GoTriangle teamwork and training create new paths to a bus operator career

As the COVID-19 pandemic led to staffing shortages in bus operators, GoTriangle says staff from every department banded together to create and carry out a new recruiting plan.  

The result is a new career pathway for people who want to become bus drivers to join the agency’s ranks. The training program allows anyone with a regular driver’s license to apply to become an employee with full agency benefits while they work to acquire a Commercial Driver’s License. During training for a CDL, these new employees begin to serve the public using smaller “light-transit” vehicles that carry passengers along four GoTriangle’s bus routes, ODX, 300, 305 and the RDU Shuttle.  

The effort is designed to attract new operators while lessening the strain on existing operators and supervisors who have been working overtime to keep service running. 

To launch the program, Chief of Operations Pat Stephens counted on the support of GoTriangle staff from a range of departments who met remotely each week to overcome issues as they arose. They adjusted transit routes and operator assignments, and planned advertising and social media campaigns to alert the public that service would be arriving in smaller vehicles.  

They tackled problems that included finding vehicles and retrofitting them with new signage. They forged ahead promoting the new bus operator pathway at job fairs and planned for recruiting at a new employment center that GoTriangle in April was beginning to set up close to Durham Station, a transit hub in Durham, N.C. And they came up with a campaign slogan: “No CDL? No problem. GoTriangle has you covered.” 

“To this team, a heartfelt thanks for what has been accomplished in just a few weeks,” Stephens said to staff members during a recent meeting. “We have to continue to find ways to attract new employees, especially during a time where there is a shortage of bus drivers. Our front-line operations employees – supervisors, mechanics and operators – are the most important people in delivering quality service to our customers. We must continue to support these individuals in the best way we can. Kudos to everyone on this call for their tremendous support. Hopefully, this works for the long term.” 

Although the outcome of the program over the long term remains to be seen, a review of recent data showed that GoTriangle was hiring enough bus operators to replace those who retire or leave for other reasons. Even as GoTriangle’s goal is to recruit enough bus operators to restore routes cut due to the staffing shortage, that news was no small victory, as Database Analyst Matthew Frazier reported to the group. 

“We are beating attrition,” Frazier said. “We are in good shape to sustain our current service.”