Joliet transportation committee proposes cutting four bus routes to three amid driver shortage

The Joliet Elem Transportation Committee reviewed proposed changes that would reduce the district’s route network from four to three routes in 2026–27, citing long‑running driver shortages and safety and turnaround limits that make maintaining four routes difficult. Scott, a district bus driver who said he has driven here for more than two decades, walked the committee through the three new route proposals and identified spots where buses cannot safely turn or where winter drifting makes stops unreliable.

Committee members said the driver shortage is driven in part by tougher CDL testing and physical requirements and by a tighter labor market that lures new drivers to higher‑paying commercial trucking jobs. Scott told the committee that most of the district’s buses are rated for about 72 students and that rostered students count against capacity even if they do not ride every day, a constraint that shaped how he combined stops for the three‑route plan. “It inconveniences a lot of people, and I get that, and I’m really sorry,” Scott said, urging the committee to weigh safety and reliability in route design.

The three proposed routes would: (1) shift some Celestia, River Road and Brighton Trails stops onto a Route 1 that uses an identified safe Y turnaround near Cottonwood and retains highway stops used in winter; (2) create a deliberately short Route 2 (requested by that driver) to keep evening runs short for a driver with evening commitments, but concentrated at a very large stop at Rockville Cemetery; and (3) cover the west end and more remote roads on Route 3, using a volunteer meeting spot at Cooney Dam Mini Storage to avoid unsafe road turnarounds.

Committee members discussed tradeoffs at length: adding backroad stops (for example, Grapevine) would add roughly 13 minutes in the driver’s field test and raise afternoon drop‑off times; county road crews recommended dropping some drift‑prone back roads. The committee also noted the roster and state reporting rules that forced the district in a prior year to create an additional (theoretical) route to satisfy capacity reporting. Members asked staff to publish the proposed maps and solicit parental input before the full‑board vote to reduce the risk of many complaints on the first day of school.

The committee resolved to recommend the three‑route plan to the full board; Chair members said formal adoption will be considered by the full board at its July 21 meeting, with county review by the county transportation team scheduled for August 4. The recommendation from the committee is procedural: the full board must still vote to adopt any route change.

Clarifying details cited to the committee: most buses are rated about 72–73 seats (district must not place more rostered students than a bus is rated for); the district discussed paying for CDL training for new drivers but noted modern CDL training requires about 50 classroom hours and biannual physicals that have tightened the candidate pool; and the district has relied on CDL‑certified teachers as substitute drivers but is concerned about teacher burnout if that continues.

The committee invited parents to raise specific hardships before the full‑board packet is finalized and said staff would monitor morning and afternoon run times during the first weeks of school and return with adjustments if necessary.

The committee meeting closed without a formal recorded public vote on the routes at this session; the next procedural step is a full board vote on July 21.