Between Prague and Neratovice, specifically on line 348 running between Obříství, Neratovice and Prague’s Ládví, eight services will not run on Sunday. “It’s been about two weeks now warned ancestors with covid illness and we took the liberty of notifying the customer of this fact. Unfortunately, our assumptions are starting to come true,” informed the spokesperson.

According to him, the company is looking for drivers through recruitment campaigns and at the same time trying also educate a new driver in a driving school. “For those interested in this profession, we will pay the costs of obtaining a driver’s license and, in addition to a certain salary, we also add ten benefits,” Holub described.

Stand across the republic

Arriva would need to hire about a hundred drivers across the Czech Republic in order to be able to replace those retiring. “In Arriva, I think that the number of drivers in public transport could be improved, for example get a driver’s license from the age of 19 for short buseswhen a number of students and apprentices leaving school at this age are looking around the job market,” added Holub.

According to him, the next step is to open the borders for drivers from countries outside the European Union or even change the check-in of passengers so that they do not have to pay the driver. “There is also consideration of replacing the less busy connections of the transport system by calling or ordering in advance, when financial savings will also be achieved,” added the spokesperson.

The lack of professional drivers has plagued the Czech carrier for a long time. According to the TruckJobs portal, which belongs to the group of the Česmad Bohemia association, he is still in Czech transport there is a shortage of up to 25,000 professional drivers in truck and bus transport. There are around 120,000 professional drivers in the Czech Republic.