PLYMOUTH – Plymouth & Brockton Bus Line recently put four new drivers on the road thanks to a hiring spree the company is undertaking.
The new drivers are helping the bus line fill gaps in its service schedule due to a slew of retirements and a lack of qualified applicants.
“These new drivers will help to reduce the periodic service disruptions we’ve had. We still need to hire more drivers but we are heading in the right direction,” Said Plymouth & Brockton Vice President Chris Anzuoni.
“As demands on the industry are shifting, we are adapting to new challenges so we can continue provide the quality Cape Cod to Boston service commuters have come to rely on,” continued Anzuoni.
The bus line has been forced to cancel dozens of runs over the past several months due to a lack of drivers.
In addition to having a dedicated recruiter whose sole focus is leading the company’s effort to hire more drivers, Plymouth & Brockton is also pursuing an array of other initiatives including stepped up presence at job fairs, targeted want ads in both traditional media outlets and online platforms to creative programs such as the bus company offering to train qualified commuters to drive and get paid to commute from Cape Cod to Boston.
“We have to get creative to address the driver shortage,” Anzuoni said.
“There’s no easy fix. We have a contract in place with our existing drivers that we must honor while at the same time we want to avoid hitting consumers with additional fare hikes to shoulder the increasing labor costs associated with what, in essence, is a public service.”
In addition to ramping up recruitment efforts, the company has temporarily contracted with local carriers to fill in gaps and is in the process of initiating a new cancellation notification protocol that would give commuters better advance notice in the instance a particular bus is not in service.
Plymouth & Brockton has been providing service for 120 years, it was founded in 1886 as the area’s first trolley company.
Company officials say they are continuing the recruitment drive, and that the shortage of drivers is an industry wide problem.
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