There are a thousand more students this year in school transport Loire Atlantique, in the image of an attractive department which sees its population grow from year to year. At the same time, transport companies have difficult to recruit, the shortage of coach drivers weighs heavily. Ensuring the start of the school year was therefore a challenge for Aleopthe regional public transport network.
General mobilization
A quack from the first day of school. On the eve of the start of the school year, a driver is missing, he broke his arm. But with just-in-time workforce, it was impossible to replace him at short notice. Results : 71 young people from Savenayeducated in Saint-Nazaire, found themselves on the tile but it didn’t last “at the cost of general mobilization” explains Franck Eudeline, president of the federation of passenger transport in the 44. “The agents who have been in the offices have been called back to take the wheel, the same for the trainers. We are doing despite everything when this return to school was announced as being one of the most difficult”.
9 additional coaches, drivers still need to be found
Why ? Because there is more and more requests and fewer drivers in months. “We are in an attractive area, halfway between Nantes and Saint-Nazaire, many families come to settle. Our population is increasing by around 3% per year, in Savenay alone, there are 2,000 students who take the bus morning and evening” recalls the vice-president of the community of commune and mayor of La Chapelle-Launay, Michael Guillard. So much so that a new high school (private) was born in Savenay, and that the territory became one of the first school centers of Loire-Atlantique. “We have 9 additional coaches, but we have to find the drivers who go with them. All it takes is a sick leave to stop the machine, we are on a wire” completes Michel Guillard.
It was also necessary to reorganize the services and routes. The Region relies heavily on its free training to attract new drivers with around a hundred places available in the second half of the year. But the profession does not have the wind in its sails and with the lack of personnel, those who work denounce hours too stretchy and wages too low. The Keolis CFDT is threatening to launch a strike on Friday September 16.