For several months, a question has remained unanswered: will there be enough coach drivers to provide school bus service at the start of the school year? In Sarthe, the answer is yes. But it took some tweaking.
Everyone on the bridge
Hervé Guillemain is the president of the Sarthoise Federation of passenger transport, and he assures him: all the coaches will be running at the start of the school year. “But by pulling all possible strings“, he clarifies. “That is to say that, of course, all our incumbent drivers on this service are driving. But all our tourist drivers also come to reinforce these activities. All our sedentary staff, whether mechanics, office staff, myself… We all find ourselves behind the wheel to be able to overcome the current shortage of trained drivers.“
The Voyage Mauger company in La Ferté-Bernard, for which Hervé Guillemain is responsible, also employs former drivers, retirees, who are happy to lend a hand. This is common practice in transport companies: “Often, it is a request on their part, to complete their retirement. In addition, sometimes they get a little bored, so it allows them to keep busy during the day, in the morning and in the evening. So indeed, we call former drivers,” confirms Muriel Plaire, HR and operations assistant, in charge of recruitment at TransDev Stao 72.
Lack of training
But why this shortage of driver, which affects the whole of France? Hervé Guillemain explains: “The Covid crisis having passed through this, the training courses have stopped, and we have now accumulated a significant delay in training. Added to this is a rather high age pyramid with drivers retiring.“
Fortunately, the Sarthe is one of the “good students“: “Maybe our training tradition has something to do with it“, suggests the president of the Sarthoise Federation of Passenger Transport. Another track would also be the many part-timers and the resulting remuneration, even if, “it is a first step in a professional career, because there is always the possibility of evolving towards other missions, around the driving of regular lines or tourism“, assures Géraldine Malherbe, human resources assistant at TransDev stao 72.
The recruitment and training of personnel would therefore be a solution. In any case, this is the strategy that TransDev Stao 72 has chosen for four years, and it has paid off: “We now have 260 drivers in place, ready and motivated to carry out our public service mission.“, assures Emmanuel Cozic, the director.
– Agatha Legrand
For this, the company does not hesitate to highlight its strengths: “We are in a dynamic company, which has a modern vehicle fleet, with a remuneration which is higher than the SMIC, a thirteenth month, a mutual health insurance“, enumerates Géraldine Malherbe, assistant to human resources.
TransDev Stao 72 does not hesitate to seek out its future employees either, with close collaboration with Pôle Emploi, but also in the field. For example, the company will move to the Mamers market on September 16 and that of Sablé-sur-Sarthe on September 19.