Posted on August 9th, 2022.

With the nation’s current drivers retiring in large numbers, agencies need to cultivate a new generation of transit operators, a new report says.

“While the culprits can vary from agency to agency, two causes stick out: an increased number of retirements by an aging workforce and difficulties recruiting and retaining new workers,” the report said.

In a recent American Public Transportation Association survey of 117 transit agencies, 71% reported that they have either had to cut service or delay service increases because of worker shortfalls, according to the report. More than nine out of 10 said they were having difficulty hiring new employees, with nearly two-thirds struggling to retain workers.

“Before the pandemic, many agencies had begun to brace for a ‘silver tsunami,’ with large numbers of workers heading toward retirement,” the report said.

According to the report, the average American transit operator is nearly 53 years old — more than a decade older than the average worker. The report cites a 2015 federal government analysis which found that nearly 63% of US transit operators were over the age of 45, with 72% of the 2015 workforce projected to leave by 2022. That, coupled with regular increases in workforce needs, led researchers to forecast 200,000 job vacancies.

Unfortunately, the tight labor market in cities and states across the US isn’t helping. Despite the economy’s historic post-pandemic comeback, there are still roughly 6 million fewer people employed in the US than before Covid struck. The percentage of unfilled jobs is at its highest level since at least 2001, and the share of Americans in the labor force is near its lowest since the 1970s, according to Labor Department figures.

“There’s just not enough younger workers to replace certain functions, and that’s hit the transit industry very much — especially in the operator position,” Chris Van Eyken, the author of the report, said in an interview. 

To tap the interests of younger workers, the industry needs to step up its social-media presence and get the message out that transit is a good way to lower greenhouse-gas emissions. “The pitch hasn’t been updated for the new generation,” he said.

On top of an aging workforce, some of the most transit-rich cities are among the most expensive to live in, which means that many operators, who put in long hours and overtime, can’t afford to live in the cities they serve, the report said. According to the report, the starting hourly salaries for the top seven US transit operators based on ridership range from $19.55 at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) to $29.61 at the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.

Transit agencies must keep salaries competitive, and new hires should be offered signing bonuses and put on the fast track to median wages to ensure that they stay in the job, the report said. Some agencies have already taken action. For instance, Portland’s transit agency, TriMet, recently raised its starting pay to $25.24 per hour, and new hires are eligible for a $7,500 signing bonus, while the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Houston METRO) offers new hires a $4,000 bonus.

Meanwhile, a rise in crime is causing many drivers to either leave their jobs or avoid the career entirely. Many potential employees are growing wary of their safety because their jobs require interactions with the public. Operator assaults per unlinked passenger trip increased fourfold from 2009 to 2020, according to the report. Besides increased concerns over physical harm, drivers are also working at a higher risk of getting Covid-19.

“From an agency perspective, it is really about making sure job quality improves,” Van Eyken said. “Because over time, the conditions that operators work under have just slowly gotten worse and worse, and it’s made it a much more unattractive position for workers.”

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