Calgary Transit launches latest hiring spree as it aims for 2023 target

Calgary Transit remains confident it will reach its target to hire 800 new bus drivers by the end of 2023.

So far, it has found 300 people to join its ranks.

The latest job posting, seeking 350 bus and community shuttle drivers, is now up on the city's website.

Amanda Bradley, who speaks for Calgary Transit, said most of the drivers hired this year are from the Calgary area although some candidates have come from other provinces.

"We had a lot of people that already had their Class 1 or Class 2 licenses and so that makes it a little bit easier, a little bit quicker," said Bradley. 

"We've just been kind of pumping them through the classes. We have people graduating every single week and new classes starting every week.

Candidates are put through a five week training course although that period is a bit shorter for experienced bus drivers.

Pandemic recovery

Calgary Transit hopes to hire another 300 bus drivers and 200 community shuttle drivers this year.

The city laid off several hundred transit employees during the pandemic when ridership dropped significantly.

Bradley said the city has been rehiring some of those employees but it still has vacancies to fill.

She acknowledged driving a city transit bus may not be ideal for everyone.

"It is a tough job. It is a certain kind of person that wants to do that job, right? You have to have that [commitment to] customer service. You need to be willing to do that and so, it doesn't attract everybody but we're confident that we're going to find the right people."

With the year more than half over, the president of the transit workers' union, Mike Mahar, isn't as confident the city will meet its hiring target.

"They're not going to," said Mahar bluntly.

"The last couple of months have been much more positive than previous but I opened up yesterday's mail and we had three resignations in there."

More openings

Between retirements of long serving employees and new hires who find the job isn't what they thought it might be, he said the city will have a challenge in filling all of the vacant positions by the end of the year.

In talking with other local presidents in the Amalgamated Transit Union, Mahar said Calgary's filling vacant transit is not a problem unique to Calgary.

"It's bad here. I know it's bad everywhere but I don't know if it's any worse here than the other areas."

He said bus drivers are also on the front lines of the challenges an addictions and mental health crisis which has caused problems in transit systems in many cities.

Mahar estimated that 30 per cent of new hires will probably leave the job within their first year as they discover the work isn't what they expected.

CTrain ridership has returned to levels last reported before the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. Calgary Transit said its June statistics show ridership on its buses was running at approximately 87 per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

There was a total of 7.23 million trips reported on Calgary Transit during June 2023.