ATLANTA — MARTA will hold a job fair on Thursday in another effort to resolve a driver shortage that has plagued the transit agency for months.
The shortage is not unique to MARTA. There has been a nationwide transit driver shortage since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Atlanta, the issue has caused trip cancelations and delays.
“I’ve waited an hour for a bus that didn’t show,” MARTA passenger Kingston Palmer said. “You have to get up two hours ahead of time just in case it doesn’t come and you can find another way to work or whatever you have to do.”
Luckily, the situation is improving. Since November, MARTA has reduced the number of vacancies from 187 down to 140. Through job fairs and an offer of a $3,000 signing bonus, MARTA has found a group of new drivers preparing to go on the road.
“We've got 150 operators in the pipeline,” Peter Bruno, senior director of operations, planning, and controls at MARTA said. “When I say pipeline, that means they're in their safety, certification, and driving classes.”
That training will take several more weeks.
Bruno said MARTA is on track to be back to full staff by August, but said the authority could continue to lose drivers to retirement or other reasons.
“Typically any given month we lose about 3% or so of our operators,” Bruno added. “So, we've got to cover that, but now we've got to cover above.”
MARTA is covering the cost for the training required to get a Commercial Driver’s License that transit drivers need.
Thursday’s job fair is at MARTA headquarters at 2424 Piedmont Rd, NE, in Atlanta from 3 p.m.- 7 p.m.