Cobb County Buses Back On Schedule After Driver Shortage, Delays
Britt Dumas, vice president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 732, said they did not organize a strike this week. However, he said the union is in negotiations with First Transit for better benefits.
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Cobb County officials said buses are operating on a normal schedule again after delays continued Tuesday morning because of a driver shortage.
CobbLinc operated on a Saturday schedule to start the morning, meaning fewer routes and longer waits in between stops. That was in anticipation of another driver shortage after 50 drivers didn’t show up Monday.
Ross Cavitt, the Cobb County spokesman, said some wait times were tripled during the shortage.
“We experienced some significant delays by up to an hour in some of the routes and a couple of routes were missed,” Cavitt said. “Somebody who’d be expecting another bus in 15 minutes would have to wait 30 to 45 for the next one.”
Cavitt said drivers were brought in from Kennesaw State University and Emory to help pick up the slack Monday.
Jay Brock, a spokesman for First Transit, the private company that runs Cobb’s buses, said they have no idea why so many drivers called off.
“We’ve had no communication from the union that this was an organized event in any way for a work stoppage,” Brock said.
Britt Dumas, vice president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 732, said they did not organize a strike.
However, Dumas said employees are unhappy with work conditions. He said now, the union is in negotiations with First Transit for better benefits.
The buses serve more than 3 million riders a year.
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