COTA struggles with driver shortage

Aiming to hire 50 people by next spring

The Central Ohio Transit Authority is working to hire about 50 more drivers by spring after losing close to 10% of its operators since the pandemic took hold in early 2020.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic upended everything in March 2020, COTA had about 700 drivers. Today it has 637, COTA spokesman Jeff Pullin said.

The system wants to bring the number of operators back to the 685-700 range, Pullin said.

“Our plan is to build back our workforce, make our service more reliable,” Pullin said. COTA did not lay off drivers during the pandemic, but did not hire either.

COTA officials acknowledged that the system is going through what other workplaces have gone through as the economy has reopened and other job opportunities have become available.

“Every industry is dealing with some workforce challenges,” Pullin said

“It’s the turnover tsunami,” said Sindy Mondesir, COTA’S chief people officer.

Mondesir said it takes time to hire drivers, usually a four-to-six-week process, followed by nine weeks of training.

Under current three-year

“Obviously COTA cut back many routes during the initial onset of COVID-19 and their service has not come close to returning to PRE-COVID-19 levels.”

contract that the drivers’ union, Transport Workers Union of America Local 208, entered into earlier this year, the top wage for drivers in 2021 is $31.52 an hour, or $65,561 a year. That increases to $67,537 in 2022 and $69,55 in 2023.

A call last week to Jarvis Williams, president of TWU Local 208, which represents COTA drivers, was not returned.

Mondesir said she believes COTA offers a competitive benefits package.

Josh Lapp, chairman of Transit Columbus, a local advocacy group, said the driver shortage has affected service.

“The effects of this reduction in personnel level have been noticed and commented on by riders. I’ve seen it online, I’ve heard it at the bus stop. Folks are clamoring for more and better service,” Lapp said in an email.

“Obviously COTA cut back many routes during the initial onset of COVID-19 and their service has not come close to returning to PRE-COVID-19 levels,” Lapp said. “COTA has cut latenight service on all routes and even in the current service change has reduced frequencies on the major COTA lines. In addition there has been no return of specialty services such as Cbus, Nightowl, and the Airconnect.”

Lapp said that of the services that have yet to be fully restored, late-night service has the most detrimental impacts on everyday riders. “Secondshift and late-night service workers do not have affordable options to make it home from their jobs,” he said.

“We at Transit Columbus understand the difficulties COTA is facing in the labor market, but the many folks who rely on COTA to access jobs and services can’t afford to wait six months more or a year for these services to be restored,” Lapp said.

In the meantime, COTA is making service changes to some of its routes beginning Monday. That includes changing times on the No. 1 Kenny/ Livingston and No. 2 East Main/north High routes, and adding service to the No. 13 Arlington/ 1st Avenue, No. 42 Sharon Woods, No. 44 Easton, No. 45 New Albany, No. 46 Gahanna, and No. 74 Smoky Row routes.

Josh Lapp

Chairman of Transit Columbus, a local advocacy group

“The service adjustment is very minimal. We want to be proactive, on top of this situation, [and] build a service model that is reliable, consistent,” said Mike Allison, COTA’S chief of transit.

The bus might not come every 10 minutes – might be every 15 minutes,” Pullin said.

Pullin said once workforce levels are brought up, COTA could add more service to express lines and run routes later at night.

“We hope to have late-night service back up to midnight,” Pullin said. Now for, example, the last northbound No. 2 East Main/north High bus ends its run at 10:36 p.m. The westbound No. 10 East Broad/west Broad bus ends its last run at 10:32 p.m.

Pullin said the decision to end Cbus service was not based on staffing issues. Cbus was the popular and free circulator that ran from the Brewery District through Downtown to the Short North, attracting 658,775 riders during its last full year of service in 2019.

COTA has no timetable to restore its Covid-suspended Nightowl and Airconnect services.

Ridership has picked up, but is nowhere near the 2019 levels as people still work from home and COVID infections surge in Ohio once again.

According to COTA, ridership has fluctuated month-to-month so far this year, but has risen from 635,026 in January to 718,858 in July. The July figure is up from the 650,153 in July 2020, but far less than the pre-pandemic 1.6 million riders in July 2019. mferench@dispatch.com @Markferenchik

BARBARA J. PERENIC/COLUMBUS DISPATCH COTA buses come and go near stops along Broad and High streets in Downtown Columbus. The Central Ohio Transit Authority is working to hire about 50 more drivers by spring after losing close to 10% of its operators since the pandemic took hold in early 2020.