The new school year is getting underway, but the severe shortage in bus drivers is impacting the LSTA operations in a serious way.
The LSTA runs busing Monday through Friday beginning on September 1st, 2021 and ending on June 30th, 2022. Any other days, (including all Sunday busing), are serviced directly between the schools and bus vendors.
“We have finalized almost all the routes, and the drivers will be practicing their routes before the year starts,” said the LSTA. “We will continue to work on the remaining routes. Please bear in mind, that there is a severe driver shortage throughout the United States and we here locally are experiencing the same issue. The labor shortage is impacting our vendors and their ability to service us. This results in a higher numbers of routes that weren’t yet picked up. We are hopeful that more drivers will return to work in the near future, which would result in additional routes being picked up. The process to have more routes covered continues well past the start of the school year.”
With regards to changes to the routes, the LSTA stated, ” As we have done in past years, there will be no change-requests or move requests processed for the first four weeks of school. This policy will be enforced across the board in order to allow the vendors to be able to service the routes in a safe and efficient manner. We understand that some of the stops or routes may need to be altered and improved, but ask all parents to allow the routes to settle in for four weeks before requesting any changes.”
Additionally, for the first week of school, “all primary children MUST have a name tag with address pinned to their uniforms (clothing) both to and from school.” the LSTA said. “Failure to do so, may result in your child not being allowed on the bus. Primary parents must meet their children at their drop off locations daily.”
Note, some children may have different AM and PM stops – so it’s important to look closely at both AM and PM bus passes to confirm stop locations.
The LSTA added, “Special thanks to the individuals that take care of transportation in each school. Through your efforts, we were able to begin bidding early and have access to a large number of buses even with today’s driver shortages. There are close to 50,000 students in the immediate Lakewood vicinity!”
In a new development, the LSTA also announced it will be adding a texting feature to be able to communicate faster and with more efficiency.
We should raise taxes so we can pay the drivers more money.
the lsta is a scam. they figured its a way to make money for minimal work. they dont respond to any requests. they arebincredibly unhelpful and a overall waste
With every added duplex in town the bus routes are extended and the pay per hour is reduced.
how much do they pay?
Thank you for doing your best to accommodate us during this difficult time. Much appreciated! There is always so much flack… Let’s notice the good too.
The driver shortage is a nationwide problem and had been for years; but in Lakewood it’s worse as many drivers quit due to the congestion here as the surrounding towns don’t allow schools or anything to be built.
Suggestion: start schools at different times:
Group A 8:00 am
Group B 9:00 am
Group C 10:00 am
All late comers not to be driven before 11:00 am
And coordinate different dismissal times as well.
Pay the drivers more ? The state budget is paying for the LSTA. That means every tax paying citizen in NJ is paying for the bussing . The only people benefitting are the people of Lakewood .