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Pender County highlights radio upgrades, new cameras and driver incentives amid driver shortages
Summary
Transportation officials told the joint Pender County meeting that a $400,000 radio and repeater rollout improved emergency response, the district deployed cloud bus cameras and lockboxes, purchased service trucks, and continues to face national bus-driver shortages while operating over 1 million miles annually.
Transportation director Britain Overton told commissioners and school-board members April 23 that the district used additional county funding to make several operational upgrades intended to improve safety and efficiency. He said the district spent $132,000 this year to outfit mechanics with two service-body trucks and invested roughly $400,000 in a districtwide radio and repeater system installed at schools, buses and county offices.
Overton said radios proved useful during a January highway accident, allowing drivers to relay timely information that helped emergency responders reach the scene faster. The transportation team also installed lockboxes for bus keys, moved cameras to a cloud-based storage system to allow instant video access and added service improvements such as a catwalk in the wash bay to boost mechanic safety.
The department reported operating more than 150 yellow buses and about 70 local vehicles (roughly 235 vehicles in total). Officials estimated the yellow bus fleet covers more than 1 million miles per year and transports about 7,000 students, and said the district needs roughly 90 drivers to run routes but sometimes falls short. Overton described driver pipelines of 10—5 candidates in training and emphasized DMV training capacity constraints that slow hiring.
The district also launched a driver-incentive program to retain current staff, convened a transportation advisory board with about 25 members representing drivers and school administrators, and began piloting cloud-camera access to remove delays associated with retrieving hard drives from buses.
Board members asked about training, staffing levels and procurement; staff said driver shortages are a national issue and outlined steps to expand recruitment and training while protecting student and staff safety.
