Consultants tell Hartland board driver shortage requires routing, recruitment and retention changes

Tim Ammon, an independent transportation consultant, told the Hartland Consolidated Schools Board on June 16 that the district’s persistent school bus driver shortage is a national problem that requires local solutions, including reworking routes, expanding recruitment and increasing retention incentives.

Ammon, who presented the Oman Consulting Group’s report with Phil McConnell, said the district’s transportation operation has the core policies and procedures in place but needs clearer organizational alignment so roles and priorities support service quality. The consultants found that some route consolidations implemented during the shortage led to longer ride times—about an average of one hour—and that longer trips can depress ridership, which in turn makes the system less efficient.

“Transportation is a time-and-distance problem and you’ve got a lot of distance here,” Ammon said. He told the board that when assigned riders actually use buses at a typical rate (he cited 60–70 percent as a common target), the system performs well; Hartland is carrying roughly half of eligible students, he said, which reduces efficiency and raises per-rider costs.

Among recommendations in the report Ammon summarized: review and rework route structure to reduce average ride times where feasible; expand applicant outreach (including a dedicated, high-contact recruiter); redesign compensation packages and retention bonuses targeted to distinct applicant pools; and invest in technology such as telematics and student-management systems to measure plan-versus-actual ridership and to provide parents with real‑time bus status updates.

Board members asked about near-term priorities. Ammon recommended two parallel actions: continue detailed route analysis to manage the gap between planned vs. actual riders, and intensify work to convert applicants into hires and to shorten hiring timelines so applicants are less likely to accept other jobs while awaiting background checks and training.

Superintendent Hughes told the board the district already has taken several steps, including sign-on and retention bonuses and a new parent notification app, and that the district is working with the Regional Transportation Consortium (RTC, sometimes called LESA/RTC in discussion) on recruitment and marketing efforts. The board asked Ammon to provide the full report online; Ammon said the district would post it to its website.