As Metro faces staffing shortages mostly due to the pandemic, the Los Angeles County transport authority will be making temporary service adjustments, including reduced operating hours and longer waiting times, starting on Sunday, Feb. 20.
The changes will impact bus line 267 and the rail service L line, both of which run through Pasadena.
The Source, Metro’s online blog, reports that the service reductions are intended “to avoid more unexpected cancellations caused by operator shortages.”
The report said service on bus line 267, which runs through Altadena, Pasadena, Arcadia and El Monte, and at least 60 other lines, will be scheduled to run on average five to 10 minutes less frequently than they normally do throughout the day and evening.
“Our busiest bus lines will still be running every five to 15 minutes on weekdays,” Metro said in a statement. “No bus line will run less than every 60 minutes. Service will begin and end at the usual times on each route. And routes are not changing.”
The other bus line serving Pasadena – Metro Bus 501 – will not be affected, Metro’s schedule showed.
Gold Line Metro trains will run every 10 minutes during peak hour weekdays instead of every eight minutes. Midday and weekend light rail service will remain at trains every 12 minutes, and evenings will continue with trains every 20 minutes, the statement added.
Metro said the reduction of operators has occurred due to a “perfect storm” that includes the national labor shortage, attrition greater than hiring, and employees contracting COVID-19.
Bus operators began to leave the agency at higher rates than they were being hired in July 2021. Since that time, 356 bus operators have left the agency and only 207 were hired as of Jan. 27. In December, 11 were hired and 32 left.
The agency has about 3,119 bus operators and needs to add an additional 448. It’s also down 28 rail operators, with only 298 currently working as of Jan. 27.
To respond to the staff shortages, Metro has embarked on an aggressive hiring program, offering a $3,000 bonus for new bus and train operators. Hourly rates for new hires will start at $19.12, and benefits will include health insurance, tuition reimbursements, paid training, retirement plan options and flexible working hours, Metro said.
“Please encourage friends, family and community members to become a part of the Metro team that provides excellence in service and support and keeps our region moving,” the statement said.
To apply for operator jobs at Metro, visit www.metro.net/driveLA.
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2 thoughts on “LA Metro To Reduce Bus, Rail Service Due To Operator Shortage”
What’s left out is how many drivers were fired because they weren’t vaccinated!
After receiving millions in Federal Covid relief the MTA is making still more service cuts to bus and rail schedules????? They cut bus service just last year by nearly 30% eliminating bus routes and making massive service cuts. We are also supposed to use more public transportation, but on North Lake we have gone from six MTA buses every hour to two. It’s more incompetence and bad service at MTA, and no one in our city, or the press have paid the least bit of attention to massive bus and rail service cuts. MTA has lost hundreds of thousands of daily users, and vastly more from filthy unsafe lousy infrequent bus and rail services, than from Covid. It’s bullshit…..