(26 Jun 2022, 1:46 am)Bazza wrote Are these disruptions caused solely by driver shortages? Or is it a lack of working buses?
Across the three main operators I would say probably a combination of the two, but mainly the lack of drivers.
This has been a problem for some time now, more than enough time to to solve it if it was an attractive job to go into as recruitment and retention wouldn’t be a problem.
The operators need to return to basics. And if it means working together to provide services that get people from a to b when they want to travel then that is what they should do.
Judging by the amount of buses regularly parked up at places like Washington Galleries and Chester-le-Street, I'd suggest it's almost exclusively driver shortages. Although I appreciate there's no actual public data on this.
Extensive recruitment appears to have been going on for decades. Certainly in my memory, it's always been the case that constant recruitment campaigns have been ran by the three big operators up here, along with several open days etc. Recruitment is one thing, but retention is another. I wonder if operators are struggling with the latter more than the former?
A lot is said about driver pay, and whilst I'd agree it plays a big part in it, I think there's a lot more (outside of basic pay) that could be done by operators to make the job more attractive.