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Transportation update: First Student cites driver shortages; committee approves van purchase
Summary
First Student presented staffing and safety updates citing driver shortages and recruitment steps; the Committee approved a budget transfer to buy a district van and voted to increase driver starting pay in First Student materials.
First Student representatives Theresa Landry and Mike Trujillo presented a transportation update to the Regional Supervision District Committee on June 4 that outlined driver staffing levels, recruitment actions and in-vehicle technology intended to enhance safety.
The slides included with the meeting packet report the district has 19 drivers for 20 routes, trainees testing and training timelines, and an effort to increase applicant flow by offering a $3,000 sign-on bonus to anyone who enters revenue service. The packet states Chester was at 53 applications per driver in May (company average cited as 25 applications per driver), and that First Student will increase the starting pay by $5.00 from $22.00 to $27.00; the slides also state it can take eight to ten weeks from training start to gain a license for new drivers.
First Student described technology and safety tools including on-route navigation, DistrictView and ParentView apps for GPS tracking and parent alerts, AI-powered in-cab tone alerts, interior cameras with AI tagging, and vehicle telematics for proactive maintenance and alerts.
Separately, the Committee unanimously voted to transfer funds to support the purchase of a district van; the budget transfer form reallocates $45,000 from a World Language teacher salary line to Daily Transportation and states the funds represent surplus from a teacher vacancy and would not impact programming.
The meeting record does not include detailed vendor contract terms for the van purchase or a timeline for vehicle delivery in the minutes provided.
