5 takeaways from The State of School Transportation 2021 Report

We surveyed a wide range of school transportation staff, as well as Superintendents and those involved in purchasing. The results were eye-opening — enough to fill a comprehensive report! 

If you don’t have time to read right now, here are five major takeaways from our State of School Transportation 2021 Report. 

1. Bus driver shortages are still a major issue

Overwhelmingly, our respondents’ biggest pain point was clear: the ongoing bus driver shortage. The vast majority of those who participated in the survey said that COVID-19 will exacerbate the shortage, both now and down the road. 

Nearly four-fifths (78.46%) of respondents flagged the bus driver shortage as a problem. Only 16.92% of respondents called it a non-issue. 

2. Bus driver shortages are the main reason why many school districts believe it will take time before they could resume normal operations.

More than half (55%) of school districts with populations between 25,000  – 100,000 students believed it could take three months or more to resume normal transportation operations. 

• Bus driver shortages

• Hybrid schedules

• Not enough substitute bus drivers

• Bell times, etc.

3. The majority of respondents think general education services will stay the same as pre-COVID

While bus driver shortages and budgets are an issue, the vast majority — 61.54% of respondents — will not increase or decrease general education services in the 2021 – 2022 school year.

4. The four biggest pain points for school transportation staff were: 

• COVID-19 related issues

• Staffing

• Funding constraints

• School bus utilization

5. Purchasing for the 2021-2022 school year may be delayed due to budget constraints, but hiring won’t.

School budgets will delay 40% of respondents from purchasing new vehicles next year. One thing that won’t be put on hold: hiring, likely due to the severity of the bus driver shortage.

Read the full report here!