Nearly 50 percent of transit agencies see filling vacant driving positions as the biggest challenge. The situation already leads to cancellations on buses and trains
According to a survey, half of all transport companies curtailed operations last year due to staff shortages. According to the survey, the need will increase in the future.
Transport companies in Germany are having major problems finding enough bus and train drivers. At least half of the companies temporarily curtailed their operations last year due to a lack of staff – this is the conclusion of an industry survey conducted by the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) and obtained by the dpa news agency. “Maybe it was even more, in any case I know almost no one in the industry who did not have to temporarily suspend a line, for example,” said Harald Kraus, chairman of the VDV’s personnel committee and also labor director at Dortmund’s municipal utilities.
77 percent of the companies surveyed stated that they expect higher personnel requirements in the driving service by 2030. At the same time, according to the survey, it is in precisely this area that they will see the most departures by 2030. Around 50 percent of the employees at these companies work in driving services.
“Our industry has always been latent to staff reductions in the past because funding was often tight,” Kraus explains. “Now funding is in place because mass transit is becoming more and more important – but there’s a shortage of employees.”
Filling vacancies is the biggest challenge
The transport companies surveyed assume that they will have to increase the number of their employees by around 20 percent by 2030 to expand bus and rail services. For 48 percent of the companies, filling vacancies in the driving service is currently the biggest challenge, followed by commercial and technical staff.
Yet the competition is fierce, says Kraus: “We are now competing with companies such as Flaschenpost and Amazon, with whom we really don’t want to be compared in terms of working conditions.” In local transport in North Rhine-Westphalia, entry-level drivers receive 15.60 euros an hour, or 3.60 euros more than the minimum wage. The extent to which salaries in the industry will change in the near future depends on the further course of numerous collective bargaining negotiations.
Even if thousands of people were to sign up for the driving service right now – the problem would not be solved for several months. At Stadtwerke Dortmund, for example, Kraus says it takes about eight months from the first day of work before a new employee without a bus driver’s license can drive passengers around the city. At the Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), the period is similarly long.
Source: dpa – 06.03.2023 – Zeit Online
How many bus drivers are working in germany, when they retire and how many new ones are needed?
As of 2021, there were approximately 250,000 professional bus drivers in Germany, according to the German Association of Local Public Transport Companies (VDV).
Retirement age in Germany varies based on individual circumstances, but the statutory retirement age is currently 67 years. However, bus drivers in Germany have the option of retiring earlier, depending on their years of service and other factors.
It is difficult to estimate how many bus drivers will retire in the coming years, as retirement decisions are influenced by many factors, such as economic conditions, personal circumstances, and government policies.
However, according to a 2018 study by the German Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, there is an expected shortage of professional drivers in the coming years, including bus drivers. The study estimates that by 2030, there will be a shortage of approximately 60,000 professional drivers in Germany, due to a combination of factors such as demographic changes, competition from other industries, and the increasing difficulty in finding qualified candidates.
To address this shortage, various initiatives have been launched in Germany to promote careers in the transportation sector and to attract more young people to become bus drivers. These initiatives include vocational training programs, internships, and career information campaigns.