LYNN — The city’s bus companies informed the school district that many of their drivers and monitors have tested positive for COVID-19 and will be out of work, affecting the bus routes in the city.
With the number of positive cases among drivers expected to increase, as the country sees its largest surge in positive COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, bus routes will experience a change.
The district’s transportation vendors, North Reading Transportation (NRT) and CJ’s Transportation, notified the district of the active COVID-19 cases, but the district said it does not yet have specifics on what routes will be delayed and what the delays will look like.
“You should expect bus routes to be late in the morning and afternoon for at least a week,” the transportation department said.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Patrick Tutwiler said this presents yet another challenging impact of the pandemic.
“When a driver is ill and unable to report, he/she is not easily replaced,” Tutwiler said. “When you have multiple drivers unable to report, the situation becomes even more challenging.”
The district provides transportation to students with disabilities whose education plan calls for it, through a system with different-sized buses to accommodate at-home pickups.
The district also had an issue with a lack of bus drivers in March. Many bus companies across the state were short staffed because of schools being remote for so long and those drivers being unemployed. NRT had difficulty hiring bus drivers when schools returned to in-person hybrid learning, and worked with the district to adjust the bus routes and put out flyers to recruit more drivers.
During the previous bus-driver shortage and the current one, Tutwiler said the district is working closely with its transportation partners to resolve the issue.
“We are both deeply committed to limiting the impact of this challenge on a student’s school day,” Tutwiler said.
The district’s transportation department said as soon as it gets any further information, it will be shared with the community.
