School Bus Driver Shortage Hits Merrimack

MERRIMACK, NH — A shortage of qualified school bus drivers has affected the region in the past two years, and the Merrimack School District is no exception. Student Transportation of America, which provides transportation services to Merrimack, is making efforts to address the problem while ensuring student safety remains the top priority. The bus company has been making efforts to attract candidates and make the job appealing for them.

In the past two years there has been a 25-percent turnover rate for school bus drivers in Merrimack, according to Gregg Stinson, regional vice president of operations for Student Transportaion of America. He attributes this shortage to the lower unemployment rate and stricter regulations for medical clearance for the job. He said medical issues is one of the big factors why some school bus drivers have left the job in the past couple of years. Others have simply moved away or retired.

Stinson, who manages the company's operations in the Northeast region, said the school bus driver shortage goes beyond New Hampshire's borders.

"There's not a location that we have a surplus of folks anywhere," he said. "You'd be lucky to have one or two people, but no one would say it because they'd be afraid of jinxing themselves."

Student Transportation of America trains bus drivers all year long, and it's typically a three-month process between the time a candidate walks through the door and when they complete their training. To qualify, candidates need to pass a drug test, a criminal background check with fingerprints, and be medically qualified following strict regulations. They also have to be a good fit for the job — among the questions asked is whether the candidate enjoys working with children.

Michelle Bancroft, operations manager of the bus company's Merrimack terminal, has been a school bus driver for about two decades. She said one of the challenges in getting candidates to apply is the initial fear of driving a bus full of children. At a School Board meeting last week, she recalled when she herself was nervous about being behind the wheel of a big vehicle just 20 years ago. But at the time, she had four children and needed to afford daycare, and working nights just wasn't working. So she decided to give it a shot to train as a school bus driver.

"And here I am, 20 years later, still doing it. My baby's 19 now," said Bancroft. "It paid for the groceries and I was able to help support my family and see my family, and get to be paid to go on field trips."

In recruiting candidates, the bus company has had the greatest luck attracting stay-at-home parents and people who are retired, said Stinson. What helps draw the stay-at-home parents is the schedule and the ability for many drivers to take their children on the bus with them. Ideal candidates are also the ones who are involved in the Merrimack community, he said.

To address the bus driver shortage, Student Transportation of America has brought in full-time recruiters to New Hampshire, where the company operates 12 locations and about 650 vehicles. The school bus driver jobs are advertised at job fairs, flyers at local schools and listings on sites such as Monster, Indeed and Craigslist, said Stinson. In Merrimack, Student Transportation of America now has a new highly visible bus terminal in the center of town, where it held an open house last weekend.

Stinson said in the past year, 75 people responded to their job postings in Merrimack and 12 were chosen to train for the certification. Of the trainees, seven received the required license, but only five remained on staff after two have have decided the job was not for them. Two people are currently training to become bus drivers in Merrimack, Bancroft said last week.

Student Transportation of America typically operates 40 buses in Merrimack when fully staffed, but it is currently running 39 buses due to the shortage.

To get people through the door, the bus company is offering a $1,500 referral bonus — paid to a new hire and to the person who referred him or her. For wages, the starting rate is $17.75 per hour, which can go up to $19.50 per hour, said Stinson. And drivers also get $300 a year as a retention bonus, in addition to pay raises each year. Stinson said the company was fully staffed in Merrimack in December, but then it lost some drivers. In response, the company doubled its retention bonus to keep the current drivers behind the wheel.

"These are the safest people we have, so we want to keep them," he said.

Although school bus drivers may receive unemployment benefits during the summer, the law requires them to apply for new jobs to receive the benefits. And the bus company ends up losing some drivers who get a new job during that time. Stinson said he is hoping their requirement to apply for new jobs could be changed through legislation.

Last year, a legislative commission issued recommendations on how to fix the school buses shortage statewide. Among the recommendations is to eliminate the job search requirement for collecting unemployment in the summer and to streamline the certification process, WMUR has reported.

Stinson said that although being a school bus driver can be a high-stress job, the Merrimack community does not shy away from showing appreciation for the drivers who ensure the safety of the children on a daily basis.

"We don't lose drivers in Merrimack because they don't feel appreciated," said Stinson.