Pittsburgh-area school bus companies still facing shortage of drivers
CHESWICK, Pa. (KDKA) -- As the first day of the new school year races toward us, many bus companies say they're still doing more with less.
The chrome's shining, the inspections are done, but ABC Transit still could use more bus drivers.
"I really don't know if 5 people, 12 people, 30 people -- I don't know if that would fix it. So really the industry itself just needs people to realize that this is not an unimportant job," said Kristen Anthony, ABC Transit's vice president of operations.
Anthony says our children's education is at stake. She's on a mission to convince people it's a job worth taking.
"It's a very fulfilling job. The hours are great, the summers off, the weekends off, your holidays off. Pick and choose extra work as you want it or need it," Anthony said.
Despite the perks and sign-on bonuses, the industry as a whole struggles to bounce back post-COVID. Just a quick search on the Pennsylvania School Bus Association's job portal pops up nearly 50 openings within 50 miles of Downtown Pittsburgh.
"We need to be financially sound and transportation is something we needed to look into," said Jake Chapla, the Penn Hills School District's assistant business manager.
Chapla crunches the numbers at Penn Hills School District. The district just got out of financial recovery in May and it pays the second highest amount of money in the county towards transportation. So this year, they're having Pittsburgh Regional Transit cover some routes.
"As for the PRT, there's about 150 of our 4,000-ish that it's going to affect," Chapla said.
Those 150 kids from grades 6-12 in Penn Hills will soon get a public transit pass and no longer ride a yellow bus, and that puts Penn Hills at full staff for bus drivers for the first time in years.
"We leaned on Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh Public already using PRT. That was a big foundation for us looking into doing this," Chapla said.
John Zahorchak, the district's director of operations, calls it a tough decision and they expect some resistance but he says it's about safety and getting kids to school.
"So that's the reason why I feel a little better with the operation because on day one we should be ready to roll and last year we were down six buses almost every day throughout the course of the year," Zahorchak said.
Back in the bus yard, Anthony says almost anyone can learn to drive a bus. She even gave KDKA-TV's Meghan Schiller an impromptu coaching session to show her what it takes. Anthony says there's nothing she won't try to get the word out.
"Anything that we can do to promote the fact that we're still that short on drivers," she said.