Bay Area transit looks to woo new bus operators

Faced with staffing shortages, agencies are looking to hire new recruits in uphill battle

Bus driving has never been an easy job to recruit for. There are long hours sitting down, dealing with unruly passengers, all while steering an over 20,000-pound vehicle through city streets — and that was all before the pandemic brought in mask mandates that drivers are often tasked with enforcing.

“You got to be very street smart and you got to be compassionate,” said Burgandy Barboza, who is among a new class of Valley Transit Authority bus drivers taking to the roads in the coming days.

Barboza, 25, is a thirdgeneration bus operator, following in the footsteps of her grandmother and father. After leaving the job during the pandemic, she is now returning hoping to continue her family’s legacy and enticed by the strong benefits package. “It’s been a struggle for the operators. We’re very low on personnel,” she said. “Even during peak COVID, everybody was still here. We were still showing up.”

Public transit ridership is slowly recovering but many agencies are left shorthanded after pandemic-induced hiring freezes. Bus operators are on average among the oldest workforce in the country and many have retired. At the VTA, one driver, 53-year-old Audrey Lopez, died of COVID-19 in October

of 2020.

The shortages have fueled delays and for SFMTA, the temporary suspension of some bus routes after some drivers did not meet vaccine mandates. Bay Area transit agencies are looking to hire new recruits but they face an uphill battle amid a strong job market and pandemic concerns. The VTA is among the agencies on a full-court press looking to hire new bus drivers. On Wednesday they graduated 26 new operators but are still 72 drivers short of meeting staffing needs.

The transit agency hoped to fill the staffing shortage by February, said Carolyn Gonot, the VTA’S general manager, but now it looks like they won’t be fully staffed until mid2022 or possibly into the fall.

Around the country, transit agencies have increased salaries and announced bonuses to lure new drivers. But attracting operators is a challenge in the Bay Area’s competitive job market. At the VTA, the starting salary after a nine-week training course is $21.37 per hour, comparable to jobs with Uber and Lyft. The salary does increase every six months, and tops out at tops out $38.39, after four years, which is among the highest bus driver salaries in the Bay Area.

For many new drivers, the lure of the job is stable healthcare and benefits. “It’s really enticing with the pandemic,” said 30-year-old Adrian Diaz, who left a job on a crimescene clean-up crew. “You can’t beat it.”

For others, it’s the opportunity to climb the ladder to more lucrative maintenance jobs within the VTA after a stint in the bus operator division.

Managing the roadways and a bus full of passengers is a difficult job that has only gotten harder during the pandemic. John Courtney, president of the VTA’S largest union, said he was glad to see the recent arrest of a man suspected of making gun threats during an online VTA board meeting. “I’m so glad they arrested him from the board meeting . . . but a lot of times this happens every single day to an operator.” VTA drivers often encounter similar threats on the road, Courtney said. “And if you see that person the next day, you have to pick them up.”

Barboza, a third-generation bus driver, recounts being harassed and eventually chased around her bus by a disgruntled passenger before leaving the job.

“You have to be a very quick thinker, there have been situations that I have been in, in the past that were very dangerous,” she added. Despite struggles of dealing with passengers in the throes of a mental health crisis, Barboza said she loves the job and is excited to return. “It’s the feeling of gratitude that I am providing a crucial service,” she said. “I don’t really think the city can function without public transportation.”