What's behind the scary rise in "ghost buses" across the country, and what should transit agencies do about it?

Transit systems all over the country are struggling to hire and retain enough bus operators to maintain planned levels of service. While headways and reliability suffer, there are a few cities that can offer lessons on how to maintain a workforce during the “Great Resignation.”

As of March 2022, SFMTA was operating 88% of pre-pandemic service and added back even more service in July.

New York City Transit’s service levels have remained remarkably strong throughout the pandemic. Crew operator availability remains the agency’s biggest challenge, as well as adjusting weekend maintenance schedules in order to run service that matches strong weekend demand.

Boston's MBTA is facing a variety of safety and staffing crises that are limiting its ability to continue to provide 100% of pre-pandemic service.

TransitCenter’s new report, “Bus Operators in Crisis,” details the challenges American operators are facing, and offers solutions that transit agencies can take to solve issues locally. It also proposes steps that states and the federal government can take to support transit agencies.

In this post, we’re drilling down into 2021 service levels across mode in the seven highest ridership cities to see the choices agencies are making about how to allocate service, as well as to gauge the impact operator shortages are having. 

Agencies implementing bus network redesigns have to effectively communicate to riders how route changes will affect them.