MCCSC is making plans to cope with a shortage of school bus drivers when it takes back 42 contract routes from Auxilio Services Inc. next week. The school district is terminating its contract with the Michigan-based company Oct. 13 after it failed to provide enough buses and bus drivers for students.
But it won't be a quick fix once all routes are back under the control of MCCSC.
When it brings back the 42 routes that Auxilio was charged with, the school district will be short about 20 drivers. The goal is to have one driver per route. Monroe County Community School Corp's transportation
department employs about 91 drivers for its 72 in-house routes, not including Auxilio's 42.
MCCSC officials have created several scenarios based on the number of drivers the school district could have beginning Oct. 16, the first school day after the Auxilio contract expires, according to school officials. The district continues to hire new drivers and help solve the shortage Auxilio failed to fix. Currently, two months into the school year, four to six bus routes experience daily delays because of the shortage.
Plans include consolidating routes according to how many drivers will be certified by this time next week, said John Kenny, MCCSC's director of business operation. Doubling up routes causes delays. Kenny said the district is prepared for the worst-case scenario of an additional nine routes being unfilled.
But the district hopes it will have more drivers and less doubling up on routes by Oct. 16.
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