More commuters, fewer drivers: King County Metro struggles to close staffing gap

(The Center Square) – King County Metro’s staffing levels are improving, but the agency is still has a way to go to get back to its pre-COVID-19 numbers.

On Tuesday, King County Metro General Manager Michelle Allison briefed the county’s Transportation, Economy, and Environment Committee on the current state of the department. According to Allison, Metro has added 50 full-time employees over the last four months. However, the department is still 370 employees away from the restoration of pre-COVID-level services.

“This is definitely a movement in the right direction,” Allison said during the committee meeting. “We are seeing that number get to a more manageable space where investments of our system to get us back to where we were is very much in reach.”

Metro was able to boost staffing by increasing the number of new operator classes the department offers, as well as improving graduation rates. Allison said the graduation rates have improved due to Metro conducting outreach with people who go through the hiring program to inquire on where to make things better.

According to Allison, trainees want more commercial driver's license support because the exam is considered very complicated.

In response, Metro is now spending more time teaching trainees for the test, as well as providing more on-coach practice time – that is, practical driving instruction.

This has resulted in a 15% increase in the pass rate.

Despite more hires, King County Metro continues to have high overtime levels, at around 30%. This is the same level of bus operator overtime hours as it was in August 2023, as previously reported by The Center Square.

The department has since shifted its overtime usage goal from 7% to the current goal of 17%.

King County Metro’s ridership has continued to improve as well. In July, Metro saw an 8% increase in ridership from July 2024. Bus ridership in the summer faces more competition as students are out of school and people go on vacations.

Demand appears to be back even as staffing levels lag behind pre-2020 levels.