The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a shortage of bus drivers in the city. Many of those who have reached a certain age chose to retire during a dangerous period. Someone found a job elsewhere. There is a shortage of personnel. And MTA, in response, reduces service where it can, and as a result, passengers have to wait longer at stops.
This policy has outraged John Patafio, one of the leaders of the Transport Workers Union Local 100, who heads the bus department in the Brooklyn section of the union.
“The administration damages production when it acts like it’s in a financial crisis,” Patafio said. “Meanwhile, the agency received $ 12 billion in federal aid last year alone.”
He calls not to “sit” on the money, but to use it to find and hire new drivers.
Patafio recently began to monitor the situation and found that in Brooklyn, hundreds of shifts every day in the bus schedule, there is no one to “close”, and because of this, waiting times at stops are almost doubled.
Raymond Simmons, 73, stood for half an hour while the B20 bus approached. He admitted that he was not too surprised as the service on the route had clearly deteriorated since February and still hasn’t bounced back.
“I’ve lived in the East New York area for 17 years and have never seen such poor service as it is now,” said Simmons, who has to rely on a portable oxygen machine and walker. “I constantly need doctor visits, and now I have to leave home 45 minutes earlier in order not to be late.”
The management of MTA admits the shortage of drivers, but believes that it can cope with “internal reserves”.
“When the driver is not on duty, the manager tries to make do with his own scarce resources, saving taxpayer money and an overtime fund,” said AIT spokesman Tim Minton.
An agency employee, on condition of anonymity, told reporters that each of the 29 bus depots in the city lacks about 20 people. This information is somewhat at variance with the official data, according to which of the 11,900 driver’s jobs in the staffing table, only 3% of vacancies are not filled. Depot managers are only allowed to pay overtime for 10 shifts per day.
So the union leader is most likely right when he insists that the situation cannot be improved without recruiting.
Newspaper headline:
Drivers in short supply