Metro Transit cuts bus service to improve reliability amid driver shortage

Metro Transit officials facing a worsening driver shortage abruptly cut bus service Tuesday in a move to stabilize service across the Twin Cities — for now.

By canceling 67 trips across 40 routes for the foreseeable future — about 1 percent of the agency’s daily operations — Metro Transit can staff the rest of its other runs and dramatically reduce the number of missed trips, said spokesman Howie Padilla. The agency has operated 99 percent of its runs, he said, but fallen short of its goal of 100 percent.

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Metro Transit, the state’s largest public transit agency, has been struggling with a driver shortage for months as it operates 130 routes and provides 260,000 trips a day. It has 90 open driver positions, and like transit agencies nationwide, can’t find people to fill them.

Without enough drivers, the agency had been canceling trips on a day-by-day basis, a scenario Padilla said was “no longer sustainable.” Plus, the agency heard from riders who disliked the last-minute cancellations announced via e-mail and social media, sometimes when people were already at their bus stops.

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http://www.startribune.com/metro-transit-cuts-bus-service-to-improve-reliability-amid-driver-shortage/489686391/