Hobart bus driver in training Mark Reid, on left, opens his doors and checks for trains during a drive with instructor Kim Carlson, on right, on July 14, 2022 in Hobart, Indiana.
“We just moved here — she doesn’t know the neighborhood,” Gray explained. “And the bus driver had kicked her off and told her to walk home.” While the situation in Louisville seemed extreme, many school districts have been contending with a shortage of bus drivers, driven by low pay, inconvenient hours and lingering effects of the pandemic.
And in Chicago, the school district is battling its driver shortage by offering free Ventra cards — which are used for the city’s public transit — for qualifying students and one companion. About half of the district’s bus driver positions are vacant. “You’re kind of tapping into a dry well at a certain point,” Fuxa said. “There’s only so much you can do.”
“Employers want to improve retention,” she said. “Offering a way for the workers to have some voice and interviewing workers as they exit can be a very important way for them to figure out solutions.”