School bus driver shortage forcing districts to innovate

CEDAR HILL, Texas — Some college districts throughout North Texas are discovering revolutionary methods to deal with transportation challenges this new college 12 months. Many college districts are coping with the fact of bus driver shortages.

“I’ve been doing this over 20 years. And so, it comes natural,” mentioned veteran college bus driver Reggie Payton. He arrived to Cedar Hill ISD’s transportation yard early to full his pre-route inspection.

Payton is aware of Cedar Hill ISD college students rely on him to get safely to and from college every day.

“You just try to build a relationship. Try to brighten their day. Try to get them started for that morning,” Payton mentioned.

The begin of this new college 12 months has already been an attention-grabbing one for a lot of bus drivers and faculty districts.

“We are currently experiencing a driver shortage,” mentioned Jonquez Moore, Director of Transportation for Cedar Hill ISD.

The Southern Dallas County college district may use about 12 extra drivers. Moore mentioned college bus drivers shortages are a development throughout districts nationwide.

“There’s been days where we’ve had to consolidate some routes. We’ve had to consolidate some routes as a whole. We’ve had to have other drivers cover routes in addition to their routes,” Moore defined.

One factor serving to Cedar Hill ISD, proper now, is staggering begin instances for elementary, center, and excessive faculties to guarantee well timed arrival.

Additionally, the Transportation Department is taking proactive security measured this college 12 months. New cameras have been put in throughout the fleet of buses. This week, the division launched a Zonar Student Pass, ZPass, for its elementary riders.

“What that allows is for us to track our students in real time when they get on the bus, when they get off the bus,” Moore defined.

Cedar Hill ISD’s transportation workforce says being proactive and revolutionary is vital. Workers need the general public to know the college district may nonetheless use some devoted bus drivers.

For extra information on the Cedar Hill ISD Department of Transportation go to https://www.chisd.net/domain/280.