OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — In just a couple of days, buses will roll out to pick up OPS students for the first day of school. This should be an exciting day for parents and students, but with transportation challenges in previous years, it could be a little nerve-wracking too.
But OPS said it is off to a better start this year.
Waking up early, heading to the bus stop, it's all part of the back-to-school routine.
"I hope that the bus will pick me up and I have a good day at school," Kaylee Dahlgren, an OPS fifth-grader, said.
Route efficiency is the goal for OPS transportation this year.
"Currently we have staffing of approximately 93% for our regular education routes with our contracting vendor, Student Transportation of America, and we are sitting at approximately 83% of our routes covered with drivers with our Omaha Public School routes," said Trevis Sallis, executive director of OPS transportation.
Sallis said this is a much better situation compared to last year, but they are still looking to hire.
OPS still needs 35 drivers and STA needs 25. OPS is offering its drivers an incentive.
"It is a $2,000 hiring bonus and that really helped us with our recruiting efforts," Sallis said.
Families in previous years have expressed concerns about buses being late and OPS said there still might be some delays but it should be better.
"We should have more STA buses at the stops in a timely manner this year," Sallis said.
One mom is concerned about her daughter even getting picked up at all from her stop.
"When you expect transportation to be there, I think you should be able to rely on it going to be there," said Karen Sasse-Dahlgren, an OPS mother.
But it if doesn't arrive, OPS encourages all families to use its hotline.
"We did increase the number of phone representatives at our call center and we encourage parents again, if their bus has not come to the stop —15 minutes after the scheduled time — we ask them all to call into our number: 531-299-0140," Sallis said.
OPS said the expectation is every route will have a driver by the first day of school.
You may have seen some buses driving around the area, that is because drivers are doing mandatory dry runs of their routes to make sure they are familiar before the first day of school.
If you are interested in becoming a bus driver, visit OPS.org for more information.
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