Newsroom

2021-22 Transportation Update

Dear YCSD Families,

I want to begin this communication by thanking our teachers, administrators and staff for all their work to start the 2021-22 school year with more than 12,500 students returning to full-time in-person instruction for the first time since March 2020. As I have visited schools these first two days, I have seen our students taking part in meaningful and engaging classroom experiences and all students I have spoken with are so happy to be back in school with their teachers and peers.

The primary reason I am writing, though, is to address the transportation issues many families experienced yesterday and today. While the first week or two of school typically have some transportation issues, this year's conditions have been compounded by multiple factors.

As you know, the division has moved to developing annual bus routes based on family requests for transportation. Families who did not receive transportation last year were asked to complete the 2021-22 transportation request form by August 9. We received more than 2,500 new requests for transportation this year, and more than half were received after the deadline. Due to these late requests, as staff were developing routes, they were – and still are – constantly changing and updating routes to accommodate these students. For reference, YCSD has approximately 500 routes that transport students to and from schools each day.

We have also shared numerous times that YCSD, like school divisions across the country, is experiencing unprecedented bus driver shortages. Despite aggressive recruiting tactics over the last 4-5 years, increasing driver pay, and offering signing bonuses for new drivers, the division began the year with 24 vacancies. This includes several resignations and retirements in mid-to-late August.

As we reviewed issues reported yesterday and today, we also discovered several technical issues that have affected information being readily available to both staff and families. The first complication affected 25 bus routes that did not have a corresponding bus number. Additionally, we have identified hundreds of student addresses entered into either Rycor or Aspen that do not match legal street information used by Versatran, our transportation software program. Another complication is that staff were not able to update changes to daily route assignments (double routes, substitute bus, etc.) due to the work force shortages. This information affects the accuracy of the My Stop App.

Finally, due to the higher than normal parent dropoff and pickup traffic at several schools, some buses have been delayed accessing the schools to pick up students and initiate their routes.

Corrective Actions Underway

We have several drivers in training right now and have all eligible transportation staff driving the unassigned routes whenever possible. Routes that cannot be filled with substitute drivers or other staff are being doubled with existing routes. In those instances, families will still experience delays but hopefully not as late as those experienced yesterday and today.

Transportation and Information Technology staff worked throughout the day to resolve the technical issue affecting the 25 bus routes. While many of these routes do not yet have a full-time driver assignment due to the driver shortage, resolving this technical issue allows transportation staff to plan for substitute drivers and additional route duties for existing drivers. This will also allow schools to communicate to the affected families when bus delays occur.

We are working to provide staffing to support entering bus change information into the system to improve the accuracy of the MyStop app. However, we cannot guarantee 100 percent accuracy of that program on any given day and will be evaluating the effectiveness of My Stop to determine whether we will continue its use.

As staff finalize the late bus requests, some routes may still be adjusted. Parents are encouraged to check E-link regularly to determine if route information has been adjusted. Finally, if these corrective actions do not improve our transportation services, we may need to take a more sweeping approach of adjusting school arrival and dismissal times.

Families can help our efforts by developing regular carpool groups to reduce traffic at buildings during arrival and dismissal. Additionally, if you have requested transportation and do not intend to have your child(ren) ride daily, please notify your school so we can properly plan our bus routes for actual ridership. If your child is riding the bus and you have not requested transportation services, please contact your school to have your child’s records updated.

In closing, I want to thank our families and community members for their continued support of the division, and we sincerely appreciate those who have shown staff members grace as we work to overcome the obstacles regarding transportation.

Sincerely, 

Victor D. Shandor, Ed.D.
Division Superintendent
York County School Division