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San Diego bus drivers can now get $78K – but is it enough?
Amazon packages easier to deal with than surly riders
Barriers have been installed – now customers won't sneeze in driver's face.
Too many bus drivers are taking the off ramp to easier jobs, transit officials say. San Diego Metropolitan Transit System's hardest job to fill currently has 24 vacancies.
The majority say they're leaving for less demanding work like delivering packages for Amazon or collecting trash for Republic Services.
"It's not an easy job," said Thuy Nguyen, who oversees recruitment for the agency. "They're having to give up their weekends, their nights, working holidays, working split shifts. They're also having to deal with very rude and aggressive passengers."
Over 120 applications per month for 15-20 openings – but training is bottleneck.
At last week's MTS board meeting, Nguyen explained how they hope to turn things around.
"Our overall goal is to stay on top of our turnover rates," she said. The current budget allows 500 full-time bus drivers. With only 476, the vacancy rate is 4.8 percent, which Nguyen emphasized isn't bad — but could be better.
Ridership is growing even if it's not yet back to pre pandemic levels, a survey has found, and the agency wants to restore the previous level of 540 drivers, a number that dropped as low as 462. "However, little progress has been made," a report states.
According to the MTS website, the pandemic intensified a longstanding bus driver shortage, reducing service by 10 percent. Routes 1, 11, 35, 43, 815, and 932 have since returned to a 15-minute weekday frequency, and Saturday service is back on Route 944.
Nguyen said the shortage has worsened since 2021 due to an aging workforce, low interest from younger workers, and wage increases in competing sectors of the service industry. Working conditions, safety concerns, and challenging schedules are also behind the gap.
MTS buses run 22 hours a day, which can lead to irregular work schedules that interfere with other commitments.
To lure new drivers to the nine-week program and retain the current workforce, MTS has improved pay, benefits, and working conditions. Since 2021, the starting pay for bus drivers has increased by 42 percent. Annual pay starts at $56,430 and tops at $76,190. For working “split runs,” drivers earn an extra $4 per hour.
A new fitness center is in the works, and barriers have been installed to separate bus drivers and passengers. They have boosted security with a 60 percent increase in officers patrolling the system — funding that survived a board vote last September to slash plans for major transit service upgrades that would have added more bus routes.
There is now significant interest in the bus operator position, officials said. They are getting over 120 applications per month for 15-20 training openings every three weeks.
The limit, Nguyen said, is the agency's ability to train them fast enough. The pool of candidates has gone up, but there aren't enough trainers — or buses.
Here's something you might be interested in.
San Diego bus drivers can now get $78K – but is it enough?
Amazon packages easier to deal with than surly riders
San Diego bus drivers can now get $78K – but is it enough?
Amazon packages easier to deal with than surly riders
Barriers have been installed – now customers won't sneeze in driver's face.
Too many bus drivers are taking the off ramp to easier jobs, transit officials say. San Diego Metropolitan Transit System's hardest job to fill currently has 24 vacancies.
The majority say they're leaving for less demanding work like delivering packages for Amazon or collecting trash for Republic Services.
"It's not an easy job," said Thuy Nguyen, who oversees recruitment for the agency. "They're having to give up their weekends, their nights, working holidays, working split shifts. They're also having to deal with very rude and aggressive passengers."
Over 120 applications per month for 15-20 openings – but training is bottleneck.
At last week's MTS board meeting, Nguyen explained how they hope to turn things around.
"Our overall goal is to stay on top of our turnover rates," she said. The current budget allows 500 full-time bus drivers. With only 476, the vacancy rate is 4.8 percent, which Nguyen emphasized isn't bad — but could be better.
Ridership is growing even if it's not yet back to pre pandemic levels, a survey has found, and the agency wants to restore the previous level of 540 drivers, a number that dropped as low as 462. "However, little progress has been made," a report states.
According to the MTS website, the pandemic intensified a longstanding bus driver shortage, reducing service by 10 percent. Routes 1, 11, 35, 43, 815, and 932 have since returned to a 15-minute weekday frequency, and Saturday service is back on Route 944.
Nguyen said the shortage has worsened since 2021 due to an aging workforce, low interest from younger workers, and wage increases in competing sectors of the service industry. Working conditions, safety concerns, and challenging schedules are also behind the gap.
MTS buses run 22 hours a day, which can lead to irregular work schedules that interfere with other commitments.
To lure new drivers to the nine-week program and retain the current workforce, MTS has improved pay, benefits, and working conditions. Since 2021, the starting pay for bus drivers has increased by 42 percent. Annual pay starts at $56,430 and tops at $76,190. For working “split runs,” drivers earn an extra $4 per hour.
A new fitness center is in the works, and barriers have been installed to separate bus drivers and passengers. They have boosted security with a 60 percent increase in officers patrolling the system — funding that survived a board vote last September to slash plans for major transit service upgrades that would have added more bus routes.
There is now significant interest in the bus operator position, officials said. They are getting over 120 applications per month for 15-20 training openings every three weeks.
The limit, Nguyen said, is the agency's ability to train them fast enough. The pool of candidates has gone up, but there aren't enough trainers — or buses.