow a Yard Move function. All driving comes off your Driving line hours on your logs.
They also don’t allow Personal Conveyance for company drivers, unless you’re being kicked off consignee property or law enforcement asks you to move.
Even though they don’t allow you to drop your loaded trailer to PC, they still make you buy a king pin lock for $100. They make you buy a whole list of gear at $400 over five pay checks, including a titanium Enforcer lock they didn’t even have in stock to give you. You’re paying for it, but they didn’t even have it to hand out.

their trucks are governed at 65 mph and they have driver assist installed that keeps the truck 6 seconds behind the vehicle in front of it.
If you run took close, for over two minutes, they say they will fire you.
If you try to cheat the governor, they say they will fire you. They have “zero tolerance.”
Since they don’t have a Yard Move option, things like finding and hooking up to a trailer goes against your drive line, reducing the amount of miles you can actually drive in a day.
The orientation material was really focused on penalties and repercussions if you break their rules.

They then took us out on their yard for pre-trip and road tests.
ALL their trailers are equipped with Super Singles. They run through the snowy, Northern Mid West on those tires.

After I passed all my tests, they put me in this bare bones Freightliner, no refrigerator, all the outlets in weird places making it awkward to charge your electronics.

I had voiced my concerns that the recruiter wasn’t honest with me. I was upset about the lack of refrigerator in the truck. I was upset about the lack of Yard Move and PC.
But I needed money, so I stayed and loaded the truck with all my belongings.

Two hours later they put me on a Walmart load from Dallas to Kansas and was waiting to be assigned a specific empty by dispatch.

I was waiting on a call from dispatch when the Recruiter’s supervisor (apparently a Vice President) calls me, and starts challenging me on what “lies” my recruiter told me.
I was I’m the middle of getting this empty so I could go get loaded so I could get on the road and start making some money. He asks me questions, and I go down the list of things I felt I was Promised, and they didn’t deliver, and what the recruiter didn’t tell me about (i.e. Super Singles)

I say “I really don’t have time for this right now,” and I hang up on him. Because I’m still trying to get an empty for the load they dispatched me on.
Five minutes later, they cancel the load and call me in the office, where they fire me for “not having respect for authority”
They make me clear out the Freightliner, under the watch of a shop clerk who puts an Enforcer lock on the air breaks, in full view of these other drivers who were in the class with me. Like a really humiliating display of getting kicked off the property.
They were saying it was really unprofessional to speak to a superior that way.

They did give me $200 as bus fare…which was also humiliating because they put it on an EFS check that I had to take to a truck stop to cash…and the Truck Stop charged me $6 to cash it.