When the transformation runs out of personnel

Local public transport is in a complicated situation. On the one hand, it is an essential pillar on the path to sustainable mobility, and one that the federal and state governments must build on: without a well-developed, reliable transport system, it is almost impossible to move away from private motorised transport. On the other hand, it is precisely this increasing demand that highlights the problems that the industry is currently facing and will face in the near future: the personnel situation is, to put it mildly, tense.

The goal of putting a third more buses and trains on the road and rail by 2030 than today is not only seriously threatened by the fact that, according to the Association of Transport Companies (VDV), around 80,000 employees of the boomer generation will retire in exactly this period. The situation regarding young talent is also complicated, which is due not only to decades of political austerity measures in the public transport sector, but also to the low attractiveness of the industry for potential applicants. Harald Kraus, Chairman of the Board of the VDV Academy and Board Member and Director of Human Resources at Dortmunder Stadtwerke AG (DSW21), knows the reasons for this: "Young people understandably look at factors such as flexibility and freedom when choosing a career. With predetermined routes and tight schedules, the driving service is often not the first choice," he says. This makes local transport one of the sectors hit hardest by the "new reality of the labour market".

Various experts assume that 110,000 new employees will be needed in local transport in order to achieve the transport transition goals. According to Kraus, this is even a rather conservative scenario: "If we really want to change something, it will certainly be 170,000; at least half of them in driving service." Transport companies must therefore reinvent themselves in order to live up to their role as pillars of the transport transition - now and especially in the future. After all, how can a public transport system be cheap, well-timed and widely available if there is a lack of staff? The VDV sees a strengthening of the personnel and employer branding strategy as a necessary step in order to maintain public transport in the long term and, beyond that, to achieve the necessary growth targets.

This requires a new kind of entrepreneurial creativity. In order to increase their own attractiveness on the job market, some transport companies are making a virtue out of necessity and are proactively dealing with the problems they face. The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), for example, which has often attracted attention in the past with ingenious social media campaigns, is actively recruiting career changers and has lowered the profile requirements in order to reduce barriers to entry. The shortage of drivers is to be overcome in the form of a 3-point plan. In addition to advertising measures that illustrate the company's openness with the help of numerous employee statements and recruiting events at the depots, this includes a significant improvement in working conditions and better cooperation with municipal and state authorities. The efforts already seem to be bearing fruit: According to the BVG, around 650 bus drivers were hired in 2023, 70 percent more than in the previous year. The company's career website was clicked 60 percent more often during the same period than in 2022.

Other transport companies are also taking this route. Rheinbahn from Düsseldorf, for example, was able to record around 1,000 applications within three months through a social recruiting campaign via various channels. Since then, the company has held application days at regular intervals, which achieved a acceptance rate of around 50% in 2023. The recipe for success, as one employee put it when asked, is the placement of authentic video insights in precisely the networks in which the target groups are picked up: For the transport service, this was more likely to be Facebook and Instagram, and for trainees, TikTok. Links to the respective application forms could be found below the video, which accelerated the application process.

The personnel situation in local transport is putting not only the media affinity but also the intercultural competence of transport companies to the test. For several years, the Essen-based Ruhrbahn has been specifically targeting people with a migration background by advertising posters inviting applications not only in German but also in Greek, Turkish or Ukrainian. In addition to simple acquisition, this measure is also intended to ensure that drivers who have already been hired use contacts in their countries of origin to possibly encourage friends or family members to join the company as well. The EU-wide search for applicants is already widespread in the industry in general; also by professional recruitment agencies who recruit suitable drivers primarily in Eastern and Southeastern Europe.

However, there are some risks involved, as shown by the sometimes questionable conditions under which many guest workers were lured to the Federal Republic in the 1960s and 1970s. For this reason, the VDV Academy is currently increasingly looking into the question of how this form of foreign acquisition can be undertaken in a long-term and socially sustainable manner. Harald Kraus sees a holistic approach as essential here: In his opinion, it is extremely important to intensively accompany and prepare the process from the very beginning - while still in the country of origin - for example through further training and language courses. It must also be ensured that prospects are also created for family members who move with or follow, for example in the form of jobs and training places for partners and offspring.

Even if driving operations cannot be revolutionized to the extent that advocates of home office and flexitime get their money's worth, there are at least some adjustments that transport companies can make to adapt working conditions to the requirements of the labor market - or at least to bring them closer to them. This mainly involves the introduction of part-time models, more attractive work schedules and software-based solutions such as digital exchange platforms in which employees can swap driving services with each other if they are suddenly unable to work or want to take on an extra shift. Such models are intended to appeal to parents, for example, who have little time due to care work and often have to take on unscheduled commitments.

However, companies have far less scope for innovation when it comes to remuneration. "It's a balancing act," says Harald Kraus with a frown, because both in his role at the VDV and on the board of DSW21, the financial problems of the industry are constantly brought to his attention. "The local transport system is chronically underfunded, and where there is little money, the battles over distribution are particularly fierce." The Deutschlandticket, "a fantastic thing in social policy terms," ​​also poses a puzzle when it comes to the question of salaries, as the transport companies do not receive full reimbursement for discounts like this from the federal and state governments. Nevertheless, wages are already significantly higher than they were a few years ago, and the collective bargaining rounds, which will resume at the beginning of 2024, promise further upward adjustments - albeit not in too big leaps.

This is not enough for the ver.di union and the activists from Fridays for Future. Under the motto "Wir fahren zusammen," (We travel together) the two organizations have launched a campaign that is primarily aimed at those politically responsible at federal and state level and sees adequate funding for public transport as an essential step in achieving climate goals. The demand: more money in the long term for the consolidation and expansion of local transport, especially with regard to personnel. Andreas Schackert, national specialist group leader for buses and trains at ver.di, is certain that recruiting staff would be considerably easier if wages in line with the usual labor market could be offered across the board: "Creating a uniform fare is nice - but uniform financing is also necessary." In order to achieve this, he believes that the federal and state governments have a duty to either reliably cover part of the operating costs or to provide the municipalities with more money on a permanent basis. The fact that the union and employers' association essentially agree on this issue underlines the political explosiveness.

The example of public transport and its neglect, especially in the 1990s, shows that if a field is not irrigated, it dries out. But a low point is always an opportunity for a new beginning; at least if the challenges that arise are recognized and accepted. The transport companies are doing this proactively and pragmatically and are taking paths that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Harald Kraus therefore sees no reason for pessimism - on the contrary. He is firmly convinced that public transport will continue to be the pillar of the transport transition: "Public transport serves people, it is run by society and benefits society. If we focus on the human aspect, we are moving in the right direction." The examples from Berlin and Düsseldorf are not the only ones to show that it seems to work if you pick people up where they are - in keeping with the core competence of buses and trains.