Editor’s note: This report was updated shortly after being published to correct an error. Charlottesville City Schools is inviting families who live outside of walk zones and have voluntarily given up bus seats to contact their schools if they’d now like one. Also, walk zones have existed in Charlottesville for decades. They were expanded in 2022 in the face of the bus driver shortage.
The waitlist for City Schools students in need of a bus is no more. Charlottesville Area Transit now has staffed enough bus drivers to get almost 2,000 kids to school.
The announcement comes after almost a decade of driver shortages, which became particularly acute when children returned after the pandemic.
Unlike other school districts, pupil transportation in Charlottesville is managed by the city, through Charlottesville Area Transit.
“It’s a huge win. Everytime we open up the routing system, there’s no waitlist. Boy, that’s a beautiful sight,” said Sherri Eubanks, former transportation coordinator for City Schools who retired last January. Eubanks came back in August to assist CAT until they hired more drivers.
Before the spring semester began, 250 students who had requested a bus seat didn’t have one. On Jan. 2, the first day of spring semester that number is down to zero. And it’s most likely to stay that way for the upcoming school year, said Eubanks.
How was Charlottesville able to fill in the vacant spots? Eubanks thinks it came down to increasing pay and upgrading benefits. In 2021, CAT offered health insurance and other benefits to bus drivers working a minimum of 20 hours. In terms of hourly pay, CAT sought out a wage that was comparable to other bus drivers across the nation, especially in larger cities like Fairfax, she said.
More about local bus driver shortages
In October 2022, Charlottesville raised the pay for bus drivers from $18.53 to $21 an hour. The city rearranged the budget and took money that was put away for short term positions that were vacant for a long time and redirected the funds to support the increase in wages, said Afton Schneider, spokesperson for Charlottesville. In July, the city gave all employees a six percent cost of living adjustment and because of that, bus drivers now start at $22.26.
The wage falls in line with what other bus departments offer its drivers. School bus drivers are paid the same as general city drivers as they both work under CAT. Albemarle County Public School starts its pay at $23.03 for its drivers, according to the county school’s job board. Jaunt, the transportation service that goes across seven counties and Charlottesville starts its pay at $18 per hour for its drivers, as said on their career page. The University of Virginia is currently hiring only part-time drivers, and they start their pay at $19 an hour.
Before those changes, City Schools and CAT started the 2021-2022 school year with 12 full-time drivers and three relief drivers, or part time drivers that fill in. But many drivers left the company that year. And CAT started the 2022-2023 school year with six bus drivers. CAT responded by restructuring its pay and benefits.
It took a while to see results. CAT started the 2023-2024 school year with 12. The city transit system now has 17 full-time school bus drivers, with three lead drivers who assist the full time drivers but do not have designated routes themselves and three part-time bus aides who drive vans. There are also two more part-time, or relief, drivers who drive specifically for Clark and Johnson Elementary Schools.
As CAT onboarded new bus drivers, transit specificalists at CAT rerouted all the routes to accommodate the 819 kids who were on the waitlist at the start of the school year, said Eubanks. The number of children on the waitlist often fluctuates; students move or their parents take them off the waitlist for other reasons during the year. This allowed CAT to reduce the list faster, Eubanks said.
“By doing a full reroute, we were able to create shorter routes and get more kids on the buses,” said Eubanks. “That gave us this whole new outlook.”
The need for more drivers persists, though, said Eubanks. In September, City Schools said they needed 24 drivers to run efficiently. While having 20 drivers is a victory for the city and school district, the remaining four slots would assist with supporting activities, such as sports and field trips.
The walk zones will remain in place, said Eubanks. Students who lived near their schools have for decades been placed in family responsibility zones, or walk zones, meaning those students are not eligible for bus seats. They must walk, bike or seek another form of transportation. City Schools expanded the zones in 2022 in the face of the driver shortage. Now, elementary school students who live within 0.75 miles from their school, Walker Upper Elementary School and Buford Middle School students who live within 1.2 miles, and Charlottesville High School students who live within 1.5 miles away were automatically denied a bus at the start of the school year.
Eubanks said that during the height of the driver shortage, multiple Charlottesville families who live outside the walk zones voluntarily gave up their children’s bus seats so that families in more dire need could have them first. Now that the wait list has been eliminated, Eubanks said that those families can request a seat without guilt. There are enough drivers to accommodate more people, she said. (This would not apply to students who are attending a different school than they are zoned for, said Beth Cheuk, spokesperson for City Schools. Under those circumstances, City Schools does not provide pupil transportation.)
Unlike neighboring school districts, bus drivers work throughout the calendar year rather than the school year. On the days class is not in session, CAT has its pupil bus drivers clean the vehicles or take buses out to keep them in good working order.
“We’re unique in that way,” said Eubanks.
The news comes two months after Albemarle County Public Schools cleared their bus waitlist. Parents whose children did not get a bus seat were notified just two weeks before the first day of school, leaving hundreds of parents and guardians responsible for getting their kids to school.
The county school division stacked and rerouted bus routes, grouped bus stops and expanded walk zones as they scurried to hire more bus drivers. Like Charlottesville, the county isn’t quite out of the woods. They said they are still experiencing challenges with staffing.
