PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The school bus driver shortage has been an issue prevalent across the country.
Over the past year, ABC Action News has been reporting on the effort to recruit, hire and train more school bus drivers to fill open positions in Tampa Bay, including Pinellas County.
Even with recent pay raises, there were still openings to fill.
So, the Pinellas County School District has been trying to find ways to work around the shortage and make transportation more efficient.
“When we started working on our routing software, we noticed that we were routing for 36,000 students, but only 23-24,000 rode every year,” said T Mark Hagewood, Director of Transportation for Pinellas County Schools.
That’s why the district launched the transportation ridership campaign last year, to help them plan for exactly who needs to ride a bus.
Officials said it worked.
“Last year, when we completed the campaign, we were able to route for only 25,000 instead of the 36,000 that we normally route, so it made our routes more efficient,” said Hagewood.
They were able to create shorter routes and fewer stops, which reduced the need to fill bus driver positions.
Now, the district has been asking families to register their students to ride the bus again for the upcoming school year.
The official deadline to request transportation was April 12, but students are still able to reserve a spot.
For anyone who wants to sign up to ride, call the transportation office.
- (727) 587-2020
- 6:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
- Monday-Friday
Students can reserve a seat for the morning, afternoon or both.
“If we know what families actually need, then it does help us plan better for this because not everybody needs a.m. and p.m. So if a student just rides a.m. it does help us plan better for the buses to reserve a seat for them and maybe not for the p.m.,” said Hagewood.
“The students that didn’t respond, the parents that didn’t respond, we still saved a seat for them. So if they are eligible for a bus, they are able to ride the bus still,” he added.
