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Consultants tell board driver shortage is national; recommend routing review, retention incentives and tech
Summary
Consultant Tim Ammon presented a transportation review that found longer ride times and lower-than-expected ridership after route consolidations, recommended reviewing routes, strengthening compensation and retention incentives, and adopting telematics and student-counting technologies.
Consultants hired to review Hartland Consolidated Schools’ transportation operations told the board the district faces a familiar challenge: a national driver shortage with local consequences. Tim Ammon summarized the review’s three core focuses—operational efficiency, community input and driver‑recruitment/retention—and offered a set of mitigation recommendations.
Ammon said the district’s route consolidations have produced longer ride times (he cited an average near one hour) and that ridership typically drops when ride times exceed about 45 minutes. “This driver shortage problem is a national problem with local solutions,” Ammon told trustees, adding that the district’s drivers received strong marks from the community survey (about 235 responses).
Key consultant recommendations included: a new routing analysis to reduce average ride times; refining compensation (entry‑level pay, sign‑on and retention bonuses) with attention to both recruitment and retention; assigning clear recruiting responsibility (a high‑contact activity that needs a dedicated staff role); and deploying technologies such as telematics and automated student‑on/off counts to compare planned versus actual ridership.
Board members pressed for comparators and baseline historical data to measure progress. Ammon said the data exists within district records and could be compiled; administration said the full report will be posted on the district website and that some measures (an app for parent notifications) were already purchased to improve communication.
Implementation next steps discussed included directing transportation staff to re‑examine routing structure, measuring applicant‑to‑hire timelines (background checks and training), and continuing recruitment collaborations with RTC and LESA partners. The board asked for the full report to be publicly available and for staff to return with a plan to operationalize priority recommendations.
