LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An agreement made between Jefferson County Public Schools and the Transit Authority of River City is turning public transportation drivers into school bus drivers. The Jefferson County Board of Education laid out its plan to incorporate the 70 TARC drivers into the upcoming school year, allowing the district to fill dozens of bus driver vacancies.

What You Need To Know

  • A new transportation plan enables drivers with Transit Authority of River City to become drivers with Jefferson County Public Schools, which is trying to address a driver shortage 

  • JCPS transportation has 547 drivers and needs more than 600 to restore some services that it voted to cut in April

  • TARC drivers will not begin routes until at least the third week of school, and will complete training programs, a three-week school bus certification and ride-alongs with current JCPS bus drivers

  • TARC employees who had previously been JCPS bus drivers will be able to get on the road faster

JCPS Superintendent Dr. Marty Pollio says adding these drivers could eventually restore some routes to magnet and traditional schools.

“There is no doubt driving a school bus is very different than driving a TARC or a public bus. Just when you talk about the amount of kids that are on the bus and so, you know, I’m confident that we’ll have 70,” said Pollio.

While 70 bus drivers will not cover the whole city, JCPS believes it will target the communities of the highest need to get students safely to school. Currently, JCPS transportation has 547 drivers. The district needs more than 600 to restore some of its services.

“We are 14 short right now of what it would be to be fully on-time, efficient with the transportation plan that is passed at this moment. With 70 more, and we’ve got a good number of those that are in classes right now,” said Pollio

TARC drivers will not begin routes until at least the third week of school. They will be completing training programs, a three-week school bus certification and ride-alongs with current JCPS bus drivers. TARC employees who had previously been JCPS bus drivers will be able to get on the road faster.

Pollio says their team has been working on routing every single day since April.

“About 70% of the routes are complete at this point. And so it would be nearly impossible to head back to depot and to be ready for the first day of school. So that’s just something that wouldn’t be possible. But we would like to be able to tell some kids that and, you know, two to three weeks and we’ll have services back. And so we’d love for you to stick with your magnet selection,” said Pollio.

Pollio says there will always be challenges but believes this upcoming school year will run a lot more smoothly than last year

“We’re still working on an extremely tight schedule and with, you know, right up to the number of bus drivers we need or a little bit short. And so that’s always going to be difficult, challenging and means there’s going to be delays. So yes, I think it will be better. That doesn’t mean we won’t have a lot of issues on the first day. We always do,” said Pollio.

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