Lafayette bus riders are experiencing long waits due shortage of available bus drivers.

LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- Lafayette bus riders are experiencing long waits due shortage of available bus drivers.

62-year-old Ronald Dural says he waited for the bus after being dropped here from working as a crossing guard at Alice Boucher Elementary School. He says while the wait was long, the concern is more so because there are not enough drivers to manage the routes people are used to.

"You have people sitting at bus stops, two hours waiting for a bus, okay, because they don't know what time to get there. They're just trying to catch it. This is insufficient," Dural explained.

Ronald Dural says he has been using public transportation for about a month after his car broke down. He says Tuesday evening was an experience he says has been happening often.

"I got to the bus station yesterday at 4:00. The bus didn't come until 5:15," said Dural.

Michael Mitchell, transit and parking manager, tells News 10 the transit system is trying to manage with understaffing.

"We try to do a combination of some of the routes, but with so few drivers, it's difficult for us to capture every area that we had to incorporate in some of the daytime service routes," said Mitchell.

Mitchell says there are eight full-time bus operators and they need twelve more positions filled.

"That does take time, unfortunately, it's not like we're not doing our best efforts with civil service to get those people on board," Mitchel explained.

He says because there are not enough drivers to get to every area during the daytime service routes drivers are using a nighttime route during the day.

"There are some specific pockets that we aren't able to service in and that may be an area where some people will see long wait times or no service at all."

Mitchell says to make things easier riders need to understand how the night service route works which you can do by calling the transit office for assistance.

"The staff there can kind of guide them as to what time they need to be waiting for the bus rather than just going at their normal time and then they may have to wait an hour because they just missed that bus route and we'll have to wait for the next bus to come," said Mitchell.

Mitchell says they are trying to service many existing routes and locations but the service times might be longer. He adds they are working hard to get more people hired to get things back flowing to what the public is used to.

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