Transit Alert – Transit riders should be prepared for possible temporary service disruptions during driver training

Transit customers are advised to be prepared for possible trip cancelations and a temporary increase in crowding on some routes beginning October 23 and continuing for the next few weeks. This temporary shortage of bus drivers is expected to mostly affect service during peak commute times while new classes of operators complete training.

Metro apologizes in advance for any inconvenience. Metro staff will be tracking service and dispatching all available operators to cover as many trips as possible, but during this time, some scheduled trips may not operate.  It is not possible to know in advance which trips may be affected.

Communication about canceled trips
Sign up for Transit Alerts.

Metro anticipates sending Transit Alerts to subscribers of routes for which the first or last trip is canceled, and to subscribers of commuter routes that have ten or fewer scheduled trips during the affected peak commute period.  Transit Alerts include an email, a text message and a tweet.  For routes that operates more frequently, canceled service will be covered by the next scheduled trips.  Customers who do not wish to receive Transit Alerts can visit Metro’s Trip Planner or the RSS feed for their routes.

Scheduled and predicted times of transit service at stops are available in the ‘Next Departures’ and ‘Tracker’ features of Metro’s online Puget Sound Trip Planner.  Intending riders can visit these sites to check on trips that will not be covered by Transit Alerts.

Rider options
Besides signing up for Transit Alerts and visiting Metro’s website, transit riders are always encouraged to plan trips or adjust travel plans if necessary, to be sure to allow plenty of time, and know what their alternative transit or other travel options are if their regular service is affected by an unexpected cancelation or other service disruption.

Driver hiring and training
Metro has about 2,800 bus operators delivering about 13,500 bus trips to about 400,000 riders every day. Typically, Metro actually operates almost 100% of these scheduled trips, but we recognize that every trip is essential for the customer waiting at the stop. While the time it takes to train classes of newly hired drivers, as well as two classes each of 36 new full time operators (from part time positions), may result in a few canceled trips, the result is expected to ultimately benefit riders with more reliable service going forward.

Every effort is made to keep the number of canceled trips to a minimum. To cover service during this training period, standby operators will first be used to drive unfilled trips. Other drivers who are available once their regularly scheduled trips are complete also will be asked to fill in on routes for which they are qualified.

Thank you for your patience during this time.  As always, thank you for riding and for using Metro’s services.