EVERETT — Community Transit is on a hiring frenzy, needing more drivers as it expands bus service in Snohomish County.
The agency says it needs to hire 60 new drivers between now and spring, when the Swift Green Line is scheduled to open. More drivers also are needed for the 20 percent increase in the Swift Blue Line service planned for this fall, according to Community Transit spokesman Martin Munguia.
“We need to get people in right now to offer our service in September,” he said.
New drivers spend about 10 weeks in a training class, Munguia said. And classes are usually made up of six to 10 people, “so we need to get started early.”
Munguia said prospective drivers only need a valid driver’s license and a clean driving record in the past five years.
“You don’t have to have driven anything bigger than a Prius before,” he said.
Between now and spring Munguia estimates the agency will hire about 10 new drivers a month — more than double the average rate the agency has been hiring over the past three years.
But that goal won’t be easy with the current low unemployment rate.
“The people who are unemployed right now is a really small pool,” Munguia said. “There are lots of jobs for them to choose from.”
So Community Transit is trying a different approach, aiming for workers looking for a career change.
Munguia’s pitch: “Are you tired of an office job, how about a traveling office with window?”
Trainee drivers are paid $20.17 and receive benefits. After training is complete, new drivers make $23.23 and also get benefits.
Over the past three years, Community Transit has hired roughly 150 bus drivers, according to Munguia. The agency is also hiring for other positions, including mechanics and planners. More information is available on Community Transit’s website.
The agency employs 338 full-time and 12 part-time drivers.
Construction on the new Swift Green Line began last summer and is scheduled to open in spring 2019. It is the largest capital project Community Transit has undertaken, according to the agency.
It will run between the Canyon Park Park-and-Ride in Bothell and the Seaway Transit Center, which is being built near Boeing’s main gate in Everett. The line will connect into the Swift Blue Line, which runs along Highway 99 between Shoreline and Everett.
Once open, buses on the Green Line are scheduled to run every 10 minutes on weekdays, and every 20 minutes nights and weekends.
Along with the new transit center and the addition of 34 stations along the route, work was done to widen a choke point at 128th Street in south Everett near I-5. The project added a lane in both directions for buses and vehicles turning right.
The new lanes on 128th were completed in the eastbound direction in January.
And Tuesday, the westbound right-turn lane opened to vehicles. The bus-only lane portion is scheduled to be finished by mid-August.
Lizz Giordano: 425-374-4165; egiordano@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @lizzgior.
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