Since Monday, bus schedules have changed on the Citéline network, in Thionvillois and in the Fensch valley. Three lines are deleted and some plots have been modified.
“It is mainly due to a chronic lack of staff. It is linked to a shortage of drivers at the national level, exacerbated by the proximity of Luxembourg which is looking for a lot of drivers and which sometimes hires them with higher rates than in France”explains Michel Madinier, the director of Keolis, the operator of the network.
There are currently about 60 conductors missing to make the network work properly. “Now, we train regularly. There are few candidates on the job market. So we recruit staff with B permits and we train them directly. We hope that in the long term, we will be able to compensate for the missing staff and to provide all users with the services initially planned”says Michel Madinier.
In addition to recruitment problems, there are problems of absenteeism. “We have taken measures. It’s a long-term job. Working conditions are important and we hope that this absenteeism, little by little, will drop. We believe in it and we will get there”, said Michel Madinier.
“At the same time, to compensate for this absenteeism, you have to recruit and that’s where we have a big problem right now, with this national crisis, with this shortage of drivers at the national level”, continues the operational director of the Citéline network for Keolis.
“Our goal is to transport users and not leave them by the side of the road”
Faced with this new change in transport plan, Keolis wanted to apologize to users. “There was no other choice and we apologize for that. Our goal is to transport users and not leave them by the side of the road. Precisely, this prioritized transport plan will make it possible to bring all schoolchildren to their destination, with some modifications, some additional delays but for users, it is better to know, for example, that two out of three buses will pass but certainly and that they will pass on time The purpose of this entire prioritized transport plan is to regain the trust of users and that they can be sure of having the transport which is defined as of Monday, November 7”says Michel Madinier.
Keolis hopes for a return to normal in 2023 but in this context of crisis, no precise date has been put forward.
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