MIAMI – Employees at Miami International Airport park in a lot that requires them to take a bus service back to the airport.
“I think since the beginning of the New Year, I don’t know if it is staff shortages or not but something is wrong,” said United Airlines Fleet Service employee Salaam Muhammad. “They have a bus for (those) TSA agents, but then everyone else at the airport, we have to share this bus. At peak times when people are getting off of work, you can miss two or three buses before there is room to get on.”
His experience echoes what other MIA employees have said in an online petition asking for improved conditions and frequency of the employee shuttle buses at the airport.
“They do need more shuttle buses, more frequency of arrival and departures and more drivers so we don’t have this situation,” said Muhammad.
A spokesperson for MIA told Local 10 News the same number of employee shuttle buses continue to be available, which Muhammad said is part of the problem, that the current number of shuttle buses feels inadequate.
“We need some changes because it is getting ridiculous here,” he said. “More staffing, open up more parking lots for us, that would help, and more drivers so we don’t have this situation. It is up to your employer if they are going to waive your tardiness due to no fault of ours so you shouldn’t have to come an hour before your shift starts to make sure you get here on time.”
MIA sent Local 10 a statement regarding the issue, which read:
Miami International Airport is going through a period of incredible growth and transformation, with thousands of passengers and employees coming through our doors every day.
Recently we announced the temporary closure of our MIA Mover to perform important work that will keep our visitors and employees safe. To help mitigate the impact, some employee shuttle buses were temporarily reassigned to transport customers to and from the Rental Car Center, which led to increased wait times until additional rented buses could be deployed this week.
When the MIA Mover is back in operation, we are confident it will significantly alleviate these challenges. We are also implementing a long-term employee shuttle solution with the procurement of 18 new buses already in progress.
We understand that this has caused additional challenges to our employees’ daily commutes. We are actively working to minimize disruptions as swiftly as possible and ensure safe, reliable transportation for our workforce.
Miami International Airport