Why Retired Subway Workers Are Getting $35,000 to Come Back
The New York Times
The pandemic caused a shortage of train and bus workers. Now transit agencies in New York and around the nation are aggressively recruiting and hiring.
New York subway workers have been lured out of retirement with temporary jobs paying up to $35,000 for three months because of a shortage of operators to run the trains.
Bus drivers have scored signing bonuses of up to $6,000 to work for New Jersey Transit, which is competing with trucking and e-commerce companies for qualified drivers.
And halfway across the country, the transit agency in Houston, which is restoring service that was scaled back during the pandemic, has offered bus drivers and light rail operators incentives up to $4,000 while hard-to-find mechanics have been offered up to $8,000.
