🚍 A global shortage of public transport drivers pose a threat to the operation of mass transit. The shortage is already having undesirable consequences for both drivers and passengers, and as the crisis worsens, the consequences will become even more severe.
💡 There are a variety of possible solutions, including the following:
💷 Wage increases
🚏 Improving the physical conditions of buses and last stations
📅 Increasing certainty at work – drivers are aware of shifts in advance
🌈 Reaching out to potential audiences such as parents, students, etc. to increase the number of drivers.
📺 This topic was addressed in a recent webinar by Intelligent Transport and Optibus.
Dave Joshua, General Manager, EMEA at Optibus, believes that driver retention is influenced by four factors: Mental health; Physical Health; Work-Life Balance and Driver Safety.
According to Joshua, many drivers prefer to work fixed hours throughout the week, since this increases their level of work certainty. However, quite a few drivers want the option to change and adjust to various hour mixes throughout the week, based on their lifestyles and commitments (such as students, parents, etc.).
🌈 A variety of roster mixes for the drivers contributes to their satisfaction and increases the number of potential employees, such as parents and students. In Optibus they call it: “Life Style Rosters”.
📊 The driving arrangement system of Optibus allows schedule optimization, among other things, by defining groups of drivers with differing characteristics, the degree of flexibility in hours, and adjusting tasks (driving routes) that match the drivers’ characteristics.
💡 Solving complex problems requires a variety of solutions. In the webinar, two significant means were presented:
1. Adjustment of drivers’ schedules- according to existing drivers’ population preferences and life-styles, and attracting additional potential populations such as students and parents by adjusting the rosters according to their schedules.
2. Smart fleet management- to get the most efficient results out of existing stuff.
In reality, both of the above cannot be completed by technology alone. However, technological tools like the one mentioned can assist in overcoming this great challenge.
🚦 It is clear that in addition to those important tools, governments must take further steps to mitigate the crisis, including funding infrastructure for the final stops and terminals that provide drivers with decent working conditions and subsidizing drivers salaries to be more competitive.