A bus driver shortage is forcing the NFTA to make some tough choices – cutting several routes. An NFTA spokesman says the situation won't get any better until the positions are filled
NFTA spokesman Doug Hartmayer says they first noticed the shortage a year ago. He says the shortage is mainly due to a surge in retirements and is a trend impacting public transit across the country.
Right now the NFTA is short about 30 drivers.
While 30 drivers may not seem like a big number, Hartmayer says when you take into consideration sick days or vacation, the NFTA often has to decide which routes to cut.
“When you know you have a bus every 10 or every 12 minutes versus one that will come every 4 or 5 hours you're going to cut it where it would provide the least amount of inconvenience and that's to somebody who has a bus in another 10 minutes not another 5 hours,” Hartmayer told 7 Eyewitness News.
Hartmayer says he NFTA has taken out ads, even plastered a poster on their side of their building all to fill the jobs and stop the cancelations.
