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Bus operator shortage8/27/2023 ![]() ![]() Employees are working overtime to maintain revenue service, but this had led to absenteeism and attrition of a workforce already stretched too thin. There just aren’t enough people to drive the buses and trains to return to pre-COVID service levels, much less expand and improve them. While in the past service planning was limited by the number of vehicles available, today it’s people. Agencies need to fill hundreds of positions to get to the right number of drivers just to maintain current service levels. Many agencies are running 10 to 30% below their optimal number of drivers and mechanics right now and it’s only getting worse as time passes. And because of the increased stress and overtime, many agencies lost drivers even when there weren’t layoffs. Just like every other industry, transit has been hit by the “great resignation.” Operators and other employees let go during the pandemic haven’t come back to transit. Hundreds of bus operators are needed right now Want to hear more about this topic? Listen to Tris Hussey and I talk about it in depth on Inside Trapeze. Here are three new ideas and approaches to hiring to tackle the bus operator shortage. In my APTA Mobility talk, I looked at some of the root causes of this crisis and some potential solutions. For the past two and a half years, and maybe even longer, agencies have been operating with fewer drivers than they need and keeping things running relying on overtime to fill the gaps.Īs I talked about before, relying on overtime isn’t a sustainable model and we’re seeing attrition and burn out spread like wildfire because of it. The public transit industry, like most other industries, is facing a worker shortage of unprecedented proportions. Doing the same old things won’t fix the problem
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