Metro Transit will make its third slash to services in seven months on Monday, but the agency promises they’re working on changes.
Staff shortages have plagued the public transit agency in recent years and led to another reduction of services scheduled to take effect on Monday. In a news release, the agency said it will reduce frequency or temporarily suspend services to 30 MetroBus routes due to low ridership during weekends and weekday evenings.
The reduction comes after Metro indefinitely suspended routes or reduced service in November, after the agency had cut service by 5 percent eight months before. In March, Metro Transit also made cuts to its paratransit system, Call-A-Ride, to much outcry.
While Metro said the most recent service reduction is part of a regular “quarterly change,” Chuck Stewart, chief operating officer of Metro Transit, explained in a community Zoom meeting on Thursday that the changes are also due to a perpetual struggle to find employees.
“It’s about balancing our resources with customer demands,” Stewart said.
Metro Transit is short 240 bus operators, 15 MetroLink operators and more than 88 Call-A-Ride operators. The agency has 789, 92, and 201 positions budgeted for each respective role.
But “things are improving,” Stewart said. The agency is currently in negotiations with Amalgamated Transit Union Local 788, which represents transit workers in St. Louis (it’s also the union Metro blamed for numerous bus delays last summer).
Stewart would not discuss details of those negotiations, but said Metro is trying to improve work-life balance and has offered incentives and shift differentials. Metro’s contracts “compare very favorably” to other agencies, he said. However, he added, “all transit operations are not created equal. There are environmental things that impact the wages that need to be paid.”
The starting hourly wage for MetroBus operators in St. Louis without a commercial driver's license is $19.46 and $20.85 for those who have one.
Yet a starting wage for a bus operator through Kansas City’s transit authority ranges from $24.11 to $32.14. Hourly pay there varies depending on benefits and the size of the bus, according to the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority’s website.
Stewart blamed competition from other employers and the “economic status of our region” for the drivers shortage.
“We’re competing with employers that need employees with a CDL [commercial drivers license], for example,” Stewart said. “Our population is aging. All of those things are impacting the availability of workers in this area.”
Metro Transit has also implemented several new practices to boost hiring.
“We’re laser-focused on recruitment, hiring, and more importantly, training and mentoring,” Trenise Winters, assistant executive director of Metro Transit, said during Thursday's meeting.
The agency lowered the age requirement for Metro-Call-A-Ride operators from 21 to 18 last year. It also started hiring light-rail operators from outside of the agency — a drift from previous practice.
“We are not able to attract MetroBus team members who wanted to move to MetroLink and we still need resources to operate the trains,” Winters later elaborated in an email to the RFT.
Winters said Metro has started forming partnerships with groups that work with immigrant communities, such as the International Institute of St. Louis.
“This is the only population growing in the St. Louis metro area,” Winters said.
As far as retention, Metro has undergone a “complete overhaul” of its training department and training curriculum. Mentors have been assigned to new employees to help them through their first year of employment.
In the meantime, though, Metro riders will have to deal with delays or cancellations of their buses.
The #70 Grand bus, for example, will run on a 20-minute frequency instead of a 15-minute frequency until 5:30 p.m. on weekends, and then a 30-minute frequency until the end of service.
Weekend services have been temporarily suspended for four MetroBuses: #5 Green, #9 Oakville, #56 Kirkwood-Webster and #59 Oakland. See the full list of service changes on Metro’s website.
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