That and, maybe, less tech.
“Technology has its pros and its cons. When it works, it’s great, for certain things. When it fails, it’s a pain in the behind. Because it’s like, I don’t have a way to go around it. And I have to call a special technician,” said Marcus McKnight, a founding member of the Philly Transit Riders Union and a school bus operator with Krapf Bus Companies.
McKnight has spent more than 10 years in the transit industry, and has been driving a bus for about five years. He shared his experience in the space on a panel with other bus operators during a webinar organized by Optibus, a transit technology company.
“It makes my job harder,” McKnight added, referring to those instances when tech fails. “If I had it my way, I would keep the technology to a minimum.”
Brendan Bartholomew, who's been a driving a bus for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), recounted how new technology to track driver behavior — and report that behavior to supervisors — has the unintended consequence of creating paranoia among drivers.
This technology has been taken a step further where algorithms and software are used to determine if the driver “might be doing something wrong even if we have not slammed the brakes or triggered drive cam. So it’s creating tremendous paranoia among my co-workers,” Bartholomew, a former journalist, said.
“Because we just don’t know when or what might trigger the computer system to say, 'Hey, you need to come look at this video and determine whether this operator needs to be charged with a rules violation,'” Bartholomew added.
This insight was welcome feedback for Angela Miller, general manager in North America for Optibus. Miller has previously served as chief technology officer for the North County Transit District in the San Diego region.
“As a person who puts a lot of this stuff — in her career — on vehicles, your intent is always to help the driver ... . So then to hear the feedback that it feels punitive is the exact opposite of, I think, what any of us are trying to do for your experience onboard the vehicle,” said Miller. “I find it humbling to hear how it might be perceived as punitive instead of helpful.”
Indeed, the feedback for Miller — who was serving as moderator for the Dec. 13 webinar — was unique in its personal perspective. But the webinar event itself was illuminating for its scope. Events like these often feature transit executives or members of advocacy organizations, sharing their own ideas around the many issues facing public transit. Seldom do they tap front-line workers for their lived and personal experiences.
Bus drivers talked about the challenges of working for organizations in need of filling shifts during times not always conducive to raising a family or even getting a good night’s sleep.
Achieving a “work-life balance” is a challenge, said McKnight.
And for drivers starting out, the shifts are not always ideal.
Alpha Puente, a bus operator in Anaheim, Calif., recalls working very long hours, working weekends, holidays.
“I saw potential, and I saw I could advance,” said Puente, reflecting on why she stuck it out. “I went through it, but now it is way better with my seniority and I’m able to be home at regular hours instead of being on the road all day.”
Transit agencies of all sizes have expressed difficulty finding and keeping drivers, particularly post-pandemic. And with the rapid transition to electric buses, drivers had some thoughts about these as well.
“We did have our ups and downs, but now, the transition is better,” said Puente, calling attention to concerns like range anxiety, and making sure the buses are adequately charged when parked.
“There have been some growing pains,” Bartholomew agreed.
SFMTA has been testing three to four different types of e-buses. On an early-morning training session Bartholomew said he was only able to get introduced to one of these buses because another bus was inoperable, making the training session less than comprehensive. The new e-buses have not always been the most reliable, he added.
“There have been times when I’m riding one of these battery-electric buses that’s in testing and, lo and behold, the operator winds up getting orders pull over and wait for the shop to come and fix the thing because he’s getting error messages on his dashboard,” said Bartholomew. “So there's been a lot of growing pains, which I think have biased operators against these buses.”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misidentified the organization that Marcus McKnight works for. That error has been corrected.
