School Bus Service Restored For Nearly 1,600 Students In Anne Arundel County

Press release from Anne Arundel County Public Schools:

December 1, 2022

Nearly 1,600 students across the county will receive school bus transportation service on Monday, December 5, as the first phase of Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ emergency van procurement program is implemented, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Mark Bedell announced today.

The program will place into service 17 vans that will transport students to nonpublic educational settings across the region. School buses that currently transport those students will be transferred to general and magnet program routes at comprehensive schools, where they will transport students in both the morning and afternoon to 23 schools in six feeder systems across the county.

“As we have said all along, the bus driver shortage is one that exists across the nation and we must take many approaches to solving this difficult issue,” Dr. Bedell said. “This continues to be a frustrating issue for everyone, but no one more than our families who are inconvenienced by the lack of transportation. I thank them for everything they and others throughout our community are doing for our students.”

The vans, which are driven by drivers who are not required to have CDL licenses, have been acquired through an emergency procurement program approved by the Board earlier this year. Additional vans are set to be deployed next week as they arrive, are inspected, and drivers are hired. It is anticipated those routes will provide service to nearly 800 additional students.

Routes were chosen through a variety of factors that include the use of an equity lens aimed at identifying and eliminating negative barriers, whether an additional run will result in students getting to school on time or nearly on time, the volume of students expected to ride a bus, and the existing impact on a school that would be served by such an additional run.

Beginning Monday, December 5, the following routes will be operating:

Specific schedules with bus stop pickup times can be found by clicking on the School Bus Schedules link at www.aacps.org/buses. The new stops and times will be reflected on the page no later than 5 p.m. on Thursday, December 1, 2022.

As with all routes, service on the routes above could be impacted by sporadic driver unavailability for illness and other personal reasons.

Bus route impacts on a given day will continue to be communicated online at www.aacps.org/buses, by email and text message to registered bus riders at impacted schools, and on the school system’s Facebook page.

This press release was produced by Anne Arundel County Public Schools. The views expressed here are the author’s own.