![]() “The challenge we face in student transportation is not unique to us,” Tanaka said. “It’s all dependent upon the drivers.”Ī list of Hele-On routes to schools can be viewed at: “We don’t have a bus shortage, we don’t have a vehicle shortage,” Tanaka said. The DOE is hopeful canceled routes will be restored once more drivers are hired. “At the same time, whether it be retirement or whatever reason, we continue to lose drivers.” “We’ve tried numerous strategies to try and get drivers aboard, whether it be hiring pools, hiring bonuses, but it’s just a tough go,” Tanaka said. “The equipment is different, and how we manage student transport is different.”Īccording to Tanaka, recruitment tools are being considered by bus companies to hire additional drivers. “School transport requires a different level of CDL licensing, so not anyone with a CDL license can drive,” Tanaka said. “During the period of COVID, when everyone was out for two years, clearly the drivers, to sustain their families, needed to find other jobs,” Tanaka said, adding that another factor behind the shortage was the federal requirement for school bus drivers to receive an additional class level of licensing beyond Commercial Driver Licensing, or CDL. The shortage was mainly attributed to drivers searching for alternative jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, when students participated in virtual learning and routes were canceled. “So if anything does happen, and it’s rare, the driver is there to try to provide a level of security.” “We always urge people to sit close to the driver, that’s one thing, and to consider the driver as their friend,” Mortin said on Tuesday. Regarding the safety of students taking county buses, Roger Mortin, director of the Department of Transportation services at the City and County of Honolulu, offered several recommendations. Hawaii County Mass Transit Administrator Victor Kandle did not return calls for comment prior to publication about whether Hele-On would change current routes to accommodate students by offering pick-ups or drop-offs directly on school property. ![]() Through December of 2025, Hawaii County Mass Transit Agency also announced Hele-On service is free for all passengers due to $4.5 million received from federal pandemic-relief funding. The collaboration allowed middle, intermediate and high school students who live near existing Hele-On routes to get free Hele-On monthly passes, with the cost supplemented by the DOE. In 2021, Hawaii County’s Department of Transportation announced a partnership with the DOE to help alleviate the shortage of drivers. “Some of them are a continuum of what happened last year, when we had to reduce some of those routes, but right now, they’re more stable than the rest of the situations.” ![]() “School bus routes on Maui and Hawaii Island have been modified,” Tanaka confirmed. While 14 schools across the state will have their services partially or fully suspended, Hawaii Island routes will be modified but not suspended at the moment. ![]() 7, the DOE will partner with counties to utilize public transportation and replace some of the impacted routes. “Letters are going out to the families today and tomorrow to notify them of what options they have.” “We’ve lost 25 to 30% of our pool,” said DOE Assistant Superintendent of Facilities and Operations Randall Tanaka during a press conference on Tuesday. Over the last school year, 76 school bus drivers have vacated their positions statewide. For the state, the shortage is between 225 and 230 drivers, down from a total of 650 drivers prior to the pandemic.
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