More GoTriangle bus routes will be suspended because of the driver shortage
GoTriangle will suspend two express routes connecting Raleigh with Chapel Hill and Durham because it doesn’t have enough drivers.
The moves come on top of cutbacks the agency made last year in response to the driver shortage. They included suspending service between downtown Cary and Raleigh and reducing frequency on several other routes. Those changes remain in place.
GoTriangle’s board voted Wednesday to suspend the Chapel Hill-Raleigh Express and Durham-Raleigh Express routes starting in early December. The CRX and DRX routes carry about 524 passengers a day, or 9% of GoTriangle’s total, according to Vinson Hines Jr., transit operations director.
Hines said GoTriangle needs 70 full-time bus drivers but currently has only 47.
“Any open work assignments are covered by supervisors and overtime,” Vinson told GoTriangle board members. “Or the service is missed, which negatively affects customers as well as staff.”
GoTriangle did not operate 8% of its service in October, Hines said, twice the rate in August and September.
A shortage of drivers with commercial licenses has hampered transit agencies across the country. In September, GoRaleigh reduced the frequency of buses on a dozen routes because of driver vacancies.
Agencies are responding with higher pay, more aggressive recruiting and streamlined hiring. GoTriangle has 7 candidates for commercial licenses in its current 8-week training class and another 8 signed up for the class that begins in December, Hines said.
GoTriangle hopes to hire enough drivers to be able to restore the express routes in about three months, said Charles Lattuca, the agency’s president and CEO.
Will Allen, who represents the City of Raleigh on the board, said he worries riders won’t come back.
“This is kind of heartbreaking for me. These are some of our most productive routes,” Allen said. “I’m afraid people are going to find alternate ways to get to Durham, get to Raleigh and get to Chapel Hill.”
The driver shortage is already affecting ridership, replied Katharine Eggleston, GoTriangle’s chief development officer.
“We are already losing riders due to the unreliability issue,” Eggleston said. “We have people who are finding other ways to get to work because they can’t rely on the service.”
People can take other GoTriangle bus routes between Raleigh and Chapel Hill and Durham, but those make stops in between and take longer. Eggleston said the agency will let express bus riders know their options and try to let them know when the service is restored.
This story was originally published November 16, 2022 at 5:08 PM.
