Belleville City Council approved a resolution that will bring six new bus drivers to Belleville Transit beginning in 2025.
The motion was passed by council at its meeting on Monday.
It is pre-approved funding for the 2025 Belleville operating budget, the budget itself has not been approved.
In a report from the Director of Transportation and Operation Services Joe Reid, it states that the city consultant’s report on route changes for Belleville Transit mistakenly underestimated the staffing that was required when the Master Plan was brought to council.
Reid says when the staffing hours required were calculated, the consultant’s report included current hours of all driving hours and didn’t consider operating hours that would be allocated to mobility buses or cleaning services required.
“Further, over the years, we also have not increased staffing levels as we have increased levels of service as we slowly extended operating hours, there were no increases to full time driving compliment which has impacted operations,” Reid says in the report.
“We are also seeing an increase for service on the mobility side of the operation, which has impacted staffing and needed to increase service.”
The city currently has temporary drivers to cover the required shifts.
Total cost to bring in the six operators is $464,500 which would include additional benefits and pensions.
The cost will be funded through taxation, with the new operators accounting for 0.2% of the tax levy increase, as well as through the provincial gas tax and transit fares.
Belleville Transit can begin the process of bringing in the new bus drivers starting on January 1, 2025.
