Positions that used to be super competitive now remain open and unfilled for months. Lou Foglia for WBEZīut for the country’s second largest transit agency, the days of simply posting a “Now Hiring” notice on its website are long gone. Job seekers line up to register for a job fair at CTA headquarters in January. Woodruff said that, starting in 2022, the agency only hired on a full-time basis. It is not clear how many of those positions were full-time versus part-time hires. While the CTA did acknowledge a pause in hiring from the start of the pandemic in April 2020 through mid-summer, agency spokesperson Kathleen Woodruff said it resumed hiring in late July of that year.Īccording to hiring figures of bus operators provided to WBEZ in an email, CTA hired 193 in 2020, 308 in 2021 and 435 in 2022.

“I’ve never seen this many people come for an opportunity than I saw today,” said Hill, adding that this is what the CTA should be doing from now on if it wants to remain competitive in this job market. He said he was surprised by the crowd that turned up to the most recent fair the last weekend of January. The union president had just wrapped up a talk in the main conference room and was standing in a hallway. Attrition continued through COVID, so they are digging themselves out of a hole now.” “Staffing levels are low because didn’t hire during COVID-19,” said Hill. Keith Hill, president of the local union that represents bus drivers, attended the buzzing fair, his fifth lately. Lou Foglia for WBEZīut is it enough to compete with Amazon and other delivery services that are also scooping up drivers? A walk through the fair showed CTA’s latest push is attracting more interest, even if some observers say efforts may be coming late. The agency has boosted starting pay as a way to recruit more applicants and compete with other driving and logistics companies. Signage at a recent CTA hiring fair in the West Loop touted an increase in hourly wages.

Cta bus driver hourly pay