[Colorado-Talk] Service reductions at RTD won’t fully address transit agency’s debilitating labor crunch

[Gary Van Dorn]

Service reductions at RTD won’t fully address transit agency’s debilitating labor crunch
Need for operators greater than what would be saved through cuts to bus and train service

John AguilarJanuary 14, 2020 

[photo caption] Erick Romero, of Littleton, heads into Denver on the C-Line for a class at Metropolitan State University from the Littleton/Mineral Station in October. The board of directors met Tuesday to discuss next steps in solving RTD’s nagging labor shortage problem. (Photo by Joe Amon/The Denver Post)
Cuts proposed for RTD rail and bus service would partially alleviate the worker shortage that has led to dropped runs and delayed service — and increasingly displeased passengers across metro Denver — but the transit agency will need to significantly strengthen employee recruitment and retention if it hopes to solve its labor woes for the long term.

That was the message from Regional Transportation District directors, as they met Tuesday night to discuss the next steps in tackling an issue that has so far shown no signs of abating and continues to give the transit agency a black eye with every canceled trip.

RTD staff has calculated that if service cuts proposed last month — which include the jettisoning of six bus routes, curtailing service on 19 other bus lines and reducing service frequency in several light-rail corridors — were to go into effect, there would be a need for 50 fewer bus drivers and 12 fewer train operators across the district.

But with RTD down a total of approximately 94 bus drivers and 65 light-rail operators, largely because of high turnover, the proposed service cuts would act only as a partial salve to the agency’s unsteady headcount.

“This is not going to make everything magically work,” warned Director Doug Tisdale, who stepped down as chair of the RTD board last week. “It’s one step in a coordinated process.”

Director Judy Lubow, who represents Longmont, asked if RTD is looking at other ways to maintain adequate employee numbers short of cutting routes or frequency of service.

“What are we doing in addition to service cuts?” she asked. “Can we address retention beyond service cuts?”

RTD spokeswoman Pauletta Tonilas told The Denver Post Tuesday that the agency has 27 light-rail operators finishing their training later this month. And RTD has been offering referral bonuses up to $2,000 for new recruits, paying time and a half for overtime hours and increased pay for shift differentials.

Director Bob Broom said RTD is trying to attract workers at a time when historically low unemployment rates continue to be the rule, giving job seekers plenty of opportunities to choose from.

“It’s just that the labor market is so tight out there that it’s difficult to recruit,” he said.

But working conditions for RTD drivers and operators have also been at the center of the agency’s employee retention challenge. RTD’s policy of “mandating” employees, particularly newer recruits, to work six days a week has proved particularly aggravating for workers seeking more stability in their schedules.

RTD Chief Operating Officer Michael Ford on Tuesday said one of the agency’s top goals is to reduce mandating as much as possible.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1001, the union that represents more than 1,000 RTD drivers and operators, has lambasted the transit agency for creating what it says are “horrendous working conditions” that “chase those new hires away.”

“Being a bus operator is hard enough as it is but when your employer doesn’t have your back, it is dehumanizing,” reads a press release the union posted to its website.

The union says assigning mandatory overtime shifts on short notice and requiring employees to work split shifts contribute to a difficult work environment at RTD.

Director Kate Williams took issue with the union at Tuesday’s meeting, saying that the multiyear labor contracts RTD hammers out with the ATU have significant sway over working conditions at the agency and that union officials need to take some of the “heat” for what results from those negotiations.

“It is a shared problem,” she said.

In the meantime, RTD will be holding 18 public meetings throughout the district starting in late February to get feedback on the service cut proposal. A final vote on any service reductions wouldn’t happen until March and the cuts wouldn’t go into effect until May.

The agency estimates the proposed cuts would save RTD $12.4 million.