The new school bus contractor in Mat-Su is dealing with a driver shortage like other districts around the state, but it's also contending with a shortage of buses. School district officials warned of unscheduled service cancellations early next week.
Mat-Su School District buses are parked at the Durham School Services headquarters in Palmer on August 24, 2022. and other districts around the state., Durham School Services is also dealing with another shortage: They don’t have enough school buses.
The company is struggling to fill those positions given statewide and national shortages, it said. “About 55% of Alaskan students and families are experiencing inadequate busing due to the driver shortage.” By Friday, the district was reporting on-time buses at 97.7%, compared to below 85% last week, according to the transportation update sent to families.Durham is operating from a new bus barn accessed by a gravel road just off the Parks Highway near Wasilla.
The company is similarly short on drivers with a roster of just over 100 full-time qualified drivers as of Wednesday, far short of the 165 drivers Durham needs, Zimmerman said.The company has started offering a sign-on bonus of $2,500 for credentialed school bus drivers and $1,500 to non-credentialed driver candidates, plus a $200 bonus for trainees once they obtain their commercial driver’s license permit, according to the letter from National Express CEO Gary Waits.
“We typically don’t experience this kind of service and it’s embarrassing,” Jim Ring, Durham’s Texas-based senior vice president of operations for the western region, said during an interview this week. “And it’s unfortunate because the kids are the ones that suffer ... and the parents.”Durham has made sure all bus radios are on the right channel, and improved driver check-in procedures, officials say.
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