Pittsburgh Public Schools works to improve bus transportation
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Pittsburgh Public Schools is working to improve transportation for students.
Bus drivers have been gearing up to get thousands of Pittsburgh kids to class this school year.
"We have all of our routes covered for the starting of school. We had some schools start last week. Pittsburgh Public Schools start on Monday," Pittsburgh Public Schools Director of Pupil Transportation Megan Patton said.
There's already been a few bumps in the road for some kids who take Pittsburgh Public Schools transportation to nonpublic and charter schools. Many of those schools returned to school this week.
A parent told KDKA-TV it took their kids nearly three hours to get home from Environmental Charter School. A spokesperson for the district wouldn't confirm the timeframe, but they did say there have been long travel times and they're working with the bus company to reduce that.
Patton said they resolved the issue and the route will move smoothly on Friday.
Another parent said no bus showed up to pick up her kids to go to Ave Maria Academy. Patton said that the bus ran late on its first day, but that issue has been resolved as well.
"For the first week or two of school, there are always struggles with either traffic and construction. We do recommend that all of our bus companies do dry runs of their bus routes, but there's always going to be some traffic or delays that come up throughout the day," Patton said.
Patton said all students will have a seat on the bus. PPS has the right number of drivers for all routes, but it does not have a surplus of drivers.
"We'd like to have at least 50 more drivers to have a surplus. And that way, that will help with any of our carriers. If they have call-offs, we can have drivers fill in that are on standby," she said.
The district's 19 bus companies are all looking to hire people who will are committed to getting precious cargo to school and home safely.
"It can be a part-time position or full-time. Some offer benefits, some have bonuses. We encourage everyone to apply that is looking," Patton said.
PPS hopes to hire enough surplus drivers by the end of the fall.
Patton said if a parent has concerns about a bus being delayed, they should contact their bus company or contact PPS' Pupil Transportation Department.