NJ Transit needs bus drivers. To compete with Amazon, it’s doling out sign-on bonuses

By Larry Higgs

Source: NJ.com

A day doesn’t go by without alerts from NJ Transit that a bus run in South Jersey has been canceled because no drivers are available.

If riders want to know why, they only have to look at the proliferation of Amazon, UPS and Fed Ex trucks on their block dropping off packages.

The agency isn’t alone in the hunt for drivers with a coveted Commercial Driver’s License. New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has canceled bus trips due to a driver shortage and a lack of qualified tank truck drivers was credited for a spike in gas prices earlier this spring.

So, the agency is hoping some cold cash will be an incentive to pilot its buses.

NJ Transit is offering a $6,000 signing bonus for drivers with commercial driver’s licenses and $3,000 for drivers who applied for a CDL permit, said Michael Kilcoyne, NJ Transit bus operations general manager.

“In the Southern Division, it is a challenge recruiting bus operators,” he said.

Similar to school bus operators, NJ Transit is competing for drivers with a Commercial Driver’s License with trucking and package delivery drivers, including internet based shopping websites, said Jim Smith, an NJ Transit spokesman. The issue has particularly hit the less populated southern section of the state, he said.

“The concentration of applicants is less dense in the southern part of the state,” Smith said. “We are also competing in the south heavily with delivery services and the Philadelphia job center.”

Other regional agencies, such as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority are advertising for bus drivers, too.

NJ Transit’s hiring bonus of $6,000 — which is a resumed, pre-pandemic perk — is for drivers who have a Class B or A CDL with air brake and passenger endorsements, said Smith. The $3,000 is for CDL candidates with a permit who passed the written tests for general knowledge and air brake and passenger endorsements and awaiting a road test to get their CDL.

“The bonus program was very successful when we ran it pre-pandemic,” Smith said. “We hired 308 operators under the program and 272 remain employed.”

Half the sign-on bonus is paid in 6 months and the remainder after one year of service, he said. Applicants can apply online.

Some private bus companies, such as Academy Bus, are offering signing bonuses, as well. Academy is offering a $5,000 signing bonus for bus drivers at two New Jersey locations, if they have the appropriate CDL, according to a company ad.

“NJ Transit trains the operators and takes them for the road test at NJ Transit’s Howell facility where the agency has agreements with MVC to conduct road tests on that site for candidates,” Smith said.

NJ Transit has worked with the MVC on other events.

“We teamed with the Motor Vehicle Commission to host a CDL event at the Ferry Street bus terminal,” Kilcoyne said.

NJ Transit went on an initial hiring blitz in 2018 to fill vacancies in its rail and bus operations.

“We have hired over 1,000 operators since January of 2018,” Smith said. Bus operations has 3,184 assignments for operators to pick from and 3,257 drivers are currently employed, he said.

“The number of additional operators needed is a factor of the absenteeism of operators, who are currently unavailable for a variety of reasons such as FMLA (Family Leave), short and long term disability, workers compensation, and pandemic related absences,” Smith said.

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Larry Higgs may be reached at [email protected]

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