LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After several busing issues last year, Jefferson County Public Schools is taking some measures to try to smooth things out for the upcoming school year.

JCPS has partnered with the Transit Authority of River City to hire 70 bus drivers, but the district needed help from Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to get TARC drivers certified to drive school buses.

The JCPS board approved for the district to enter an agreement with TARC in June, bringing 70 TARC drivers to the district. The starting salary for new drivers is $28.75 per hour.

“We’ll have around 12 to 14 that’ll be ready day one, for the first day of school,” said Rob Fulk, JCPS chief of operations. “The additional drivers we look to be mid-September once they get through all the required training.”

Several TARC drivers did not have the certification to drive school buses, so JCPS contacted KSP for assistance. With the help of KYTC, a testing and licensing site was set up July 23 for participants to complete a written test.

“Once they pass the written test, they have to keep that for two weeks, and then there will be some training during that two weeks that JCPS will provide," said KSP Capt. Chris Baker. "Then they will do a road test in a school bus, and after that, they will have their full school bus endorsement." 

TARC drivers needing this certification will not begin their routes until at least the third week of school.

“The position that we’re in right now with 561 drivers and 510 routes means with our average daily absences, we are close to being able to cover our base routing solution,” Fulk said.

There were about 50 bus driver absences daily last year at JCPS.

The more than 560 drivers do not include any from TARC. The priority is to get students to school on time, but if JCPS can get more than 600 drivers, some services could be restored. JCPS needs 732 bus drivers to restore full service.