New routes in Metro transit plan will require 525 more bus drivers
Every spring when Ashley Springer was a boy, a B.C. Transit bus would pull into the gravel parking lot at his Burnaby elementary school.
His class would climb on, and the driver would take the children on a ride, driving in loops around the parking lot and teaching them about using transit safely.
“It was always on my calendar, and I made a point to be one of the first in line, to shake the driver’s hand, pick my seat,” Springer recalled. “It was almost akin to riding a roller-coaster — it was that big of a thrill for me.”
It’s an experience that stuck with Springer, turning him into a lifelong transit user and enthusiast who has a box stuffed with bus memorabilia.
“It just did it for me, I can’t explain it better than that. But, here I am today because of it,” Springer said, laughing.
The 40-year-old has spent the past six years working as a driver for Coast Mountain Bus Company, TransLink’s largest operating company, and the company that provides 96 per cent of the region’s bus service.
“It’s been the best decision I think I made in my life, to be honest with you,” Springer said.
“I was told by someone that if you love your job it’s not a job, and that kind of hits it for me.”
TransLink is looking for more drivers like Springer and has started a hiring blitz aimed at adding 525 more drivers to its team by next spring to cover service increases that are part of the next round of improvements outlined in the first phase of a 10-year plan for transit and transportation in Metro Vancouver.
The new drivers will make it possible to add approximately 50,000 bus service hours this fall and run four new B-Line routes that will be introduced in fall 2019.
Some of the new hires will also replace drivers lost to retirement. TransLink spokesman Chris Bryan said more than half of TransLink’s approximately 3,500 drivers are over the age of 50.
“We have an aging workforce,” he said.
Early last year, TransLink held a similar recruitment drive to hire bus operators in time to roll out the first round of bus improvements in the 10-year plan.
The transit authority increased bus service by 10 per cent in 2017, adding 215,000 service hours.
About 470 drivers were hired last year to keep up with the service changes that took place in April, June and September.
This year’s is now the single largest bus operator hiring drive since the lead-up to the 2010 Winter Olympics, when TransLink hired about 560 drivers in one year.
In 2016, the company hired 365 drivers, and it hired 244 the year before.
Susan Mussche, who was hired during last year’s push for drivers, has been operating a bus for about four months.
The 45-year-old applied for the job at the urging of her mother.
“I think my mom saw how much I would thrive in driving a bus,” Mussche said. “I love driving, but I also love the public and I love helping. It’s surreal thinking that I’m driving now instead of being a passenger.”
Bryan said there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with being a bus driver. Metro Vancouver buses carry about 800,000 passengers per day. He said TransLink is looking for people who enjoy driving and are committed to safety and customer service.
Springer added level-headedness and common sense to the list of qualities a bus driver should possess.
“We’re casting our net wide to get as many good applicants as we can, but we’re also quite particular about the type of person who drives bus,” said Bryan. “We’re looking for a very special person.”
For more information about becoming an operator, or to apply, visit translink.ca/drive.