‘We just do not have the staff’: Transfort reduces services again amid staffing shortages

Transfort, the city of Fort Collins’ transit agency, is reducing routes once again due to staffing shortages.

On Aug. 15, at least a dozen routes were suspended or began operating on a reduced frequency. In announcing the change, Transfort said it was recruiting drivers and will resume normal frequencies once it has the required drivers.

Transfort Director Drew Brooks said that, as of Aug. 18, the agency had 85 bus operators on staff. To be fully staffed, Brooks said Transfort would need a minimum of 108. The last time the agency was fully staffed was in 2018 or 2019, Brooks said, and it didn't last long.

Transfort, like many throughout the pandemic, has struggled with hiring, but Brooks said this is one of the smallest staffs he’s had — and it’s been that way for about a year.

In September, Transfort suspended two routes indefinitely and reduced service on one. At the time, city leaders said they hoped to restore Transfort to full operations in the following year.

Following the September reductions, the agency implemented pay raises, increased hiring bonuses and increased employee referrals in an effort to encourage people to apply. Brooks told the Coloradoan he thinks Transfort saw “moderate success” after these changes but really struggled with retention.

“We're losing most people within the first six months,” he told the Coloradoan. “Typically, what we're hearing is people just finding other jobs.”

Part of the challenge, he said, is that Transfort isn't just competing with other transit agencies anymore because of how many businesses are hiring at competitive wages and with benefits.

“Right now, in the current economy, you can go a lot of places and get good pay and benefits,” he said, adding that driving a bus isn’t an inherently easy job to begin with and requires a not-insignificant amount of time to get licensed and be trained.

Brooks was clear the only reason for Transfort's reductions was staffing. It’s not a budget issue or lack of want for the service in the community.

He said Transfort is again looking at increasing pay to be more competitive with organizations like RTD, the Regional Transport District in Denver, and is looking to add benefits to its lower-level positions that don’t currently receive them. Right now, the starting salary for a Transfort operator is $22.50 per hour. Brooks said the agency hopes to get closer to $24 per hour.

What Transfort services are being changed?

This time around, some adjustments, most of which were either pushing back times to extend service later in the day or suspending service, were made to make it easier to connect to other routes and to accommodate other entities. For example, Route 92 was adjusted to five minutes later to better align with Poudre High School’s new bell times.

The following routes will be impacted:

• Route 6: Northbound and southbound service times will be adjusted to 5 minutes later.

• Route 92: All service times are adjusted 5 minutes later.

• Routes 2, 6, 7, 8, 16, and MAX: Service extended 1 hour later in the evening; last departures will be in the 8 p.m. hour. (Brooks said though it’s counterintuitive, expanding service by an hour on select routes helps with scheduling. He said it also helps commuters who “were having trouble making the connections and getting home” after work.)

• FLEX Express to Boulder: Later northbound and southbound trips are resumed; last southbound departure from the Downtown Transit Center in Fort Collins is at 5:20 p.m., and the last northbound departure from 18th & Euclid in Boulder is at 7:20 p.m.

• Route 19: Service suspended

• Routes 6, 7: Saturday service suspended

• HORN: Monday to Friday frequency every 20 minutes; Saturday service suspended

All trips continue to be free for passengers, as they have been since spring 2020.

Brooks said the city is completing a study, looking to keeping Transfort fare-free, and he expects that will be completed early next year.

The city also offers an on-demand taxi service available for routes that have been suspended. Residents can schedule a trip to or from a bus stop along the route that is suspended or from another linked bus stop or transit center. This service will be available Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. On-demand trips must be scheduled the same day as the trip, and trips can be made by calling 970-225-4831. Call center hours are Monday through Friday from 5:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

What does this mean for the future of Transfort?

Despite the staffing and retention shortages, Brooks said the agency is still on track to expand down the road.

“It's kind of like the best of times, the worst of times,” he said. “We're in this really tough situation where we are having difficulty in hiring operators. But then we're also in the situation where, at the federal level, we're seeing a massive increase in funding for service expansion.”

He said for things like the West Elizabeth project, which could add something like the MAX in that area, Transfort has secured 100% of federal funding for design and is in development with the Federal Transit Administration, which could add more funding.

“We're kind of moving full steam ahead with our transit master plan and those types of projects, but we're also trying to be very cautious of the changes that we're seeing, not just in staffing, but in commuter movements,” Brooks said.

With work from home changing commuter patterns, he said the department is focusing its energy on areas like West Elizabeth, where it knows it will have a dense traffic corridor and “taking a breath” on other expansions it previously discussed to make sure there’s still a need for them.

Transfort is actively advertising its openings on about 14 different platforms, Brooks said, from marquees on its own buses to online postings. For more information on driving for Transfort, visit http://www.ridetransfort.com/abouttransfort/jobs-at-transfort.

Molly Bohannon covers city government for the Coloradoan. Follow her on Twitter @molboha or contact her at mbohannon@coloradoan.com. Support her work and that of other Coloradoan journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Fort Collins Transfort reduces services again amid staffing shortages