Today marks an official mid-way point of the first quarter for Charles County Public Schools (CCPS) students and staff. With the progression of the school year into October, CCPS transportation efforts continue to progress with an overall goal of providing safe and efficient bus service for students.

As of yesterday, Charles County school buses averaged a 92% on-time performance rate for student arrivals. This data was calculated from an analysis of more than 11,400 distinct morning trips among both the contracted buses and CCPS in-house transportation services. The CCPS transportation department is conducting a route audit next month to maximize efficiency.

Transportation staff continues to troubleshoot reported issues with the new Where’s the Bus platform. Over the past few weeks, an additional 1,000 families downloaded the app and began to track their child’s bus transportation to and from school. There are about 5,100 Charles County households currently using the app to track student bus transportation daily, including users with multiple children who ride buses. Work underway with Where’s the Bus includes a more consistent addition of substitute bus assignments and the addition of bus information for students who live in newer developments.

Since mid-August, transportation staff has received and responded to more than 1,000 help desk tickets related to bus services. Between contracted drivers and CCPS bus services, there are about 15 vacant bus driver positions of which routes are currently consolidated among other drivers. Efficiency of route assignments to address workforce shortages will be part of the planned audit next month.

CCPS leadership continues to work with Charles County bus contractors to enhance driver and attendant wages and working conditions. In August, an increase to the COLA for contracted drivers and attendants from 2% to 5% was approved along with an eight-hour minimum workday for drivers and attendants. CCPS transportation staff is currently working with contractors to look at multi-year contracts, and now hosts monthly meetings with bus contractors, drivers and attendants to address transportation issues, and areas of concerns such as student discipline.

Some of the progress made by CCPS toward driver wages and working conditions was also recommended by the Charles County Task Force, a group required by the Maryland General Assembly to study school bus operator wages and contracts. Staff, Board of Education members, local and state elected officials, contractor representatives, driver and attendant representatives and Superintendent Navarro met this summer with task force members to review areas of concern.

Members of the task force advocated for an eight-hour minimum workday and a 5% COLA for contracted bus drivers and attendants, as well as exploring a multi-year contract to provide job security. Click here to view the findings from the task force study.

For more information, visit the CCPS website at https://www.ccboe.com/departments/transportation.