The district has a shortage of bus drivers for the current school year. Many different reasons account for the shortage of drivers, but spots are still available to fill for anyone interested. This shortage of bus drivers has many effects on the district and perhaps the safety of students in one of them.
The district currently has drivers going through the training process to help close the shortage issue for bus routes. They need to take a course, go through an evaluation with years of driving and many different forms of testing. There are 150 drivers for 154 routes for students.
“Olentangy Transportation started the 23-24 school year with 154 routes. Currently we have 150 drivers assigned to routes and three additional drivers who are route generalists. There are additional individuals who are currently going through the training process to become full-time or substitute drivers,” Assistant Director of Transportation Brett Diehl said.
The Olentangy school district is looking for four bus drivers to fill the spots for the available routes. They are not just looking for the drivers to fill spots but also additional drivers and route generalists.
“There are four open routes and additional route generalist positions that are available. We are actively working to recruit and hire additional drivers,” Diehl said.
The district is trying to fill the driving spots on the buses. To try to fill these spots there are booths and bus events that Olentangy holds to interest those to fill the spots needed.
“We are actively working to recruit and hire additional drivers. On Sept. 16th Olentangy hosted our second test drive bus event in the last four months and we also have booths at the Delaware County Fair,” Diehl said.
One reason for the decline in bus drivers is people are no longer in the work for it, have retired or moved onto a variety of different occupations.
“Drivers leave for a variety of reasons. Retirement and career change are typically the most common reasons individuals leave,” Diehl said.
The bus driver pay rate in Olentangy is $22.20 per hour. Over the years it has increased to be about the same or maybe even more than other districts.
“Olentangy has increased pay over the years to match or exceed similar districts in Central Ohio and throughout the state,” Diehl said.
There have not been any frequent delays in routes for student pickup in the beginning of the school year. There is the occasional delay due to traffic or late arrival of a driver to the bus.
“My bus usually comes right on time but very occasionally my bus comes around three minutes late,” sophomore Karalyn Mclean said.
There also has not been a sub issue for bus drivers and their routes this school year. There are some bus changes made but nothing frequent that might cause concern.
“No, I haven’t had a sub bus driver in a very long time,” Mclean said.
There have not been any safety issues that have occurred during this school year due to the lack of drivers. The district wants to do their best for the safety of their students and their drivers.
“No safety issues have been caused by the having less drivers than routes available,” Diehl said.
From a student perspective, Mclean also agrees that she does not feel unsafe riding the bus.
“I don’t think I’ve ever felt unsafe on the bus. Everything runs smoothly so I feel safe,” Mclean said.
