New York MTA graduates 45 bus operators

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will be adding 45 newly trained bus operators to its ranks following their successful completion of training and graduation at the Zerega Training Center in Castle Hill in the Bronx on Wednesday, Nov. 24. These operators will help New York City Transit (NYCT) tackle recent crew shortage challenges and bolster the frequency of bus service. This marked the formal end of six weeks of intensive training. The graduation took place as New York City Transit Bus and MTA Bus Company combined ridership has neared 70 percent of pre-pandemic levels in recent days.

"Each day our goal is to deliver thousands of scheduled trips for the New Yorkers who depend on buses to get them where they need to go,” said New York City Transit Interim President Craig Cipriano. “By increasing class sizes, we can move more operators into the system more quickly to help us ensure that buses are running as efficiently as possible."

“Our riders deserve reliable service, and these operators will help address the staffing challenges we’ve experienced,” said Acting President at the MTA Bus Company and Senior Vice President at New York City Transit's Department of Buses Frank Annicaro. “I want to thank these new bus operators for helping provide service and joining our team that is committed to doing its part to help bring back New York City.”

The new employees join the 129 bus operators and 56 subway conductors who recently completed their training and the hundreds of NYCT workers who are expected to be onboarded in the months ahead — part of a deliberate effort undertaken by the MTA to rapidly grow the number of bus operators, subway train operators and conductors. A hiring freeze — necessitated by a fiscal crisis that developed during the pandemic — depleted the ranks of bus operators with many veteran workers retiring or leaving their frontline posts.