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this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2023
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It's not just long bus rides...
The buses were hours late picking students up to go to school, and late picking them up from school after it was out.
All this shit isn't a "worker shortage" either. Our economy is fucked from unrelegated capitalism, they're offering $22 to drive buses, but I'd be surprised if drivers qualify for full time and benefits. Even if they do, not many want to split their day in half to drive pickup and drop off
Ya, this is what I'd be curious to know about. $22/hr is pretty good. But, if that only comes with 4 hours a day, no healthcare, and a split schedule, it's a lot less attractive. $22/hr at 4 hours per day would be $22,880 per year. And it's less than that once you figure in holidays and not working much of the summer. So, anyone working as a bus driver is probably also working a second job. Trying to deal with the split schedule is going to make that second job harder, to the point that it makes more sense to try and pickup a full time job at a lower wage. Even making $10/hr at 40 hours per week, you'd make $20,800. That's probably on par with what a bus driver makes for a year at $22/hr. A full time job also would likely bring with it health insurance.
Unfortunately, the solution is largely going to mean more money. Hiring the drives as full time, with pay equivalent to 8 hour shifts (even if split) and benefits won't be cheap. And with the training and licensing requirements for bus drivers, the pay needs to be enough above other options available for people. I'd also look for a solution which involves training people and getting them licensed, rather than expecting them to walk in with those on day 1. From a coldly economical point of view, the people you expect to fill this role are not rich and may not have the resources to get trained/licensed as a bus driver on their own. Even if the training is fully paid for, people may not be able to take the time for the training. So, you'd likely need to pay them something, probably a lower wage, while they are a trainee with the expectation that they get the full wage/benefits package once they finish training and take a job with the county. This would come with amortized repayment requirements if they leave before some fixed period (e.g. two years).
There is also the issue of working conditions. I love my kids, I don't universally love all kids. Some of them are absolute shitheads. And bus drivers have to deal with 20-30 kids while trying to operate a multi-ton machine. And let's not forget the "fun" of dealing with parents when little Todd gets in trouble for smearing shit on the seat. There needs to be an administrative system supporting the drivers. And many school boards are so gunshy about being sued, that the driver is likely to find themself under the bus they used to drive at the hands of the school board.
The long term solution is to have more, smaller schools within walking/biking distance from most students.
That won't help rural students. There are lots and lots of those too.
Needing fewer urban and suburban bus drivers frees up drivers to service rural areas. In any case the vast majority of students live in urban and suburban areas.
They also need to get more creative with who they are hiring and what "benefits" they are offfering. A split schedule like that sucks for someone looking for anything more than part time work. If they can come up with benefits that attract say, stay at home parents looking to make some extra money, that particular split in the schedule may not be so bad for them. But they would also likely need other non-traditional side benefits that full time workers in other jobs might not, like the ability to bring younger children (not yet in school) to work with them on their route. A benefit like that might bring in more drivers and not even cost the company anything but too many places are stuck in a traditional workplace mindset.
From the area. The issue is state funding for transportation is down 84%. As a result what was 950+ bus routes for 96k students has been shortened to 550ish routes this year. It is a combination of drivers leaving for other jobs to no money to incentivise people who can work at the major ups here for double/triple the pay.
The smaller amount of routes for the same population means they had to do something different. This year they used an AI routing program to "optimize" the transportation which has led to longer routes (thus more variables), the crazy amount of start times, and busses having to hit multiple schools in a single run (3-4 on avg). The district is telling us they didn't configure the AI properly while the drivers are saying during practice runs the last couple days, with zero kids on board, they haven't been able to be within an hour to 90 minutes of their final mark.
There's a lot more fine details leading to this but it's all become one big cluster. School is already cancelled Monday and Tuesday also and there was a distinct lack of staying Wednesday+ wasn't off the table.
Oh ... Because of money and federal regulations they don't have gps. The drivers literally have something printed out like the days of MapQuest.
Anyways just wanted to clear up some stuff.
Source: local, went through JCPS, coached in it, have a kid in it