Transit driver shortage stalls routes expansion, revs up disruptions

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This article was published 11/09/2023 (757 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Transit’s persistent bus driver shortage is raising the risk of sudden route disruptions, delaying some neighbourhoods from receiving routes and thwarting attempts to restore normal service levels.

The service is short 95 active drivers of the 1,002 it needs to support its fall schedule, Winnipeg Transit director Greg Ewankiw told reporters Monday.

“We’re not unlike any other transit system. Many of them are looking for drivers.”

Last weekend, Transit’s fall schedule took effect with a five per cent reduction from the pre-COVID-19 pandemic service level, a small improvement from the previous six per cent reduction.

Driver recruitment efforts ramped up due to the labour shortage last year, which had Transit reach out to potential employees in multiple languages and offer expedited hiring processes that can handle applications and interviews in one day.

While it didn’t fill every position, Transit’s extra recruitment efforts helped hire 113 more drivers this year, said Ewankiw. “It shows that those efforts are working.”

However, the director said on-the-job safety threats, the pandemic and Canada-wide job competition all contributed to an increase in local drivers quitting.

While Mayor Scott Gillingham had campaigned on a promise to restore the service to its full pre-pandemic level in 2023, Winnipeg Transit no longer has a specific target date to achieve that goal.

Ewankiw has also warned city councillors about a risk of sudden disruptions to routes, starting this month, due to the shortage and an increase in bus operator absenteeism. He added absent drivers are also now taking longer periods off.

While Transit schedules spare drivers, some buses have routes cancelled for a short time when the number of drivers who call in absent exceeds the number available to fill in for them. Winnipeg Transit officials say they attempt to reduce the impact on riders, such as by cancelling routes with more frequent service and/or nearby alternatives.

The head of the union that represents bus drivers said alarmingly frequent assaults are playing a key role in staff shortages and absences.

“That is likely part and parcel of the psychological traumas that these acts of violence cause people to have… They’re afraid to come back to work,” said Chris Scott, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1505.

There have been reported 97 assaults on bus drivers this year, as of the end of July, according to ATU 1505.

Scott said around 50 operators have resigned this year, while many others have retired.

The union leader said many drivers want a tough approach to deal with unruly passengers, such as strictly enforced permanent bans on riders who threaten or assault drivers.

“The offenders certainly seem to be empowered on the transit system to do whatever they want… and that definitely needs to change if (the city wants) to retain employees and keep ridership going up,” said Scott.

Meanwhile, the driver shortage is also being blamed for thwarting requests to expand service.

City reports say Winnipeg Transit lacks enough staff to add service in Castlebury Meadows/Waterford Green, Aurora and Prairie Pointe.

“Due to current challenges with the recruitment of bus operators, the public service advises that this service not be introduced until at least September of 2024, and Winnipeg Transit undertake a reassessment in the spring of 2024 as to whether it is feasible to introduce the service that year,” Bjorn Radstrom, Transit manager of service development, writes in one report.

City staff note the Castlebury Meadows and Waterford Green neighbourhoods currently have no transit service, leaving residents to walk up to 1.5 kilometres to access it, while the nearest route to Aurora requires at least a two-km walk.

The Prairie Pointe neighbourhood is partly served by the 671 Dalhousie and 672 Killarney routes, but these leave “significant portions of the neighbourhood without transit service,” one report notes.

During Monday’s public works committee meeting, a Waterford Green resident said there is a great demand in his area.

“This bus service is very critical. We need it as soon as possible,” said Sukhjinder Sandhu.

The three expansions would require 16.75 more full-time equivalent Winnipeg Transit staff and cost about $2.1 million in the first full year of operations.

On Monday, the committee referred all three potential expansions for consideration in the 2024-27 budget process.

Coun. Janice Lukes, public works chairwoman, said the added service is needed and should be a priority once Transit has enough staff.

“In the last five years, the City of Winnipeg grew by about 50,000 people… The population is there (to support the expansion)… but the fact of the matter is, if there’s no drivers, there’s no bus.”

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @joyanne_pursaga