There has been a nationwide shortage of bus drivers, locally affecting Durham School Services both this year and some of last year, due to COVID-19. This has impacted students across the country because of trouble getting them to and from school as a result of this shortage.

“It’s a nationwide shortage right now, but it’s affected us a little more because we changed our start time back a little bit, so we start at the same time as a bunch of other schools in the area too. So currently, our district has been in contact with Durham every day along with corporate Durham, and they’re trying to hire drivers,” said Rachel Burnette, student records clerk.

The school has had drivers apply, but there is an 8-12 week training when they test the driver’s ability to drive the bus. Besides the 8-12 week wait time, drivers also need to have a commercial driver’s license, which is a license that you need to have so you can operate large, heavy vehicles, or drive around with hazardous materials. This shortage has been increased the pressure on bus drivers, whether it be driving more routes, or picking up kids who weren’t able to go on their bus.

“The pressure is immense; we all have to pitch in and help other districts with their routes,” bus driver Alma Maynez said.

Even though the shortage of drivers has made their job harder, school districts still expect a lot from the bus drivers, more than usual, because there aren’t that many of them at this stage. Some students are making their jobs harder at this point by not following rules or COVID-19 regulations.

“There’s more accountability expected from drivers. We need to load counts in the a.m. and p.m., make sure students are seated in their assigned seats to help with contact tracing, and make sure all students wear their masks. Some students refuse to wear it, and therefore causing some arguing and disciplinary action,” Maynez said.

In other districts, they had to provide cabs to get the students to and from school because there weren’t enough drivers to take the students who usually rode the buses from farther locations.

“We did have to hire cabs for some of the out-of-district students because we did not have enough drivers to transport them. The cab companies are feeling the same pinch with drivers. It took me a couple of tries to find cabs to fulfill our needs,” said bus coordinator Laura Sikorski.

This is also affecting students and families who are worried about crowded buses the students have to ride to get to and from school. Some buses have every seat full and sometimes have to move students from their bus to another because there aren’t any seats available.

“That’s always been a tough one for us when we have to double up our buses or sometimes we tripled up the buses if it allows for space. Prior to COVID, we could put many students on the bus, and it wasn’t an issue. It’s always a concern when we board the buses with multiple bus routes and tons of students because of that close contact. That’s why we really encourage students to make sure they have their mask on, and if a student is concerned about it, we definitely want them to reach out to one of us so that we can make adjustments as needed,” Burnette said.

The schools see the issues some drivers might be facing from the addition of new routes and kids from other districts they have to pick up now. It is still a problem the drivers face though because of the lack of new drivers.

“I don’t want to speak for them, but I feel like the bus drivers are getting a little burnt out because they’re not just driving for us, they’re driving for other districts too. I think as long as the kids are happy and staying as they can and supporting our drives they’re okay with it. I think it’s when the kids are getting frustrated and taking it out on their drivers then it kind of wears them down too,” Burnette said.

The school district and Durham don’t know exactly when this issue will be resolved. A lot of them thought it would be resolved in October, but it is still a problem in late November. The schools are trying to hire new drivers to help with this shortage, but as of now, it is still a problem they are trying to work out for both the drivers and the students.

“We’re hopeful, even in the next month or so here, that we can get some more drivers. I know that we’ve added another driver in the afternoon to help with the route. They’ve put some subs on the
routes to help with it. It’s hard to say. It appears that sometimes as quick as they’re hiring other people are leaving because a lot of them are retiring or some of them are changing their home status, where they are located. Some have small kids and have to adjust to that, and some get a new job,” Burnette said.