Not much news, but an impediment

The quarterly Metro Transit service change March 18, 2023 is going to be a sleeper. Even though we were promised that a hiring blitz would alleviate the driver shortage and enable a return to the better service of the past, it hasn’t happened yet. The coming service change consists solely of minor time adjustments.
For the Southwest Connector readership area, the only change is to Route 6: Three school-day only morning southbound 6G trips for Southwest High School students are being eliminated. However, the afternoon trips directly from the school to downtown Minneapolis will continue operating.
Some people blame the transit driver shortage on the stereotype that “nobody wants to work anymore.” I don’t really think that’s true. What is true is that there is a mismatch between the jobs people want to do and the jobs that need doing. For example, there is no shortage of YouTube influencers….
Seriously, Metro Transit may need to look outside the box to find more drivers. They have already tried raising wages from $21 to $26 per hour and have offered hiring bonuses of up to $5,000 – and are still not getting enough takers. Part of the reason is fear of being attacked by a deranged passenger or catching a disease. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is dying down, some people will take a long time to forget it. Perhaps new benefits are in order. For example, a child care facility at or near the bus and train garages would probably be appreciated by drivers. As to fear of being attacked, perhaps extra pay for driving “problematic” routes would somewhat make up for it. I would say better policing, but Metro Transit has a police officer shortage too, and besides, they also don’t seem to be able to find that balance where they curb unsafe and intimidating behavior without hassling people over every little thing.

Concrete impedes green line work
There has been unfortunate news regarding the Green Line extension just in time for this issue: a concrete impediment was discovered that will once again put a delay on construction.
It is becoming clear that this route along the Kenilworth Trail was a big mistake due to environmental impacts. Ironically, I was originally for this route due to its seemingly lower costs. Now, I wish they had done something like run it down Hennepin Avenue, where it would have served a lot more people and hopefully been less of a pain to build. Honestly, I worry that the problems with the Blue and Green Line extensions are going to kill new light rail projects in the Twin Cities for the next 50-100 years.
Bus Rapid Transit still seems to be the most viable improvement for the near future. The B Line (Lake Street) and the E Line (Hennepin and France Avenues) are still planned, and are way less controversial with less construction issues than the light rail. Let’s hope it stays that way.