Like many other areas facing shortage of workforce, Halifax Transit Feeling the stress of an overloaded system.
Municipality has started twice in this month cancel some trips To try to ease the pain.
Currently, 31 trips are affected, and the municipality says the cancellations will remain in place “until further notice”.
Staff shortages are so bad, Mayor Mike Savage said the municipality had to change plans for the canoe sprint and paracanoe world championships in early August.
“We hoped that transit could play a bigger role in moving the athletes forward,” Savage said. “But the simple fact is that we don’t have enough transit operators to do that.”
Savage said other transit organizations in the country are facing similar shortages, as are many other sectors, such as the bar and restaurant industry.
“It’s a problem across the board. Our operators work very hard on behalf of the people and we respect their work. But it’s a challenge right now. I know that from talking to the executive director of Halifax Transit, they Very focused on this.”
In an e-mail exchange last week, Halifax Regional Municipality spokesman Ryan Nearing said that as staff shortages persist, the transit service will actively cancel select trips and provide users with advanced notices.
An interview with Halifax Transit Management was not made available.
Asked how long the cancellations might last, or if the problem could get worse over the summer, Nearing said they were “actively recruiting bus operators to try and resume full service as soon as possible.” May be.”
Drivers leaving ‘on the spot’
For the union representing Halifax Transit bus drivers and ferry operators, this is of little consolation.
“Transit is so stressful and I apologize to the public if an operator or member of the ferry isn’t doing what you expected that day, but you don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes. You really don’t,” Amalgamated Shane O’Leary, president of Transit Union (ATU) Local 508, said.
“Our operators are out of their choice trying to keep the system running. The hawkers are out of their choice in trying to keep the system running. Trying to do as much work as possible. and you know what? It tends to burn people. ,
After announcing the first round of trip cancellations, O’Leary spoke to Global News two weeks ago.
During the height of the pandemic, drivers getting sick were a real strain on the system. Now, sick days are still a factor, but staff shortages are the bigger problem.
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O’Leary said bus drivers and ferry operators are overwhelmed and overworked. He estimated that there is a shortfall of around 30 to 40 operators every morning which is required to complete the work.
Specifically, he said the yacht captain, deckhand and engineer are working double shifts “almost every day to keep the system running”.
Nearing said staff safety and mental health are priorities for Halifax Transit, and bus operators are “regularly reminded” of the resources available to municipal employees.
“Halifax Transit also encourages operators to monitor themselves and their co-workers for signs of burnout and raise it with their supervisor,” he said.
However, O’Leary said that the workers are leaving the bus after getting fed up.
“I got a message from the employer today that two people resigned on the spot today, that’s it,” he said.
“You can’t tell someone who works at night, to come over the next morning and do an extra (shift). You can’t tell someone who works every day who gets off at 2 a.m. You have to work four more hours today. You can’t do that to people.”
Halifax Transit is trying to improve recruitment
The key to fixing the problem, O’Leary said, is recruiting more new employees.
The municipality agrees. Nearing said they are adjusting their recruitment strategy, and upcoming efforts will include advertising and personalized programs.
“Many external factors, such as labor market challenges, are contributing to the current workforce shortage,” Nearing said.
“In accommodating past recruitment efforts, the municipality intends to provide an in-depth understanding of the role and benefits associated with working for Halifax Transit.”
As proof of how difficult the situation is, O’Leary said that the number of applicants completing training courses right now is not even enough to fill vacancies.
“They can’t even fill the pool. They’re supposed to pull 16 people into the pool. Last class… they had 12. Two didn’t come. One left as soon as class began… Seven graduated in six weeks of class,” he said.
The starting salary for an operator is about $21 an hour, he said, and it takes about five years to reach the top wage rate.
,When I started on a transit, it was a career. This is no longer a career. People are just coming in, getting their Class 2 license and deciding, ‘This isn’t what I want. I am coming on the lowest pay. Due to seniority I am having to do the worst job. I am working nights and weekends and I look forward to better holidays,” he said.
“But you can’t start at those wage rates and expect people to stick around.”
The solution, he said, is more incentives to attract new employees. This would include signing bonuses and higher wages.
Those are the things he would like to discuss in the next collective negotiations. His contract expired in September last year.
Savage said the municipality is “committed” to being a good employer.
“We have talks that we have with Metro Transit, Halifax transit operators. We go through the normal channels that will come to the council, as is always the case,” Savage said.
“This year, for the first time ever, Halifax was selected as one of the top employers in Atlantic Canada. Not many governments made that mark. So we are trying to make sure our employees know that we care about them. We are treated with respect, that we pay them a fair salary and their work is valued.”
Savage said a reliable transit system is “extremely important” for Halifax, especially as areas outside the city continue to develop.
He said there are councilors who are “aggressively making the case” for expanded transit service in those areas.
“We have to take this really seriously. However, the first thing we need to do is have good, reliable transit in the heart of the city so that people know they can get around, that they can get transfers , that they are not going to sit, wait, ”he said.
“We need to get people out of cars, on buses, on bikes, rollerblading, walking, all kinds of things. It’s good for the economy. It’s good for our health. It’s good for our roads.” And it’s good for our environment. Very important.”
Halifax has made great efforts to promote green transport, including a . also includes A now-stopped pilot project to make a busy downtown street bus-only.
Council also approved in June 2020 HalifactThe plan to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050, which the municipality calls, “is one of the most ambitious climate action movements in Canada.”
So O’Leary wonders why Halifax isn’t putting more emphasis on improving transit.
“Every successful city in the world has a successful transit system. Our system just isn’t successful.”
“Our system is failing the citizens of Halifax and it’s not the operator’s fault. Operators don’t set hours, they don’t set routes, they don’t set schedules. It’s all done behind the scenes,” O’Leary said.
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