News you can use

HPS bus driver shortage continues post-COVID-19

Havre Public School's ongoing bus driver shortage continues in 2022 and threatens to force drivers to choose between activities and routes if it doesn't improve.

HPS Facilities and Transportation Director Scott Filius said the situation has actually gotten worse since the last time he spoke with the Havre Daily News about it in September of last year.

Filius said back then that the COVID-19 pandemic had the potential to exacerbate their already existing staffing issues, but as the end of the pandemic grows closer and closer, the situation has not improved.

He said they are down two route drivers, one activities driver and a relief driver, leaving them well-below their ideal staffing situation.

He said being down relief drivers is particularly problematic because route drivers often need to fill in for missing activities drivers on Thursdays and Fridays, so they need someone to fill in for them on routes.

Filius said they had days three times in the last school year where their mechanic had to fill in for a driver, leaving no one to provide assistance to the 14 drivers in the field when they needed it.

"It's not a good way to operate, but we're getting stretched that thin," he said.

Filius said if the situation doesn't improve that is sure to happen again in the coming year and they may well be put in situations that force them to make difficult choices.

"I'm expecting this year, at some point, we are going to have to make a choice between routes and activities," he said.

This shortage is not unique to Havre and has been a persistent problem across the U.S., and it's one that Filius's department and the school district have been trying to address locally.

He said they've put up signs and tried to attract interested stay-at-home parents to drive morning routes.

He said these efforts, among others, have attracted a few drivers, but they seem to be losing them at the same rate.

Filius said another thing they're trying to do is offer better compensation for drivers, but it is a part-time job and he's not sure that this change will address the fundamental challenges with recruiting bus drivers.

"I'm not sure what more we can do," he said. "We're working to get the wages up, to be more competitive, but I don't know if that's the answer."

He said the job is in a somewhat awkward position, as it requires a commercial driver's license, which takes time and money to train for, and involves a significant amount of responsibility for a part-time position.

He said it is a good job, especially for people in retirement, with benefits and a great group of dedicated people to work with, but they just can't offer the same compensation that other CDL-requiring jobs would offer.

Filius said people who go through the trouble of getting these licenses will typically be able to find much higher paying full-time jobs so being a bus driver really requires a certain kind of person.

"You're looking for someone who's willing to give back to the community," he said.

 

Reader Comments(0)