YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Reliance Student Transportation says they have been doing some recruiting and have about 300 drivers ready for the new school year.
“Today was our first day of school here at West York," said Lorie Bevans, with Reliance Student Transportation.
The company says they brought in some drivers on Thursday from other locations to help fill some of the spots they have open.
“We do have other drivers in training that will hopefully be ready very shortly to get behind the wheel of the bus that we do have open," said Bevans.
The district says the process of recruiting has been anything but easy, and other transportation companies agree.
“We have been advertising all different new ways. We’re doing posters and flyers and billboards, and newspaper and online ads," said Laurie Troutman with Boyo Transportation Services.
Boyo Transportation says they have 260 drivers but need about 40 more.
“If you get 30 applications, you’re lucky to end up with 10 people who are qualified, and out of that 10, only 3 of them actually want the part-time job. We try to be clear with people upfront what they’re getting, but it doesn’t always work," said Troutman.
Some school districts say the bus driver shortage has impacted the routes this new school year.
“We may see kids ride buses a little bit longer, and may have to walk a little bit further to get to their stops," said Craig Kirkpatrick, from the Chambersburg Area School District.
Kirkpatrick says that pay has become an increased factor in the problem of retaining and hiring drivers. They add that they advertise as much as possible using various methods to obtain drivers, but have had little success so far.