City holds rapid hiring event for transit drivers

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – On Tuesday, the city hit the gas on efforts to beef up the ranks and it worked. Dozens of people may have found jobs.

“This one really helped me actually get in the door, get an interview and complete the process,” said Shawn Chavez. 

Shawn Chavez is one of several people who came out Tuesday morning trying to start a new career route. He’s hoping to get a Sun Van driver job. 

“I’m familiar with the City of Albuquerque, just driving around and stuff, and I would like to help disabled individuals with anything that they need, getting them to their doctor’s appointments or back home, or whatever. That would be a great thing to help out with,” said Chavez. 

The City of Albuquerque hosted a rapid hiring event for city bus drivers and mechanics. 

Megan Holcomb with the city Transit Department says they’re looking to fill over 100 bus driver positions.

“There has been some challenges, especially after COVID. We did have to kind of cut back on some service this past weekend, just because we don’t have that staff to meet that demand for service, which is really unfortunate,” said Holcomb. 

Holcomb says the department has cut back routes because of the driver shortage. The cutbacks are to avoid driver burnout. 

“This past rollback has been on a lot, a lot of our major routes. So the Lomas route, which is the 11, the Menual, even some on Central as well. So we’ve cut back some of our smaller routes in the past. So now we’re, we’re having to cut a little bit more on those major routes,” Holcomb said.  

Holcomb says the Transit Department is also making bus safety a priority for drivers and passengers. 

Recently, the city began rotating APD officers and private security on buses. 

“It’s very convenient. It was enjoyable. It was very fun. I think these people are so nice. They helped me out so much,” said Chavez. 

The Transit Departments says it offered 34 conditional job offers following the job fair. 

For more information on job openings or to apply online, click here.