Hey Louie,
I think this has all been said but here's my 2 cents:
Time on reserve for each fleet vary radically, ramdomely and rythmically. It goes back and forth as to which fleet type will get you a line the fastest. I know guys who bid each fleet type for that very reason and have gotten much longer reserve times than if they had bid the opposite fleet. I caution you on trying to predict this variable.
That being said, I'd GUESS you have a 60/40 chance of getting a line quicker in the bus most classes, and I'd put it at about 70/30 for this year. That being said, 190 reserve is much better as staffing is superior to the bus and 190 reserve guys are getting far, far more long call days than bus guys are.
So magic 8 ball says: ask again later, but for now bus = quicker time to a line but 190 = more days at home for a while even though reserve is longer.
As to bidding a fleet for overnights at home, I'd say take that into consideration if it was a big focus city with lots of overnights, but CLT only has a couple overnights per day and I don't see that increasing much. It would be a nice bonus if you got some, but I wouldn't factor that into your decision making based on the ammount of overnights they offer there right now.
Also CLT can be a bear of a commute some days so start looking/asking around about some of the better 2 leg commutes, usually one leg to a blue city like IAD or BUF, etc and then company on over.
In any case welcome aboard and enjoy being "based" in MCO for your first 2 months! :beer:[/QUOTe
Thanks for the valuable info. I can't wait to start on the 29th. GO BLUE TEAM!