Arky said competition among the labor force because of Utah’s low unemployment rate of just 2% makes it difficult to fill positions. UTA said it’s seeing a steady climb in ridership coming out of the pandemic. “When we have a driver shortage to begin with and then we have operators calling in sick we have to scramble a little bit,” Arky said.

The staffing issues make the public transit system vulnerable to delays and cancellations on days when too many employees are absent. In addition, TRAX needs five operators, according to Arky. The Ogden area is short 17 drivers and paratransit services is lacking 13 drivers. At times we’ve had to discontinue a trip for that day.”īus service in the Salt Lake area is down 60 drivers. “We are trying to bring in good people and we are trying to continue our service and be as reliable as we can. “The people in human resources at UTA are working on it around the clock,” Arky said. The transit system has a total of 1,001 operator positions. The lack of operators is most severe with bus drivers, Arky said.

Utah transit authority human resources