Bus service shrinks in Montgomery County amid Omicron, uncompetitive salaries

Montgomery County, Maryland is one of scores of jurisdictions across the country facing bus driver shortages. On January 16, the county was forced to shrink bus service by 9% due to drivers sickened or exposed to COVID-19. These are the very buses that service workers, deemed essential, depend upon to get to work and those without cars to access services. Beyond the pandemic, however, salaries that some say are uncompetitive compared to other transit agencies are another factor in the bus-driver shortage, part of a broader national trend known as the “great resignation” that’s causing service workers everywhere to leave their jobs.

The problem is wages inadequate to the county’s high cost-of-living, exacerbated by the stressful and dangerous work conditions of the pandemic, Ride On Transit Coordinator Clint Sobratti told me. A bus driver for ten years, Sobratti is also the shop steward for union Local 1994, as well as a candidate for state delegate in District 39. Fortunately, the county council is discussing a bill to dramatically raise driver salaries, a decision with potent consequences for the future of transit in the county. Here’s what we know so far.

Montgomery County service oscillates

Before January 16, bus service in Montgomery County had improved to 89% of pre-pandemic levels, but is now back down to 80%, according to Dan Hibbert, Chief, Division of Transit Services, Montgomery County Department of Transportation (MCDOT). For instance, Route 48 (the bus I most often take) now often has a full half hour between buses, although the highly used Route 55 is able to maintain 15-minute headways. Service on the express bus 101 has been temporarily eliminated, while the Flash bus rapid transit is maintaining weekend schedules only. These cuts will make life a bit more difficult for service workers and others who depend on the buses.

The reductions are necessary due to a reduced driver workforce. The county is budgeted for 705 bus drivers and has about 639 on the payroll, said Hibbert, with 50 or 60 of these drivers out with COVID-19.

“November and December have been one of the worst periods I’ve seen in a long time,” Sobratti said. “We actually lost a lot of drivers.” He added that the cold weather and long workdays (some lasting up to 14 hours) have exhausted many. An undersized workforce was making it impossible to maintain buses at the previous schedule, leading to frustrating delays, and customer complaints.

While the pandemic is the immediate cause of the cutback, MCDOT had been losing drivers to other agencies, primarily WMATA, said Sobratti. He pointed out that the issue is wages.

Indeed, a market compatibility study shows that MCDOT bus operators earn an annual (year 1) salary of $45,776 compared to $53,063 for WMATA bus operators.

Also, while it takes MCDOT operators 24 years to reach a peak salary of $75,526, WMATA operators surpass that salary by year six (they reach their own peak salary of $81,490 in 22 years).

“Morale is down” among Ride On drivers, said Sobratti. “We feel like we’re underpaid and undervalued, underappreciated, so that’s why we have such a big push to try to get a wage increase, because we do the same job as WMATA, but we get paid less.”

A history of good labor relations

Sobratti did praise the way MCDOT handles relationships with workers and optimizes work conditions. Throughout the pandemic, there was constant communication between the agency, the union, and bus operators, he said.

Rider and operator safety was also a priority. “Every single bus has a barrier that the operators sit in; we provide masks on the buses every single day,” Hibbert said, adding that Montgomery was the first in the region to provide free masks. Buses are also cleaned twice a day, and ventilation systems are state of the art.

Hibbert also pointed to the long-term opportunities the county provides bus drivers; “we strongly promote from within, and it’s a great career path,” everything from transit coordinator to depot chief to human relations to safety. Many drivers remain for 20 or 30 years, which “helps to improve morale because people see an opportunity that they can grow with the county.”

The road forward is through higher salaries

Salaries are the main issue confronting a workforce with an already difficult job further complicated by a pandemic. However, it is the county council, not MCDOT, that decides on bus driver salaries. To compete with other agencies, and the huge rise in delivery jobs, County Executive Marc Elrich has asked for a supplemental appropriation of $8,631,001 for which the county council is scheduled to begin public hearings on February 1. The bill would raise starting salaries by $2,400, salaries after seven years by $15,000, and salaries after 25 years by $5,000, creating a career path comparable to WMATA.

Meanwhile, MCDOT is planning and hoping to restore full service. “We’re going to get back to our 99% level by this springtime, if all goes well,” Hibbert said.

When that happens, the next steps will be to implement the county’s ambitious series of reforms—the Flash BRT network, electric buses, the experimental Flex buses, and a Ride On Reimagined plan. “The world has changed, and we need to adapt to those changes,” said Hibbert.

To reinvigorate Montgomery County bus service for the twenty-first century, drivers will be the key. Said Sobratti: “In order to have the ambitious goals actually come to fruition, you have to first pay the drivers what they need.”