BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - The bus driver shortage continues to affect children getting to and from school, but it appears little can be done by the City of Buffalo to alleviate the issue for the region's largest school district.
Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown told WBEN the city does not have the management authority, nor the resources, to help with the bus driver shortage. Buffalo Public Schools is short approximately 150 drivers, meaning the district had to consolidate routes.
"I'm very pleased that Governor Hochul has stepped into the situation and has agreed to offer assistance not only to the Buffalo Public Schools but other school districts that are experiencing the same difficulty with the school bus driver shortage," Brown said. "That will be a substantial help for the Buffalo Public Schools and other school districts that are facing a bus driver shortage."
When asked if the city could use resources like public works department drivers to step in and help schools, Brown said they can't because of the work they are doing in the city on infrastructure projects, trash collection, and other duties.
Even the mayor's political rival, India Walton, agreed there the mayor's office is limited in its role in finding a solution of the bus driver shortage. She said she plans to encourage students and families to car pool and find other alternative methods of getting to school amid the shortage.
"We also need to revisit what our transportation looks like for our students," Walton said. "Why are we busing children still in the first place? Originally, busing was intended to integrate schools and increase diversity. Now we know that's no longer the case. I think we need to revisit the busing program as a whole."
Still, parents remain frustrated over the shortage, saying children and being dropped off to school late and taken home well after school has finished. Sam Radford, co-chair of Communication Action Organization of Buffalo and member of We The Parents, wants the city to use its power of bully pulpit to help fix the issue.
"The school districts has options they're not using that they could utilize," Radford said. "(On Wednesday, we are) going to have a press conference where we're going to call on the school district to do something that they're doing in Chicago. They're paying the parents to bring their children to and from school."
Radford said schools should also partner with ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft to get kids to school, though it's not clear what the legality of this option is.
Governor Hochul on Sunday launched an outreach to more than 550,000 commercial driver's license holders in New York in an effort to recruit more bus drivers. The plan includes removing the 14-day waiting period between the permit test and road test for CDL tests.
New York is still examining ways to identify longer-term strategies for recruitment and retention of school bus drivers.
