Driver shortage causes DASH cancelations
Citing a shortage of bus drivers in Los Angeles, the L.A. City Council sought reports Wednesday to understand the impact the shortage is having on transit services.
The City Council directed the L.A. Department of Transportation to report on the number of bus operator vacancies per contract, any ongoing reduction in service, and the estimated cost of any recommended wage increases for drivers.
There have been about 10,000 canceled DASH routes a month over the past two years, or an average of 15% of scheduled trips, an LADOT representative told the City Council's Transportation Committee last month.
This is part of a nationwide trend in which 96% of 190 transit agencies across the country reported a workforce shortage, according to a motion filed by Council President Paul Krekorian last month.
Though ridership on downtown routes has recovered to 75% of prepandemic levels, the midcity route is missing about a quarter of the drivers necessary to run at full service. As a result, there are longer wait times and LADOT does not have the ability to meet its expansion goals.
Additionally, the city's transit service contracts were last approved in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Those wages are now among the lowest in Southern California for transit operations.
LADOT contracts out the operation of the city's transit services — DASH, Commuter Express, Cityride and LA now — through five separate contracts.
The lack of drivers may lead to delaying a number of council-approved initiatives under the Transit Services Analysis, including aligning routes citywide, creating new DASH routes and adding more community DASH routes, according to Krekorian's motion.