Baldwin-Whitehall School District partnering with tech company to address bus driver shortage
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Bus companies and local school districts say they've tried it all: higher salaries, sign-on bonuses and oftentimes even paying for people's training. But many districts still can't find enough candidates to be school bus drivers.
Baldwin-Whitehall is unique in the sense that it's one of a handful of districts in our area that runs its own bus garage and manages its own bus drivers instead of contracting with a bus company. But when school starts this year, it's trying something new.
Baldwin-Whitehall is the first but certainly not the last to partner with a company providing caregivers on wheels.
"We do have partnerships with more than 10,000 schools across the country and then in Pittsburgh, yes, we have relationships currently with other school districts and then we're actively working with additional potential partners," said Cindy Hamilton, the communications director of HopSkipDrive.
Hamilton says the tech company, started by mom Joanna McFarland, wants to arrange reliable safe rides for kids. HopSkipDrive will use AI to help school districts draft routes and pair students with what they call CareDrivers.
"We bring forward a new network of drivers and so these are extensively vetted local caregivers that have gone through our 15-point certification process. They must have at least 5 years of caregiving experience," Hamilton said.
Think of these CareDrivers as supplementing existing transportation. Baldwin-Whitehall already decided the 300 kids the district is required to transport to private schools will take these rides. By doing that, Baldwin can reallocate a bus and a driver that might have only transported a few kids and now fill it.
"It's about efficiency. And it's about understanding what makes sense, and what are all of the assets that a school district has?" Hamilton said.
Research shows those assets are down 15% nationwide since 2019. That's a shortage of 192,400 school bus drivers over the past 4 years.
"If kids can't get a ride to school, they're not gonna stay in school. And so transportation is a very real accessible solution available to all of us. And so knowing that Pittsburgh schools are considering this, I think, can really help."
They plan to announce a few more local districts partnering with them soon. HopSkipDrive says it's also looking for qualified drivers as they expand into Pittsburgh. The website says qualified drivers could earn up to $50 per ride.