GoDurham restores service to pre-pandemic levels and plans expansion this year
GoDurham becomes the latest Triangle bus system to restore service that was curtailed during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Starting this weekend, GoDurham will go back to its full pre-pandemic schedule for the first time since it reduced frequency on many routes starting in 2020. GoDurham has 19 routes throughout the city and into parts of the county.
The biggest hurdle to restoring service has been a lack of drivers, said spokeswoman Brenda Jones. GoDurham now has 136 drivers, enough to operate its full schedule. But during the pandemic, as drivers retired or sought jobs elsewhere, that number was as low as 103, Jones said.
To fill vacancies, GoDurham increased pay to $19.65 an hour to start, going to $22.10 after six months. It also began offering bonuses to new hires, those who remained for a year and those employees who refer new drivers.
Other area bus systems
The steps are similar to ones taken by GoRaleigh and GoTriangle. This month, GoRaleigh was able to restore service on 11 routes it curtailed in September 2022 because of a driver shortage.
Last spring, GoTriangle restored express buses that connect Raleigh with Chapel Hill and Durham after a three-month hiatus brought on by a lack of drivers. In August, the regional agency restored full 30-minute service on Saturdays on core routes and full weekday peak service on several routes, according to spokesman Eric Curry.
“We are continuing to work through improving our operator shortage levels, and hope to be able to make additional service restorations and increases in summer 2024,” Curry wrote in an email.
More hiring in the works
GoDurham plans to keep hiring, increasing the number of drivers to more than 160 by the end of the summer, Jones said.
The additions will allow GoDurham to increase frequencies on some routes so that all of them will run at least every 30 minutes until midnight Monday through Saturday and 9 p.m. Sundays and holidays. It also plans to adjust service on several routes and create a new one between Duke Regional Hospital and the Duke/VA hospitals.
GoDurham plans further expansion in service in coming years, as outlined in the Durham Transit Plan adopted last year. The plan calls for new routes and more frequent service on several existing ones by 2027.
