Driver shortage slows county shared-ride taxis

The shortage of workers that is plaguing businesses around the country is now having an impact on Ozaukee County’s shared ride taxi program.

The taxi service cannot fulfill an average of 60 ride requests a day, Transit Supt. Joy Neilson-Loomis said Tuesday.

“We are extremely short on drivers right now,” Neilson-Loomis said. “It’s very frustrating. It’s been very difficult for the dispatchers who know a lot of these people they’ve been dealing with for a long time.

“About 10% of the people who need rides, we’re not able to fill their request.”

The county hasn’t trimmed its hours, Neilson-Loomis said, but cannot guarantee all rides will be filled.

A notice issued by the taxi service noted that hours of operation may fluctuate in the short term due to a lack of drivers, adding these changes will be posted at ozaukeetransit.com.

The county has had a loyal corps of drivers, she said, but as the pandemic has gone on many decided to retire. Thirteen drivers have left the taxi service this year alone.

“A lot of our drivers have been doing it for a very long time,” she said. “They worked through the pandemic and they’re just done.”

While the county has been getting some applications, they aren’t coming in fast enough to replace the drivers who have left, Neilson-Loomis said.

There is currently a core group of 28 taxi drivers, as well as three who are out on long-term medical leave.

The service needs at least six more full-time drivers during the week and two on weekends to serve as its drivers, Neilson-Loomis said.

The shared ride taxi service serves numerous elderly and disabled residents and low-income workers who depend on the program to get to work, Neilson-Loomis said.

“We’re getting a lot of calls but we are not able to meet the demand,” she said.

Because they are a public transit agency, she added, they aren’t allowed to prioritize rides.

However, she noted that many people who have standing appointments, such as those who use the service to get to dialysis treatments, generally schedule so far in advance that they can accommodate these rides.

“Otherwise it’s first come, first served,” Neilson-Loomis said.

Neilson-Loomis stressed that the taxi service isn’t alone in its predicament. The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation recently released statistics that showed that statewide there are .83 applications for every job that’s available, she said, and last year two million more people retired than expected, exacerbating the problem.

“This is a piece of a much larger picture,” Neilson-Loomis said. 

The city is working with its contractor, Specialized Transportation Services, to recruit new employees, Neilson-Loomis said, noting driver wages have been increased to attract new employees and retain existing workers.

In the next four months, a new software program will be implemented to help with scheduling.

“There may be some efficiencies we can find with this,” Neilson-Loomis said. “We hope this is a temporary bump in the road and we won’t have to formally reduce hours.”

In the meantime, the transit service recommends that people call to schedule rides as early as possible and cancel rides they don’t need so more people can be served.