JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The recent decision to close three schools in Duval County at the end of the school year has parents concerned about longer bus rides to neighboring schools and the increased amount of students going to the remaining schools.
But Student Transportation of America says is is making some big changes to ensure that students have a dependable way to get to and from school.
“Recruit, hire, and train safe drivers, regardless of how many students are concentrated at one particular bus stop. Our goal is always to transport those children timely and as safely as humanly possible,” said Student Transportation of America's Vice President of Operations Pete Conway.
Changes already happening this school year include Student Transportation of America consolidating their dispatch into one building on the Westside instead of having several locations throughout the county. This has been helpful in assimilating veteran drivers with new drivers.
“It enabled us to keep quite a few good-qualified, experienced veteran drivers here in-house who elected to stay with STA," Conway told First Coast News. "We brought approximately 30 drivers to 35 drivers over with us. In addition to that, we've hired an additional 40 to 50 drivers over the summer. We continue to hire and recruit.”
Conway says they’ve been dealing with staff shortages since the pandemic but are continuing to focus on recruitment and training new drivers, knowing they’re going to be in need next year.
“As the number of kids at those individual bus stops expands, our in-house dispatch center gives us an opportunity again to utilize our resources to make sure we have the appropriate coverage to send one, three, or multiple buses to those individual bus stops as they grow,” Conway said.
Currently, Student Transportation of America says it is working with DCPS leaders on designing new bus routes and making sure every student outside of the 1.5-mile radius of a given school has a ride.
The bus service has also rolled out an on-the-go safety team, ready to respond to any accidents and ensure daily routes run smoothly across all bus stops.