A row of school buses is seen in January. Due to a recent loss of school bus drivers and a shortage statewide, eight bus routes serving Lahaina Intermediate and Lahainaluna High School were suspended starting Monday “until further notice,” the state Department of Education said. The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Due to a recent loss of school bus drivers, eight bus routes serving Lahaina schools were suspended as of Monday, the state Department of Education confirmed.

DOE sent a letter home to parents on Friday announcing that the eight routes that serve Lahaina Intermediate and Lahainaluna High School were suspended “until further notice.”

The letter reflected on the nationwide shortage of drivers with a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, which has negatively impacted the availability of school bus drivers as “the demand for that labor pool continues to grow exponentially.”

The DOE said in an email Monday afternoon that across the state, it has lost more than 100 school bus drivers during the pandemic. At the start of this school year, it was still short more than 90 drivers.

Federal law requires school bus drivers to have their CDL and two additional endorsements, the DOE said. Driver recruitment events were held in the summer and drew six applicants on Maui, but none had their CDL and not all passed the background check, the DOE said. Meeting all of the driver requirements can take three to six months, the DOE added.

“The Department continues to explore options and look at how we can provide services while adhering to federal laws required to transport students,” the statement said.

While a lack of drivers is hindering service, there are also issues with current services, parents say. Some West Maui parents whose children’s bus service was not cut say their buses are either arriving way ahead of schedule or later than scheduled.

Parent Stephanie Espiritu of Napili said her family had “one of the lucky routes that did not get eliminated,” but she has been dealing with off-schedule buses since the start of the school year.

Earlier this month, her elementary school-aged daughter was on a bus for almost two hours trying to get home after school, and Espiritu said she did not receive notice or an explanation even after she wrote an email to the DOE regarding the issues.

Espiritu said her daughter would have taken longer to get home if another relative had not picked the girl up from another stop.

On Monday, her daughter’s bus was at least 20 minutes early. Espiritu said her daughter was there at the time but no bus came, so her husband drove their daughter to school instead.

As for her intermediate school-aged son, his bus was 20 minutes late on Monday. He waited and was able to catch the bus, Espiritu said.

“We all want our children to have safe, responsible transportation,” Espiritu said via Facebook Messenger. “The lack of communication or actual solutions makes me and I’m assuming others, very nervous to put our trust in this bus company. As with all community issues — transparency and communication are key.”

Espiritu said that in the first few days of school, her daughter’s elementary school would call and send an email if the buses were running late in the afternoons. But the notifications have since stopped. There also have been no messages about times for morning buses.

Espiritu did receive a bus schedule at the beginning of the year, but it hasn’t been accurate on most days.

Anna, another parent who asked only to be identified by her first name, said she has a kindergartner and a second grader who go to Kamehameha III Elementary in Lahaina town.

On Monday, the bus that usually arrives at 7 a.m. came at 7:24 a.m.

She said a bus that normally does not come to the stop arrived at 7:10 a.m. to pick up students for Princess Nahienaena Elementary. She said it looked very empty, even though her area usually is the last stop. She added that the bus could have benefited their neighbor who goes to Lahainaluna and had her bus route suspended.

An official with Ground Transport, which provides the bus service to Lahaina schools, could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday.

The DOE said in its statement that all qualified personnel are on the roads driving routes every day, including company owners, supervisors and trainers, so that it can service as many students as possible. Bus routes have been combined and some buses are doing multiple runs. Kauai and a portion of Hawaii island are also experiencing driver shortages, the DOE said.

Bus companies contracted by the DOE have also increased wages and benefits and offer paid training and hiring bonuses. The DOE’s Student Transportation Services Branch has also reached out to other entities, who all responded that they are also short staffed or could not assist due to lack of qualified personnel, or other issues that hindered assisting. This included school bus providers not contracted by the DOE, the National Guard, tour companies, Mainland school bus suppliers along with firefighter associations, both active and retired, who said they serve as backup for EMT drivers who are also short handed, the DOE said.

As of this week, bus drivers are checking for bus passes from students so the DOE will get a more accurate count of ridership levels on each route.

The DOE said that families who are eligible for the transportation but are unable to receive the services due to the driver shortages may apply for mileage reimbursement through a form attached to the letter on Friday.

Those who paid for bus service for one of these suspended routes may file for a refund online at bit.ly/STSB-refund.

If the county bus is an acceptable alternative for a student, parents may email stsb@k12.hi.us with the name of the school and the student’s name.

The state will order a county bus pass and have it delivered to the school as soon as possible.

The DOE will also provide a shuttle from the Wharf Cinema Center at the intersection of Luakini and Hale streets at 7:45 a.m. to provide school bus service to Lahaina Intermediate and Lahainaluna High School campuses. Those who would like to utilize the shuttle should have their students at this location by 7:40 a.m. with their bus pass. Students need to get on the yellow school bus and not a county bus for this service.

* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews.com.