Bus driver shortages for school districts, public transit and private businesses were an issue before the COVID-19 pandemic, but are now reaching emergency levels in some areas.
The Easton Area School District and Bethlehem Area School District are among the Lehigh Valley districts doing everything they can do get more drivers behind the wheel, while LANTA’s paratransit provider struggles to fill jobs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
The situation is so dire in some areas that Massachusetts’s governor tapped the National Guard for help driving kids to school, and Philadelphia Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. said this week he reached out to Gov. Tom Wolf’s office for similar help, WHYY reported.
“The pandemic has definitely made things worse, but that’s not to say that the shortage hasn’t been around before then,” said Ryan Dellinger, executive director of the Pennsylvania School Bus Association. “COVID has taken an already complicated issue and a limited pool of candidates, and made it more complicated and shrunk the pool even further.”
The PSBA represents about 300 school transportation contractors and industry partners. About 85% of Pennsylvania school districts contract transportation; Bethlehem Area and Easton Area area part of the 15% that handle transportation in-house.
In August, Dellinger estimated there was the need for at least a thousand bus drivers for the fall across the state, with exact number varying by district.
Mark Stein, BASD’s chief facilities and operations officer, said he started seeing bus driver staffing issues crop up about four or five years ago, but the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated it.
“It’s not just us” in the Lehigh Valley, he said. “It’s not just a local, state issue, it’s a national issue. It’s tough to find folks to do this wonderful job.”
Easton Area School District Superintendent David Piperato echoed those concerns in a statement he made at Tuesday’s school board meeting. He apologized for delays.
“While we acknowledge that delays are extremely inconvenient for parents and students, our drivers and transportation department are doing the best they can given our current circumstances,” Piperato said.
Bethlehem provides busing to 22 district schools, as well as charter, parochial and private schools, and transportation for homeless students and those in special education programs. Stein needs 95 drivers for each morning and afternoon shift; drivers average 25 to 30 hours a week.
But the shortage means Stein and other district employees are driving buses right now to help out.
“It’s an important and stressful and wonderful experience, but a tough job,” Stein said.
Stein said he could use about 15 more drivers to feel more comfortable with everyday staffing. Information on applying for a Bethlehem Area bus driving job can be found here.
The Easton Area School District also needs about 15 drivers, according to Assistant Superintendent Josh Ziatyk. The shortage of drivers leaves 11 to 13 afternoon routes uncovered every day. The district has about 70 drivers now, Ziatyk said. To apply for a job, email humanresources@eastonsd.org.
Some districts may be a couple drivers short, where if they sign up three people and have them driving by December they will be fine, Dellinger said, but “some other folks are really struggling to retain drivers and cover sports runs, and (bus routes) to and from school.”
Districts and bus driver companies are offering incentives including referral bonuses, sign-on bonuses, etc.
“Our folks are definitely being creative and doing all they can to try and offer those incentives,” Dellinger said.
School bus drivers must have a CDL license. The PSBA estimates between interviews, clearances and getting the license, it can take between 10 and 12 weeks to bring a new driver on board. Even if contract providers and districts were able to hire all the drivers they need now, those without a CDL license may not be able to start until December.
In addition to referral and signing bonuses, Bethlehem in July started a new paid training program that has helped them cut down the time to six weeks, Stein said.
The success of the program has been encouraging, with five drivers coming on board at the end of the month, and eight in a training class that started this week, Stein said. That wouldn’t have been possible without support from district or school board officials.
Kids’ safety is always going to be the first priority, Dellinger said, so there won’t be a lessening of school bus driver requirements in order to staff school district buses.
“We’re telling people not to panic. The school bus industry is flexible and we’re working and recruiting all we can. Your contractors are doing all they can. The association is running a driver recruitment campaign,” he said. “We’re working on it. Please be patient. Don’t panic. We’ll get through it.”
LANTA officials said two area school districts reached out to them for help, but “unfortunately, the answer was no,” Executive Director Owen O’Neil said. “We have drivers but we don’t have enough drivers or buses to add a lot more service, especially during peak times” like school drop-off in the morning.
Easton Coach holds the contract for LANTA’s door-to-door paratransit van service, which includes wheelchair accessible mini-buses for seniors and people with disabilities.
The company was already struggling with driver shortages in July.
Easton Coach operates in 17 locations, and is the largest paratransit provider in Pennsylvania and the second-largest in New Jersey, said Dave Batchelor Jr., the company’s senior vice president.
Coming out of the pandemic, Batchelor said the company had more than enough drivers to handle trips, but in the last few months have lost about 14 more drivers.
“We’re not seeing any increases in the applicant pools, and people transitioning from the applicant pool to the workforce pool,” he said. “We’re throwing all the resources we can think of at it: advertising, job fairs, referral and bonus programs.”
That also includes bumping up the starting driver rate twice in the past nine months.
While LANTA’s fixed route bus drivers need a CDL license, paratransit drivers do not need a CDL license. O’Neil said some applicants don’t show up after being offered a job, and a percentage don’t make it through training.
“By the time you end the hiring process and training process, you’re really at a fraction of who you thought you were going to be hiring,” he said.
The Lehigh Valley paratransit program is in a little bit better shape, Batchelor said, while the company struggles with filling paratransit jobs for SEPTA and in Montgomery County.
“We’re probably 10 bodies away from solving the problem,” he said, but as passengers return and trip counts increase, “if the driver workforce doesn’t come back to work, that’s when we’ll experience real problems.”
Anyone interested in applying to become aLANTA paratransit diver can find information here, or by calling 610-253-4055. Applications are being accepted for full and part time positions.
On the fixed route side, O’Neil said it helped that LANTA did not reduce service during the pandemic, so drivers were not furloughed or laid off.
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Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com.
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