The county’s Department of Transportation announced it would temporarily reduce Ride On bus service beginning Sunday, Jan. 16 due to the number of employees either sick with, or exposed to, COVID–19.
“We have not yet fully returned to pre-pandemic bus service levels and hate to pull back,” said Dan Hibbert, MCDOT chief of transit said in a press release. “These temporary changes will be fairly minimal from where we currently are, but riders need to be able to plan. With these changes, we will be operating at about 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels. We just don’t have the drivers available to maintain our current schedule and be dependable.”
“Overall, service will be reduced by about 9 percent from the current schedule,” according to the release.
The changes will be reviewed in six to eight weeks, or once bus operator availability begins to return to normal levels, officials said.
In the meantime, the county is actively recruiting bus drivers.
Applicants must be 21 or over, and will receive paid commercial driver’s license training, competitive compensation and benefits. Interested residents can get more information and apply online by searching for “bus” or “operator” in the job search tab.
MCDOT photo via Twitter