Bus driver shortage persists with Chicago Public Schools for yet another year
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Public Schools students head back to class Monday – and for the third year in a row, the cloud of a bus driver shortage looms over their return.
As CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey reported Friday, this has been a persistent issue in Chicago and across the country. Experts say the only way to truly solve it is to change the way we think about transporting kids to school.
As of Wednesday, Aug. 16, the Chicago Public Schools tell us they have 681 yellow school bus drivers - just slightly over half of the 1,300 bus drivers they need to support transportation for the estimated 17,000 CPS students who are eligible for transportation.
"I'm guessing this is only going to get worse before it gets any better," said Dr. P.S. Sriraj, director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois Chicago.
Sriraj said COVID-19 played a big role — as many drivers lost their jobs, and then took opportunities that were better paying and less stressful.
"They have to compete with the market forces, and that means that they have to increase the pay," Sriraj said.
We know that last year, CPS authorized increased pay for bus drivers. It was $15 to $20 an hour, and now it's $20 to $25 an hour.
But the shortage is just as bad this school year.
Sriraj says that is because bus driver pay is not the silver bullet.
"There has to be a significant paradigm shift in how students are accessing school," Sriraj said.
He says more safe passage routes and other pedestrian- or bike-friendly options would greatly reduce the burden on the busing system - and could help open up bus seats to the kids who really need them.
"That's got to be a combination of walking to school, biking to school, maybe carpooling kids to school," Sriraj said. "Many different solutions have to be explored together."
HopSkipDrive is one company that helps connect school districts to those other solutions. Joanna McFarland is the company's chief executive officer and cofounder.
"Unfortunately, what Chicago public schools is seeing is what school districts across the country are seeing," McFarland said.
McFarland said her company's latest nationwide survey suggests driver shortages have actually gotten worse. A total of 92 percent of school leaders surveyed reported their operations are hurt by the driver shortages, compared with 88 percent last year and 78 percent in 2021.
HopSkipDrive helps by bringing in volunteer drivers.
"We bring drivers from the community as a new pool of drivers with personal vehicles to help districts solve this problem," McFarland said. "If you have a bus that has five kids on it you might be better served putting those kids into, you know, smaller vehicles - personal vehicles - and then using that bus driver on a route that has 40 kids that need to get to school."
CPS tells us that many diverse learners and students in temporary living situations are eligible for up to $500 per month to enable families to self-transport.
CPS late Friday said 3,170 families with disabilities and those in temporary living situations have chosen the $500 monthly stipend, while more than 7,100 students with disabilities or in temporary housing have been routed and will be transported for the first day of school.
CPS also noted that it will offer Ventra cards worth $35 per month to general education students in selective programs who qualify for transportation. Student trips on the CTA are $1.50 round trip, making the cost of travel free for these students, CPS said.
Parents or guardians can also request one weekly companion pass to accompany their children on the CTA. CPS families who want a Ventra card may use this form.
CTA transportation will be free for all CPS students on the first day of school Monday.
Anyone with questions about transportation should contact the CPS Department of Transportation at 773-553-2850 or email transoptions@cps.edu.