How many will not answer the call on the first day of school? As the time to resume classes approaches, school transport companies are still short of 7,000 to 8,000 drivers, according to estimates by unions and professional organizations. A report that moderates however the Association of the regions of France, where it is estimated that to date, the lack would rather be around 3,700 drivers and where it is pointed out that the problem affects many others in the same way European countries.
School transport depends on the transport organizing authorities, mainly the regions, and is entrusted to private companies. This ecosystem is made up of a myriad of VSEs/SMEs, but also giants such as Keolis (subsidiary of the SNCF) or Transdev. All face the same problem. When Keolis estimates that it lacks 1,000 drivers across the territory, the company Verbus, which operates in Occitania and New Aquitaine, calculates that it lacks around forty people out of some 450 assigned to the transport of young people.
According to industry players, the shortage of drivers is not really a new phenomenon. But the steady decline in numbers for half a dozen years has taken on a spectacular dimension with the Covid-19 crisis. “For lack of sufficient activity, many school bus drivers have preferred to turn to other road trades, starting with the transport of goods which, on the contrary, experienced a very big development during the pandemic”, indicates Clément Verdié, president of Verbus and president of the “passenger transport business council” within the Organization of European Road Carriers (Otre).
In fact, when the annual recruitment needs for school drivers usually amount to 10,000 people, 15,000 are needed this year, according to the National Federation of Passenger Transport.
Former soldiers, farmers: breeding grounds that are drying up
Problem: the professional pools that traditionally supplied school transport companies are drying up. For a long time, these jobs were provided by people for whom this activity constituted an additional income: farmers, army or police retirees, often holder of a D license, authorizing to drive a vehicle assigned to the transport of people counting more than nine seats.
If these people found additional income there, it is also good because the activity is most often partial. The collective agreement for intercity allows drivers to be recruited for contracts limited to school periods, which can cover 600 to 800 hours per year.
“In fact, school bus drivers earn an average of around €800 per month even though their working hours are very long, point Patrick Blaise, secretary general of the CFDT transports. We understand that this is not attractive, especially since the organizing authorities often choose service providers with the price criterion as a priority, which favors the lowest bidders socially. »
A difference in lesson times?
How to make up for this lack of vocations? In addition to an increase in wages, it is above all the organization of work that must be reviewed, according to unions such as FO or the CFDT who plead for a shift in the hours of entry and exit of students according to their levels. “It would give more work to each driver, which would be better from a social point of view. And that would reduce the number of buses needed, which would be better from an environmental point of view,” develops Patrick Blaise.
For their part, companies also welcome a lowering of the minimum age at which it is possible to pass the D license for certain vehicles and in certain cases. From 21 years old, he rose to 18 years old in 2021. The president of the National Federation of Passenger Transport (FNTV) recently explained that he was working on the organization of an apprenticeship course with a real CAP.