Class Is Part of a Push to Rebuild Front Line Workforce in Aftermath of Pandemic-Induced Hiring Freeze Last Year
View Photos from the Graduation Here
New York City Transit officials celebrated a newly trained class of bus operators as part of their successful completion of training at the Zerega Training Center in Castle Hill in the Bronx. The 58 operators will help the Authority tackle recent crew shortage challenges and bolster the frequency of bus service. This marked the formal end of six weeks of intensive training.
"I am excited to welcome these 58 new bus operators to the team, where they will help move our current and returning customers across our 327 routes,” said New York City Transit Interim President Craig Cipriano. “By improving our recruiting efforts, accelerating hiring and increasing class sizes our goal is to provide great public transit bus service as we welcome back New Yorkers to our system.”
“Riders returning to the system will experience a high level of bus service supported by this new group of bus operators who are helping address our staff shortages,” said Acting President at the MTA Bus Company and Senior Vice President at New York City Transit's Department of Buses Frank Annicaro. “These new operators along with the entire bus team are committed in doing their part in bringing New York back.”
The new employees join the 56 subway operators who recently completed their training, and the hundreds of New York City Transit workers who are expected to be onboarded in the months ahead, part of a deliberate effort undertaken by the MTA to rapidly grow the number of bus operators, subway train operators and conductors. A hiring freeze – necessitated by a fiscal crisis that developed during the pandemic – depleted the ranks of bus operators with many veteran workers retiring or leaving their frontline posts.