SEPTA still trying to manage its growing shortage of bus drivers

SEPTA bus
Photo credit Holli Stephens/KYW Newsradio, file

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It’s a common alert on SEPTA’s social media accounts: Buses are delayed or canceled due to “operator unavailability.” As the SEPTA board considers a long-planned overhaul of its bus routes this week, the transit agency is still trying to manage a growing shortage of bus drivers.

SEPTA budgets for 2,700 bus drivers and is currently about 250 operators short. The driver shortage has been widening since October 2022, when SEPTA was 145 operators short of a full staff.

SEPTA has tried a variety of strategies to attract drivers, including helping recruits through the application process and offering mental health initiatives and peer mentoring. It also held programs to help applicants obtain their commercial driver’s licenses and launched a localized recruitment effort.

“We tried an initiative out of our Delaware County location where we moved our hiring process essentially out to the Victory Avenue location. And we were attracting more Delaware County residents into the position,” said SEPTA Chief Operating Officer Scott Sauer. “All of that is meant to attract and retain. And hopefully, over the course of the next year or so, we’ll build up our ranks enough that you won’t see as many missed trips out there.”

SEPTA aims to hire 41 drivers a month to stay ahead of attrition, but the number of drivers who make it through training has consistently fallen short.

“We train bus operators over a six- or eight-week period, so it can be a grueling process for someone who’s learning to drive a big vehicle for the first time,” Sauer added.

Operators’ salaries start at about $52,000, and drivers can earn up to $72,000 a year plus overtime. While negotiations are underway toward a new Transport Workers contract, Sauer said a work-life balance is as much a factor as pay when it comes to attracting operators.

“We don’t see pay as the primary driver here. We think that our employees want a more whole experience of being an employee of SEPTA,” he said.

The bus route redesign reduces the number of routes but keeps the same number of vehicles on the streets.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Holli Stephens/KYW Newsradio, file