Legislation to help new bus and truck drivers get on the road faster being endorsed by City of Fresno

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno's Transportation Director told the City Council he is having a hard time getting more buses on the street because it is taking too long for the Department of Motor Vehicles Fresno testing center to give driving tests.

"We do about eight or nine weeks of training with bus drivers, we finish and they need to become productive almost right away. Instead the wait time in some instances was up to 10 weeks. We can't afford to have a person wait 10 weeks," said Brian Marshall, Transportation Director.

Marshall said Assembly Bill 301 being pushed by Fresno Assembly Member Jim Patterson would allow the city to do its own testing.

"What this will do for us is give us an opportunity to be a testing site-- it's all internal, we can test our people and forward the results to the DMV and they are able to get their commercial driver license."

Andrea Reyes of the Fresno County Economic Development Corporation says the testing delay is also making it difficult for the unemployed and those on welfare to work programs to get on the job once they have been trained.

"The long waits at the DMV are also causing a problem for that because they may run out of time-- because they have to start at ground zero or just give up."

Under the legislation, cities, schools, and unions, certified by the DMV, would be among those able to administer tests. Supporters say it would help put people to work and ease the nationwide shortage of drivers.

The Fresno City Council voted to endorse the measure.

The DMV says its goal is to provide tests within 30 days of completion of driver training.

As to the measure, AB 301, a spokesperson in Sacramento told us the DMV does not comment on pending legislation.