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Driving a Bus: A Very Dangerous Job in a Time of Pandemic

Posted April 2020

The American Prospect – April 16, 2020
According to the Transportation Learning Center, there were already shortages in bus operators before the pandemic; agencies couldn’t keep the positions filled. The pandemic has only intensified the problem and made it more difficult to train operators as well, said Xinge Wang, deputy director for the Center.

In New Jersey, the state has passed a law requiring masks for people in grocery stores—but not on public transportation. ATU International President John Costa says the federal government should recommend that states require masks for those using public transit.

In most locations around the country says Jack Clark, executive director of the Transportation Learning Center, agencies have waived fares and gone to a rear-entry model for buses. This helps eliminate some contact between operators and passengers, but it also eliminates revenue for agencies already hard hit. Clark says the CARES Act has offered some bailouts to transit agencies, but he’s worried they’re not enough. According to the Eno Center for Transportation, $114 billion has been earmarked for transportation.

The typical agency receives roughly a third of its revenues from fares, says TLC spokesperson Kenyon Corbett, and those revenues have now all but vanished. Many transit agencies were already struggling financially before the pandemic, and there are fears that the shutdown and the cratering economy may bring transit in some cities to a very long halt.