Narrative:

Filed flight plan: teb col white J209 sby. Clearance received via pre departure clearance read: teb to ZZZ white as filed. Remarks: cleared to destination airport via ruudy 2 departure [frequency]. Shortly after passing wentz we were sent direct elvae and cleared to climb to 6000. After elvae we proceeded direct to white. Although we were filed to col it was not in the issued clearance. Shortly after departing elvae ATC queried us as to our heading and asked if we were proceeding to col. We told him no that we understood col was taken out of our clearance and we were going to white. He wanted us to go to cpl and that is what they wanted us to fly off of the SID. We then proceeded as directed. Looking at the SID again it says to expect vectors elvae/col/white. We understood that to mean we would be vectored to one of those fixes then proceed on filed course after that. The SID is worded different than most sids in the route description with a '/' [forward slash]' instead of the word 'thence' or 'direct' [separating the fixes]. Maybe the way this is written should be brought to everyone's attention so someone else doesn't make this mistake.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Confusion regarding their clearance and the allegedly unusual format of the ROUTING portion of the RUUDY2 RNAV SID from TEB resulted in a track deviation for the Flight Crew of a corporate jet.

Narrative: Filed flight plan: TEB COL WHITE J209 SBY. Clearance received via PDC read: TEB to ZZZ WHITE as Filed. Remarks: Cleared to destination airport via RUUDY 2 DEP [frequency]. Shortly after passing WENTZ we were sent direct ELVAE and cleared to climb to 6000. After ELVAE we proceeded direct to WHITE. Although we were filed to COL it was not in the issued clearance. Shortly after departing ELVAE ATC queried us as to our heading and asked if we were proceeding to COL. We told him no that we understood COL was taken out of our clearance and we were going to WHITE. He wanted us to go to CPL and that is what they wanted us to fly off of the SID. We then proceeded as directed. Looking at the SID again it says to expect vectors ELVAE/COL/WHITE. We understood that to mean we would be vectored to one of those fixes then proceed on filed course after that. The SID is worded different than most SIDs in the route description with a '/' [FORWARD SLASH]' instead of the word 'thence' or 'direct' [separating the fixes]. Maybe the way this is written should be brought to everyone's attention so someone else doesn't make this mistake.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.