Charlie Schroeder, who works with StarTran, Lincoln’s own bus service, talked to us about working with the city’s bus service. Charlie is from Nebraska, joined the armed forces at the age of 19 and attended Southeast Community College. As he mentioned the city’s bus service has had several names over the years and StarTran is the last name it has been called.
Currently StarTran has 106 employees, which is down from previous years. Some have retired or quit. They are in the process of recruiting. During the pandemic, 2020, they did lose several drivers. Currently Charlie is a Supervisor with StarTran. During his years with the city bus lines, he has worked with the local union, finances and probably about every aspect of transportation.
Charlie said that a bus that runs on natural gas cost about $500,000, which is a lot of money if you are thinking of replacing one. They have 16 buses that were purchased in 2006, which they try to keep in running condition, 10 electric buses, 2 trolleys, 24 vehicles and 24 vans. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln contracts with StarTran to use nine buses for students that go between the City Campus, East Campus and Innovation Campus. The University pays the City Transportation Department for the use of these buses. These students can buy a pass at a reasonable cost to use each semester.
Today, have had about 2 million people ride the bus, when back in the 70’s they had only 4,000. The pandemic did change things quite a bit in the number of people who rode the bus. In 2019 they had 2.3 million ride the buses, in 2022 about 2.2 million. Today they use modern technology in tracking the buses, showing routes, and what bus you might need to catch to get where you are going.
Charlie shared some stories from his driving days. He said you do meet a lot of different people, with different backgrounds and problems. As a regular on the same route you, as the bus driver, get to know some of your passenger’s faults, problems, or even about their family. It is a challenge to be a bus driver because you may run into someone who has a medical problem, and it could flare up on the bus, so as the driver, need to be prepared to call for medical help. Charlie said there is not many assaults between passenger and bus driver here in Lincoln. He has not encountered any fights on the bus, but a few drivers have, and they are broken up quickly.
The cost to ride a city bus is $1.25 each way and if you are 65 or over it is $0.50 each way. You can obtain passes for $45.00. Vans cost $2.50 each way, which many Seniors use to get to and from a doctor’s appointment.
If you apply for a job driving the bus, they recommend that you get a Learners permit for bus driving, then Lincoln Transportation has a training program for bus drivers and once you pass that, you can get a drivers license for driving a StarTran bus. The salary for a bus driver was $28.70, but they recently gave them a $1.99 increase. Many of the drivers can drive a bus but also a van. The pay is the same for both and it makes it easier for the Lincoln Transportation Department to keep their employees.