Durham Reporter

School districts across the Triangle are continuing to struggle with a shortage of bus drivers and are considering solutions to deal with the problem.

"The situation for us, unfortunately, in January is very much where we left off in December, which is -- out of all of our routes, there is a small handful of routes almost every day that is uncovered with a driver,” Chief Communication Officer of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Andy Jenks told WRAL News. “And that's despite what we consider some pretty heroic efforts by our transportation team.” 

Early examples, just since school resumed after the New Year’s holiday, include eight routes that were affected Tuesday, and Bus 40, which serves Seawell Elementary and Smith Middle, had no driver Wednesday. The reality is, a district spokesperson said, that while the schools can compensate for an occasional vacancy, this is getting to be the norm. Substitute drivers or office staff with commercial driver's licenses end up having to fill in, according to Jenks.

"And so it's a struggle, it's been a struggle, continues to be a struggle and we're working as hard as we can to minimize the inconvenience on our students and families,” Jenks told WRAL News.

For almost the whole academic year, CHCCS has had about 30 positions vacant. Raleigh and Durham school systems are in a similar position, with all three districts using tactics such as sign-on bonuses and higher pay to attract more drivers. Jenks said compensation will always be key when tackling this issue. 

Across the Triangle, the standard of pay has improved, according to Jenks.

“Public transportation entities and other private transportation entities are all competitive, and so compensation will continue to be a huge factor," Jenks told WRAL News. "And that's something we'll continue to look at." 

Still, the shortage has persisted, forcing many students to find alternate ways to get to school, with some students not even being able to make it to school every day. 

CHCCS recently formed a Transportation Optimization Committee, a group of staff members, parents, students and others who are contributing suggestions about how to adjust. 

“In other words, if we don't fill 30 bus driver positions, something else needs to change, and what might that be?” Jenks said, according to WRAL News. “So some of the things being considered right now are a change in school start and end times maybe.” 

Jenks said this might alleviate some of the issues the school district is having with transportation, as that would allow more available buses to serve more schools, with one driver working more hours. 

Another option is to expand so-called "no-transportation" zones to decrease the number of stops a bus has to make.

"In other words, how close do you live to a school where transportation just isn't offered because it's reasonable and safe for a student or family members to walk to school?” Jenks explained.

While it's too early to call these ideas options at this time, the district has been hosting discussions on these topics with community members for several months. They plan to share some progress with the board of education, but ultimately they'd like to survey parents to see what the broader Chapel Hill-Carrboro community sees as the best solutions for the 2023-2024 school year.