the MBTA started cutting bus service due to a driver shortage resulting from a long-term retirement trend accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic in Massachusetts. Despite paying for training to get a commercial driver's license and offering a $4,500 signing bonus, it ended the year short about 350 drivers, plus about 400 more needed to increase service to implement a proposed bus network redesign. Experts said the shortage was caused by the failure to raise the starting hourly wage, and offer new hires full-time work instead of forcing all of them to start part-time. Drivers were also unhappy about lack of access to bathrooms and "split shifts" with unpaid time between morning and evening rush hour that was too short to go home. Fleet Active fleet This is the current bus roster for the MBTA . All buses are wide; most buses are length, while 118 are articulated buses. Future In November 2020, the MBTA exercised a contract option for 45 additional 60-foot hybrid buses with extended battery range (similar to test bus #1294) to replace the dual-mode Silver Line fleet. The buses will be delivered in 2022. The MBTA may begin a phased 500-bus order in 2021, with delivery from 2022–2026. Under that plan, the agency would establish a continuous procurement process with 100 new buses per year, and buses retired after 12 years. Facilities MBTA buses are operated out of eight facilities. The MBTA plans to replace Quincy Garage with a larger facility near Quincy Adams station. The parcel was purchased for $38.2 million in March 2021. Bids in May 2022 came in higher than expected – $360 million versus $280 million – prompting the MBTA to switch to Construction Management at Risk bidding for the project. A replacement of Arborway Garage on-site is planned for 2027. In July 2022, the MBTA indicated plans to purchase an adjacent parcel to expand Southampton Garage. Private buses Most local bus routes in Massachusetts outside the immediate MBTA operating area are operated by the state's other regional transit authorities (RTAs). However, some routes that connect with MBTA bus or subway service are operated by outside private contractors with partial subsidy by the MBTA. Five routes – the , /, , and – are numbered like other MBTA buses. The five routes are primarily commuter routes which connect with other MBTA services at their inbound terminals. They were taken over from various private