The North County Transit District says it has finished a years-long campaign to take direct control of its bus and train systems in a hiring spree announced Sunday.
The agency said that it hopes commuters will experience smoother and more efficient rides as a result.
The public transportation agency brought nearly 450 contracted bus workers in house Sunday, giving it direct control over the workers who drive and maintain its BREEZE bus fleet, as well as its COASTER and SPRINTER train lines, for the first time ever, NCTD said in a statement.
Financial challenges had previously forced the transit district to contract outside employees for its bus, train and track teams while riders complained of staffing shortages, infrequent service and slow commutes.
The wave of new hires, which includes bus drivers, traffic controllers, and maintenance technicians, caps off the transit district’s effort to make commutes more efficient by bringing hundreds of contracted workers in house. The transit district already hired on previously outsourced workers for its sprawling train system in 2022 and 2023 after the agency’s finances improved.
“Bringing our bus operations in-house is a pivotal step in strengthening the service we provide to our customers and reinforcing the culture we want to build within our organization,” Chief Operating Officer Lilia Montoya said.
“This transition allows us to deliver a more consistent, responsive, and customer-focused experience, while also creating a warm, welcoming environment for our team members.”
The agency said completion of this insourcing campaign marks a “major milestone” for the transit district, which stopped directly hiring its bus workers in 2008 to avoid “significant service cuts.” The agency never had direct control over its train workers until it started bringing them in-house three years ago.
After the effects of the pandemic slashed ridership, the transit district has been seeing a rebound in recent years. Now that the agency is directly managing its workers, the transit district hopes that riders will have smoother commutes.
“By aligning our operations more closely with our agency values, we are investing in both the people who power our service and the communities we serve every day,” Montoya said.
The transit district’s BREEZE system provides buses for nearly 850,000 people in North San Diego County, and its COASTER train is a transit lifeline for commuters going along the coast between Oceanside and San Diego. The agency’s inland train line, SPRINTER, connects cities from Oceanside to Escondido along State Route 78.
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