HONOLULU — Gov. Josh Green issued an emergency proclamation Friday to allow companies that operate vans or smaller buses to drive thousands of children to school without the more stringent requirements of a special commercial driver’s license after the Department of Education suspended bus routes on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island ahead of Monday’s start of the school year.
The Department of Education said it will take weeks to restore bus routes once more drivers are hired.
The proclamation is similar to the one Green issued at the beginning of the 2023 school year after the DOE also suspended bus routes, said Rep. Trish La Chica (D, Waipio-Mililani), who expressed her frustrations.
The question of how quickly smaller vehicles and drivers can fill the bus service void left parents of thousands of students in Central Oahu scrambling just ahead of the new school year.
La Chica told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser on Friday that one parent — a nurse — was considering taking next week off from work to get her child to class. But she worries about “single moms who have no ability to get their kids to school.”
Other parents do not want to put their children on city buses or have them walk to school — especially where the H-2 freeway divides Mililani town and Mililani Mauka, La Chica said.
On Thursday the DOE announced that “workforce shortages” prompted the suspension of 108 routes in Central Oahu and East Hawaii island affecting nearly 2,900 students.
On Friday the DOE said another 39 routes in Central and Upcountry Maui also would be suspended, affecting an additional 820 students.
La Chica said the families of 1,375 students are affected in Central Oahu: 145 at Wahiawa Middle School, 500 at Mililani Middle School, 400 at Wheeler Middle, 30 at Waialua High and Intermediate schools, and 300 at Leilehua High School.
But the DOE said Friday that the suspension of 56 routes in Central Oahu affects even more students — 1,553 — followed by 52 routes in East Hawaii island affecting 1,313 students and 39 routes in Central and Upcountry Maui affecting 820 students, or 3,686 overall.
Deputy Superintendent for Operations Randy Moore said routes are expected to resume in the coming weeks as more drivers are hired.
“There are a number of prospective drivers in the queue who we are working with our contractor to certify and clear the necessary background checks,” Moore said in a statement. “As drivers are hired, the routes that are suspended will be reinstated over the next few weeks. We recognize the challenge this creates for parents and schools. Getting all of our students to school each day is a very high priority and we are working to restore service as soon as possible.”
Resuming routes for elementary school students and for rural communities and military bases will be a priority because of their limited transportation options and the ages of younger children.
The suspended routes also affect students in after-school care but not those with disabilities.
La Chica remained frustrated and furious.
In 2023, La Chica gained notoriety by posting a video on YouTube and Instagram of her walking and riding TheBus to document the time and hassle for students to get to school without their normal bus service after the DOE canceled 61 public school bus routes.
“The department had a whole school year to prepare for this, and they failed to treat it as a crisis, failed to anticipate this was going to happen after the same thing happened last year,” La Chica said. “They had no plan and no plan to communicate with affected families. It’s completely unacceptable.”
For parents “who have no ability to transport their kids to school, it’s a huge inconvenience,” La Chica said. “School’s starting, and the last thing I want is for our students to not focus on studying. It’s not like we haven’t talked about this.”
The DOE has offered free bus passes to students who were counting on DOE transportation — or mileage reimbursements for their parents.
Grand Transport Inc. has the contract to provide student bus service on Oahu, Maui and Hawaii island and has increased incentives, including paid training and annual raises, to recruit more drivers with special commercial driver’s licenses to drive children, said company spokesperson Donalyn Dela Cruz.
Drivers earn $32 an hour and have to work only while driving students to and from school and on field trips.
“It is an attractive job to have,” Dela Cruz said.
Ground Transport, she said, has “done everything in terms of job fairs and has increased their incentives to make a CDL (commercial driver’s license) school bus driver more attractive. They advertised all summer, and we’re still advertising for jobs with great pay and benefits and paid training. And you’re doing a service for our public school kids. It’s not just about being a qualified school bus driver.”
The process to get a license to drive schoolchildren usually takes a month to a month and a half, followed by Ground Transport driver training of another three weeks to a month, Dela Cruz said.
The DOE contracts with six companies statewide that collectively need an estimated 87 drivers to address students’ needs.
Over the past school year, 175 drivers left.
The city Department of Transportation Services on Friday urged people “to travel safely, with caution, patience, and aloha” with the start of the school year.
“DTS asks drivers to please avoid all distractions in the car, to help ensure that vehicle occupants, pedestrians, and students, all make it to their destinations in a timely and safe manner,” according to a news release. “Drivers should always be aware of their surroundings at all times when operating a vehicle.”
High school students affected by the bus driver shortage on Oahu are eligible for free HOLO cards to ride TheBus and Skyline rail system.
For more information, visit bit.ly/HIDOE-EXPRESS.
DTS reminded parents and their children that students under the age of 16 are required by law to wear helmets while riding bicycles, and no one under age of 15 can ride a motorized bicycle.
