School Transportation: Lessons Learned and Future Preparedness

Most of us cite 2020, the year of COVID-19, as the beginning of the school transportation driver shortage. Yes, the current school bus driver shortage is making global headlines, but student transportation industry issues have always existed.

In 1950, seven million children were transported in 115,000 school buses.
Fifty years later, 448,307 school buses transported 22,675,116 children
more than 3,788,427,941 miles to and from public schools. -History of Pupil Transportation

At the beginning of this century, student transportation issues were:

1. Compartmentalization vs. seat belts
2. Disabled students
3. Driver recruitment/retention
4. Ridership safety

Sound familiar? The difference between then and now is the availability of school-specific transportation technology to effectively manage student transportation.

School Transportation Challenges & Solutions

A November Student Transportation News (STN.com) article shares some challenges we’ve faced during the 2023-2024 school year and how they can be better managed. Most importantly, we can use the lessons learned this year to prepare for the future.

Here are 2 transportation issues by which we’ve been challenged in 2023:

1. Bell Schedules, Route Inefficiency

Multiple studies reinforce the belief that starting school later for teens has health benefits. More school districts are exploring multi-tier scheduling to stagger student transportation times. This program can save money and ease the driver shortage. However, it only works well if your program setup includes input from all stakeholders, including educators and transportation managers.

Just because you’re using technology doesn’t mean it’s effective, especially if it’s outdated. Implementing multi-tier bell schedules is complex enough; it requires up-to-date, integrated software. To make your bell system and route optimization work together, you’ll need software that provides real-time school transportation monitoring and performance data.

2. School Bus Driver Shortage

In olden days, driving a school bus was a part-time job to supplement income; usually retirement income. To paraphrase a quote from the ’90s, “When the economy is bad, we have plenty of bus drivers. When the economy is good, we have bus driver shortages.” No one would have predicted a turbulent economy coupled with a driver shortage.

COVID-19 wasn’t the cause of the school bus driver shortage. The pandemic was one of the factors driving staffing issues in every U.S. industry, but our aging workforce is the main culprit. Baby Boomer retirement has been just as problematic as we suspected it might be.

Part of the problem is today’s workforce isn’t attracted to traditional workplaces or roles. Remember, these are babies that began life with computerized toys and games. They want job opportunities that include technological solutions and won’t respond to transportation training that consists of an outdated manual and slide presentation.

Another bus transportation driver issue is salary. Low wages, limited insurance benefits, and almost no consideration for work-life balance are problematic for today’s job-seekers. Marketing strategies and technology implementations will go a long way to solve the driver shortage.

BusBoss Customer Care

We believe success doesn’t happen without careful planning; we have strategies and tools for implementing successful school transportation programs. Our school transportation professionals can help by sharing what we’ve learned from other school systems like yours. We offer consultation and training. However, our strength lies in caring about “making it work.” Let’s review your challenges and explore solutions.

Call 866-740-8994 or contact BusBoss.

Has your district implemented a multi-tier bell system? We’d appreciate hearing about your challenges, successes, and how they impacted school transportation. Share your experiences in the comments below.