Incentive plan looks to fill vacancies in public transportation workforce in Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, Md. – “What happened last year was we were reactive. We started putting some of these things into effect after we saw we had a problem. For this coming up season, we want to make sure that we’re proactive,” Ocean City Town Manager Terry McGean said.

The town of Ocean City now offering bonuses and wage bumps for public transit workers. This comes after the city council unanimously approved an incentive plan after seeing success with a similar one in 2022.

An additional $500 will be given to any town employee who refers a driver for the 2023 peak season or a driver that stays on past Labor Day. “In the season, we’re one of the largest transit systems moving the largest number of passengers in the entire state. We’re second to only Baltimore City,” McGean said.

“It’s a competitive labor market out there, especially for commercial drivers because it’s a specialized trade,” Shearman said.

It’s a move to retain and get more drivers out into the streets.

Transit Manager Rob Shearman says their goal is to have around 120 to 125 drivers on staff.

For the 2022 season, they only operated with just around 65 drivers. “We’re carrying approximately 2/3 of what we carried in 2019 passenger wise, but with only a little bit more than half of the staff we had,” Shearman said.

They’ll need more hands behind the wheels, as Shearman tells us the town looks to host more fall events. “We have data that shows that bus rider ship and bus deployments both for October were actually higher in 2022 than they were in 2019, which was is the last pre-covid year,” Shearman said.

McGean tells us this move will also crack down on congestion along coastal highway. “The more people we can put on mass transit the less stress it puts on the highway itself,” McGean said.

City Manager Terry McGean says that public transit isn’t important to just vacationers, as many locals who work in town rely on the service as well.

A $250 bonus will be offered for any returning driver who stays through the end of Labor Day next year.

Shearman tells 47ABC the town also approved a 2% wage increase for seasonal employees in any department that return to work for the 2023 season. Drivers starting pay will be $20.50, with returning drivers making $21.00.