(EVERETT) It’s not money problems forcing one local agency to cut nearly 80 weekday bus trips, and the timing is strange to some.
To clarify, anytime bus routes have to be cut is lousy, but next year, when light rail comes further north, Community Transit bus routes will be added.
So why cut now?
Snohomish County transit leaders say it’s the shortage of drivers and mechanics.
One manager told the Everett Herald they don’t want to advertise certain schedules if there’s no way to meet that schedule. As of now, the cuts are only proposed. There are details on the Community Transit website.
Why so short handed? Driver union president Kathleen Custer says “A lot of that has to do with the vaccine mandate that CT implemented as of Jan. 1. We lost a lot of employees because of that.”
After the agency made the mandate, 59 employees quit or were fired.
