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Exo creates emergency committee to tackle bus driver shortage

The staffing shortage is so severe that Exo is using a scheduling app to inform clients when bus lines are expected to be cancelled.

An Exo committee with convene to find a way to attract more bus drivers.
An Exo committee with convene to find a way to attract more bus drivers. Photo by John Kenney /Montreal Gazette

Exo, which oversees commuter-rail and bus services on the North and South Shores of Montreal, has created an emergency committee to come up with a plan to hire more personnel. Its operations have been disrupted by a Quebec-wide labour shortage that has resulted in a lack of drivers to staff its 229 bus routes.

The committee is composed of area mayors, local transportation managers, provincial Labour Ministry representatives and the Fédération des chambres de commerce du Québec. It is expected to convene on Tuesday to begin coming up with a plan to attract more drivers.

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The staffing shortage is so severe that Exo is using a scheduling app to inform clients when bus lines are expected to be cancelled.

In a statement made public Tuesday, Exo said that once the Quebec election is settled Oct. 3 the plan will be presented to whomever is given the Transport Ministry portfolio “at the moment they are nominated. The courses of action that will be discussed concern productivity and efficiency, recruitment and retention of personnel as well as training and immigration.”

Sylvain Yelle, director-general of Exo, said: “We believe that collectively we can find lasting solutions to continue to efficiently transport our customers. Each of the actors consulted possesses part of the solution. It is (by working) together that we will have the most power (to deal) with this issue.”

  1. Quebec transport minister François Bonnardel.

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  2. Sylvain Yelle is the executive director of Exo, the commuter train authority for the Greater Montreal region.

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  3. Québec Solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois speaks during a leaders debate in Montreal Sept. 22, 2022. Quebecers go to the polls Oct. 3.

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