School buses sit in a row at the Central Maui Baseyard in September 2020. The state Department of Education is warning families of potential changes to school bus routes as it faces driver shortages on Maui, Oahu and Hawaii island, due in part to COVID-19 quarantine requirements. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

The Department of Education is warning families of potential changes to school bus routes as the state continues to experience a shortage of bus drivers, most notably on Maui, Oahu and Hawaii island.

Maui typically requires 88 drivers, including backup drivers, and is currently short 12 drivers, not including backup drivers, said Emily Evans, DOE administrator in the Office of Facilities and Operations, Student Transportation Services Branch. The issue isn’t new to Maui or the public school system, which struggled with shortages even before the pandemic.

“In addition to that, roughly three to five drivers have been unavailable at any given time due to quarantine requirements,” Evans said Tuesday.

Interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi sent a letter last week to all DOE schools notifying rider families of the shortage, but said “we continue to explore all options to try to minimize disruption to the extent possible.”

“For planning purposes, please be advised that you may need to find alternative transportation to and from school for your child in the coming weeks,” Hayashi said in the letter. “As the department manages staffing and works to consolidate routes, priority will be given to special education students.”

The DOE serves about 15,000 student riders on Oahu and about 18,000 on the Neighbor Islands, according to its website, which did not have a breakdown by island. Daily student ridership for regular education students is around 35,000 per day and about 3,300 per day for special education students, according to DOE’s Student Transportation Services Branch.

This averages out to about 1,000 bus trips per day statewide to meet the demand.

Prior to the pandemic, the department had about 650 student transportation drivers across the state; there is a shortage of about 100 drivers statewide, with the majority of those shortages on Oahu and Hawaii island, Evans said.

Officials said that the driver shortage is the result of a combination of factors, including an overall staffing gap nationwide caused by drivers needing to isolate or quarantine due to exposure to COVID-19.

“Based on a nationwide survey from School Transportation News, currently 80 percent of school districts across the country are experiencing bus driver shortages due to the specific qualifications of commercial driver’s licenses along with the growing competition in the industry,” Evans said.

Still, the need for more drivers is not a new problem for Maui, though the COVID-19 pandemic added a few more factors.

When students and teachers were doing distance learning last school year, Evans said that “many drivers retired, got another job, or moved off island, and there hasn’t been enough interest in the profession to backfill those lost positions.”

Other factors contributing to the shortage may include the fact that this year, DOE drivers are now required to show proof of vaccinations or negative tests for COVID-19.

The rising case counts also have “some drivers hesitant to drive as many are in their retirement years,” she said.

Additionally, when a driver is identified as a close contact, they may be required to quarantine, which “puts a strain on transportation services as there aren’t enough drivers to cover those who are out due to being sick or having to quarantine,” she added.

Although the department anticipated a shortage “to some degree” and took action to resolve the problem over the summer, bus contractors with the DOE started reporting an influx in driver resignations about two weeks before school started, which meant that routes had to be reworked.

Drivers may also be seeking better employment opportunities elsewhere, she noted. For example, all school bus drivers must have a commercial driver’s license, and there’s currently a large demand for these types of drivers with companies like Walmart, Target and Amazon, which are giving out higher wages, offering health benefits and paying free college tuition.

Companies like FedEx and UPS have also added thousands of commercial driver’s license jobs to their recruitment efforts due to the influx in online ordering, she said.

“Without enough school bus drivers, we cannot run all the routes that are needed to transport eligible students to and from school,” she said. “Given the limited resources, our current priorities are to service our special education students and McKinney-Vento Act students.”

Maui County has 30 public schools with active bus routes, however, some routes will be impacted as conditions are “changing rapidly,” Hayashi said.

Evans said that the department is currently running 69 out of 80 routes on Maui, “so there is some impact to the capacity we can service,” which is why families were notified that they may need to find alternative transportation to and from school for their child in the coming weeks.

Maui County schools have been sharing DOE’s letter with families. Haiku Elementary noted on its website that no bus routes have been canceled at this time.

However, Hana High and Elementary School made an announcement on Monday via Facebook that two bus routes are canceled: UR35A Papahawahawa (Koali) to Lower Hana Town, 6:55 a.m., and UR35B Hana Town, 7:10 a.m.

“We will let you know as soon as we can reactivate the route,” the post said.

Roberts School Bus Hawaii and Ground Transport Inc., two of the largest providers for DOE student transportation, are both hiring bus drivers.

Ground Transport services about 17 public schools in Central and West Maui, according to its website.

“The department is working with bus contractors to help them do everything they can to get back to normal service levels,” Evans said, such as consolidating routes and adding multiple runs to the routes to make sure there’s enough coverage in the community.

The DOE has also reached out to other operators who meet the Department of Transportation driver and vehicle requirements for transporting students; however, the driver shortage “is not specific to student transportation and is affecting all transportation companies.”

The DOE is providing updates on its website at bit.ly/HIDOE-Buses for parents to view if their child’s route is impacted by the shortage.

For specific stop location and time information, visit www.infofinderi.com/tfi/ and view the map for the State of Hawaii.

The Student Transportation Services Branch will be offering mileage reimbursement in the event that families who qualify for transportation are unable to get bus service.

The application and voucher form can be accessed at bit.ly/HIDOE-Buses.

* Dakota Grossman can be reached at dgrossman@mauinews.com.