PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It’s unlikely the Pennsylvania National Guard will help Philadelphia address its bus driver shortage.
But Amazon might.
In Philadelphia, the school bus driver shortage has led to students waiting for buses that arrive late or not at all.
The district’s bus contractors have nearly 90 open positions.
Massachusetts made headlines when Gov. Charlie Baker deployed National Guard personnel holding commercial drivers’ licenses to transport students to school.
Philadelphia schools superintendent William Hite told the school board Thursday that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf was cool to the idea.
“We reached out to the governor’s office here to talk about the feasibility of that,” Hite said. “It wasn’t something that they were in favor of.”
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Hite, though, said Amazon was willing to help, by offering expertise and software that designs efficient routes.
“They do have logistics support that they could provide to the district and have indicated their desire to provide that,” Hite said.
Hite also noted that Amazon has announced plans to hire 4,800 people in Philadelphia, potentially competing with school bus companies for the same drivers.
