As the start of the new school year approaches, Julie, mother of two teenagers in Sandillon, in the Loiret, is worried about the start of the school year. “We hear that there will be no drivers for transport. Already last year, I often had to take my car and adjust my working hours to accompany them to class. It shouldn’t start again this year, ”summarizes this single mother whose children are educated in Orléans and Saint-Denis-en-Val.
“It’s true, the situation is tense,” admits Cyril Darbier, based in Montargis, who employs around fifty drivers. “But we always find solutions, I remain calm,” he continues. “We have staff on tourism activities who can, for example, come and lend a hand. In the supervisors, there are also people who have the license, and in case of emergency, we can charter a colleague”.
The difficulty, he says, is that these are part-time jobs, with staggered hours, early in the morning and at the end of the day, plus the hollows during the holidays. “We are trying to compensate with other activities to move towards full-time, but it is true that the profession suffers from a lack of attractiveness, and this is not new. “.
To meet needs, the Centre-Val-de-Loire region trained 200 drivers in 2021/2022, and will train as many over the coming year. But this is not enough. “It’s like in the restaurant business, as soon as employment is better, people turn to other positions,” notes its president, François Bonneau.
According to the latest tally, there was still a shortage of around thirty drivers in Loiret and Eure-et-Loir. “Overall, we should be able to provide 95% of the journeys”, assures the elected official. “But what worries us is that we already have no room for manoeuvre. If there is an additional problem, for example a resumption of the Covid epidemic which immobilizes drivers, there will be no plan B”.