MIDLAND, Texas — Tires are rolling and people want on the bus, but drivers are hard to come by.
EZ Rider has gone from about 500 rides a day pre-pandemic to about half that at 250 rides a day because of their lack of drivers.
With ridership climbing back up, employees are on the opposite track.
"We would like to expand service, extend hours, and our problem right now is we're low on drivers," said Doug Provance, EZ Rider general manager. "We need probably about 10 more drivers right now to even have a chance, 15 would be better."
This is thanks to COVID's delta variant, the oilfield and retirees.
"Some have gone to oilfield service companies, some have retired, others, they didn't say it but I think they were afraid of the delta variant, it's cutting a path through the communities," Provance said.
As a result, EZ Rider is having to cut slow routes and adjust schedules for the busy ones if a driver calls in sick. They are however growing in new areas.
"The school systems are suffering the same way, they have the same shortage and that's also kind of helped with our ridership. Ector County Independent School District has bought bus passes to help transport not only their students, but some of their teachers," Provance said.
EZ Rider is trying to highlight its incentives of bonuses, 100% paid health insurance and PTO.
Now more than ever, they need both drivers and riders moving in the same direction.
EZ Rider says they are slowly on the road to recovery. They've hired four new drivers this week and they'll be training four new drivers next week. They host a CDL training course, along with study materials to help new drivers prepare for their test.
For more information on how to become an EZ Rider bus driver, click here.