School Bus Driver Shortage Plaguing Schools And Parents

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Every school day afternoon, Elle Seanor waits for a big yellow school bus to deliver her kindergartner Max back home.

But one day last week, she waited for more than half an hour and no bus came.

"We've got a five year old on a bus, and here I am wondering if he's even on the bus," Seanor said. "Did they put him on the bus? Is he in somebody's car?"

Turns out, it was a substitute driver for A.J. Myers Bus Company, a mechanic, who didn't know the route and got lost.

This was not the first time this mishap happened.

"I talked to my friends and everybody has a story like this. Their driver got lost, their kids got dropped off at the wrong stop or something like that," Seanor said. "Why are we contracting with these companies if they're making mistakes? What are they doing about it?"

School bus companies will tell you it is not their fault. Most are operating with skeleton crews and when drivers call-off, substitutes who don't know the routes are asked to step in.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter

"I have mechanics who are qualified. It's a family-owned business, I have my children driving. You have to pull from every which way," Fred Kline, owner of AKS Transportation in Etna, told KDKA's Andy Sheehan.

The real problem is a nationwide shortage of school bus drivers. The companies are perpetually understaffed because it is harder and harder to get a license to drive a school bus. New clearances and background checks are needed from police and child welfare.

Fred Kline owns one of four school bus companies KDKA interviewed who say they face a continual shortage of certified drivers, and that the pool is getting even shallower. Where in the past, retirees would get their CDL and work part-time as school bus drivers, now they don't seem to want the job or the aggravation.

"You've got a lot of unruly kids, and you got one bus driver for 75 kids. It's hard to control any more."

Kline would like the school districts to hire monitors to keep order on the buses so the drivers can drive, but that means money the district may not have.

Now Seanor puts a GPS in Max's backpack so at least she knows where he is at all times.