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District reports results of transportation opt-in; buses near capacity, short on drivers
Summary
After an opt-in enrollment for bus service, Talbot County reported nearly 2,800 students assigned to morning routes, average ride times near 50 minutes and a small reduction of one route; district also cited a shortage of drivers.
Talbot County Public Schools staff updated the school board on the district’s transportation opt-in process, reporting high participation, near-capacity bus loads on many routes and an ongoing driver shortage.
Transportation supervisor Gina Pierce (first name confirmed in the meeting) and staff described the opt-in timeline and verified counts. The district said it received approximately 4,300 initial submissions, with many duplicates, then ran verification steps. Verified totals reported during the presentation included about 1,381 confirmed requests by June 30 and an additional 738 by July 31 (2,119 total). By the district’s August 15 deadline the verified total was 2,622; the final August total reported in the update was 2,995 verified requests.
Current ridership snapshot and capacity: Staff said 2,813 students were assigned to morning bus runs with an average ride time of roughly 50–51 minutes; 2,862 students were assigned to afternoon runs with similar average ride times. Pierce told the board the district’s bus capacity on assigned routes is about 3,050, and staff had been able to reduce routes by one bus as a result of the opt-in.
Driver staffing and operational impacts: The district reported it remained short of its target driver headcount — roughly 8 to 10 drivers short at the time of the report — and is using substitute and trainer drivers to cover routes. Board members asked about mitigation and incentives; staff said the district had increased pay and used retention stipends in recent cycles and that recruitment remains active. Pierce and other staff said managers and substitute drivers have been on routes and that the system has contingency plans to combine routes in the event of shortages.
Safety and communications: Board members raised concerns about missed stops, app reliability (Here Comes the Bus) and parent communication. District staff acknowledged isolated incidents and said they will tighten communications and track driver manifests (actual riders vs. assigned students). Staff said double-run patterns (buses making a second trip to pick up remaining students) exist and are used to address scheduling.
Ending: Pierce and transportation staff asked for time to provide additional data on actual ridership vs. assignments and to standardize communication protocols for late runs and missed stops.
