He likes the night shift: “After 9 o’clock, the city is very quiet.” The 18-year veteran is a social guy who loves the diverse crowds who board his bus-Route 5, which will be reduced in frequency as the D Line from Brooklyn Center to the Mall of America replaces most of the route starting Saturday. Metro Transit bus driver Abdullahi Egal likes his job. Training a bus driver takes almost three months, so it will take time for any improvements to become apparent, Metro Transit officials said. Since the agency started offering better pay and signing bonuses, attendance at hiring events has increased substantially, Pal said. It’s now paying applicants to get their commercial driver’s license, a program that’s unique in the country, Pal said. Mike Pal, the agency’s deputy chief operating officer, said it was often a hassle for immigrants to track down school records from their home countries. Metro Transit also no longer requires a high school diploma for drivers. Current employers now can receive a referral bonus for recommending new hires. In October, Metro Transit reached a new agreement with the Amalgamated Transit Union, the union representing its employees, that increased the base wage to $26 per hour, and added signing bonuses of up to $5,000 for new hires. It has been fervently recruiting new workers since the fall of 2021. The agency was already dealing with an operator shortage before the pandemic. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Instead, normal staff attrition and retirements continued, and very few new drivers were hired. Metro Transit thought there would be a resurgence of both riders and driver applicants as the pandemic eased and enhanced unemployment benefits dropped in fall 2021. It’s 300 bus operators short of a budgeted total of 1,400. The agency needs about 70 more bus drivers and 40 more train operators to fully support the service levels it provided before the December 3 cuts. Advertisements recruiting operators are everywhere: on buses, on the jumbotrons at sports games, online, in print media, and on the radio-including Somali and Spanish language stations. It’s no secret that Metro Transit is hampered by a shortage of bus and train operators. Emissions from transportation, which disproportionately impact communities of color, have fallen seven percent in Minnesota since 2005, a relatively low amount compared to the 30 percent reduction seen in electricity generation. Transportation is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Minnesota, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The reductions also hurt the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Forty percent of Metro Transit riders who earn less than $60,000 per year continue to use its services today, while 24 percent of customers who earn more continue riding transit. The transit system is also now more economically segregated than it was before the pandemic: riders who earn less money are more likely to continue riding public transportation versus riders who make more money. In 2021, people of color made up 55 percent of users on core bus routes and the light rail compared to 50 percent in 2016, according to a Metropolitan Council survey of 4,000 transit riders. Riders of color have been more likely to continue using Metro Transit since the pandemic. The cuts disproportionately impact people of color. Metro Transit officials said they’re trying to ensure that service will be reliable even if buses are arriving less frequently than riders and transit advocates would like. The system is now averaging 117,000 rides each weekday. Paul, will drop from arriving every 20 minutes during rush hour and every 30 minutes otherwise to every half hour during rush hour and every hour during off-peak times.ĭespite reductions, ridership is starting to rebound on bus and train routes, with 20 percent more rides through October 2022 than in 2021. Route 94, connecting downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Several are core routes that will see frequency drop significantly, especially outside of rush hour-6 a.m. Overall, 56 routes are being altered for the winter quarter. The Orange Line, which serves the Interstate 35W South corridor from downtown Minneapolis to Burnsville, will also drop from every 15 minutes to every 30 minutes. Anthony through downtown, northeast, and south Minneapolis will drop from arriving every 15 minutes to arriving every 30 minutes. Service during off-peak hours for frequently used buses like the Route 4 that connects Bloomington to St. The cuts starting Saturday will reduce service across the board (new schedules for affected routes are available here). I just want to acknowledge that’s the reality, and we know it,” Harrington said More cuts “Ridership is starting to come back and we have to reduce at the same time.
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