The continuing operator shortage is forcing agencies across North America to delay plans to not only to improve service in their communities, but even to return service to pre-pandemic levels. While my post offering solutions gave some of my ideas on a way forward, the TransitCouncil released a report earlier this month that shed an even brighter light on the issue and offered eight recommendations for solving the problem.
The report, summarized in their blog post and available as a free download, offers recommendations focusing on hiring, compensation, schedules, safety, support, and listening to operators’ concerns. Transit Unplugged host Paul Comfort talks in depth about the report in his recent Future of Transit segment on Transit Unplugged News and Views (listen to that segment below):
While it’s easy to just blame the pandemic for the operator shortage, it’s not that simple. From reduced training classes over the past two years because of COVID to the demographics of the “silver tsunami” sweeping over the industry, we’ve seen this issue looming on the horizon. With the average age of bus operators in the U.S. at 55, the writing has been on the wall for years that a normal 10-20% attrition rate was going to skyrocket over the next 10-15 years.
When I wrote about operator fatigue a year ago, one of the key factors in the fatigue epidemic was agencies relying on overtime to maintain service through the pandemic. Beyond the additional stress of living and being an essential worker during the pandemic, working day after day without enough rest and downtime was burning people out.
We know, however, over-reliance on overtime has been an issue at agencies long before the pandemic brought it to a head. We’ve needed more drivers across the board for years now and we hung on by the skin of our teeth hoping we could avoid a crisis like we’re in now.
The crisis happened, now we need to deal with it.
We need thousands of operators just to meet current demands much less expand and improve service. All the signs were there, but as we’re all want to do, we focused on bigger issues facing the industry like attracting ridership, maintaining fleets, and running our agencies. Until the pandemic, no one really realized how essential an essential service public transit was, and is, to the economy. It took the pandemic for everyone to see that without public transit most cities in North America would grind to a screeching halt. Even the occasional transit strike didn’t drive the point home until we saw essential workers keeping public transit afloat during the pandemic. The people who we needed to keep the lights on, needed public transit to get there and throw the switch.
Just as we arrived at this crisis over years of ignoring the warning signs, we’re not going to fix it overnight either. We can’t just throw money at the problem, because the real solutions go far beyond signing bonuses or paying the cost of getting a commercial driver’s license (CDL). As the TransitCouncil report outlines, the issues are systemic. From low starting wages to shift assignments, workplace safety and mental health support; the job of a bus operator isn’t given the respect it deserves.
To begin to solve the issues we have to look at how the job is perceived, how it is supported, and how it is compensated. Changing things like shift bidding, holidays, pay rates, safety concerns, or even mandated rest breaks, needs planning, negotiating, and funding to resolve. We can’t expect issues that have been brewing for years to be resolved quickly, but at the same time if we don’t start now and meet the issue head on, it’s not going to get better or go away.
Leading up to the pandemic the future of public transit was starting to improve. The Houston Model was being adopted by more and more agencies and ridership was increasing. As gas prices climbed and pressure to decrease CO2 emissions grew more urgent, public transit was seen as the natural way forward.
Then the pandemic hit.
As Paul Comfort calls it, the pandemic was the gut-punch to the industry that shook us to the core. We didn’t know what the future looked like. We didn’t know when, or if, people could or would ride transit again. But people did keep riding transit. And all levels of government realized public transit was more than just essential, it was critical to the nation’s economy. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) is bringing new levels of much-needed funding to our industry, but the BIL isn’t enough.
For transit to succeed, people have to see it as a viable and practical choice to get where they need to go. If taking the bus or train takes 2-3 times longer than a private car, why would someone (who has a car) use it? And how is it equitable or inclusive for people who don’t have access to a car to be forced into long commutes that keep them from their families just so they can get to work?
Public transit schedules need to be convenient, frequent, and flexible. People need options like microtransit or multimodal options like ebikes and scooters to close the first mile-last mile gap. But without enough operators to drive the buses, you can’t offer improved service. If, as the February 2022 APTA survey of 117 transit agencies showed, most agencies are cutting or reducing service because they don’t have the people they need, it also means things can’t get better either.
Despite all the challenges we’ve faced, we are resilient. We’ve made it through the pandemic. Public transit is seeing increased investment from all levels. Ridership is bouncing back, albeit with new travel patterns, and people still view transit as a green and economical choice.
But because there are no easy solutions, because we can’t just throw money at the problem to solve it, we need to work together with new ideas and innovations. Technology alone can’t make drivers appear to drive buses. But technology can help make their lives easier. Technology can provide added safety and security measures. Technology can help untangle complicated scheduling rules to allow for job sharing, flexible part time shifts, new compensation calculations for holiday time, and make the shift bidding process fair for new and senior drivers alike.
We’re passionate about public transit. We’re transit nerds. We do what we do because we know it serves a higher purpose. What we do helps people get to work, school, friends, family, and all life’s opportunities. And to keep doing this, we need to find better ways to support operators, their families, and agencies. None of us alone will have all the answers. But together we can find the innovative solutions and new ideas that will help the answers come to light.
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