According to the US Department of Transportation, one of the highest annual consumer expenditures is on transport totaling to $12,295 annually as of 2023. After the COVID-19 pandemic, public transport has been slow to recover with rising fuel prices and a shortage of bus drivers. With numerous challenges, it’s important to discuss what will be the future of school transportation.
Challenges in the World of Student Transportation
Bus Driver Shortage
A major challenge in school transportation is meeting the demand to transport nearly 26 million children every day.
Pre-pandemic, bus drivers would work in the industry to build a relationship with the children, they were close to retirement and enjoyed their work. However, the pandemic brought about a major change in terms of how their job evolved. With screens, masks, and other SOPs, it affected mental health more than anything with students‘ safety becoming the priority.
Bus drivers also moved towards more lucrative opportunities in the public sector such as working for Uber or Amazon. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, school bus drivers last year made a mean annual wage of $42,400 assuming they worked full-time. Many do not, making less than $20 an hour. Working in the private sector allows them to work full-time with better pay.
Transit Deserts
These are areas where residents have limited or no access to public transportation or even certain types of basic infrastructure, isolated by basic means which creates difficulty in accessing schools, work, and other aspects of daily life.
Approximately 1 in 4 American adults experience transportation insecurity, living in what is called a “transit desert.” With people moving to suburbs, they are forced to buy their own mode of transportation as city planners traditionally focus on cars as the expected mode of transportation for citizens leaving 45% of Americans have access to public transit.

Costs
School districts are facing a cost to maintain and operate their school fleet with limited funding. With the ESSER funding contracts coming to an end by early next year, schools are at a deciding point of how to move forward with limited funds.
With the help of ESSER funds, schools were able to attract drivers with higher pay and give signing bonuses and overtime pay to combat the bus driver shortage.
However, now some of these jobs are threatened with the funding being liquidated. How do schools manage to maintain the buses while also keeping enough staff to operate them? Or the other way round, where there are more buses but not enough staff to operate them? With rising costs of fuel and interest rates, students in low-income areas are disproportionately affected by not being able to go to school.
How Can Schools Overcome These Challenges?
Addressing the growing challenges of school transportation requires a multifaceted approach that combines technology, policy innovation, and community involvement. Here are some potential solutions:
1. School Bus Routing Software
Schools can invest in school bus routing software that will allow them to cut down on unnecessary routes, saving fuel while combatting the bus driver shortage. Routing software offers other features, such as real-time bus tracking for parents, sending them alerts on why a bus has been delayed or where it is exactly, which can help ease the parents knowing their children are safe.
2. Improving Accessibility in Transit Deserts Through Collaboration
Schools in underserved areas could collaborate with rideshare companies to provide transportation for students who don’t have access to traditional buses. Providing special discounts and offers can help children have a reliable and affordable mode of transport to school every day. Schools can also encourage carpooling among parents, creating community-driven solutions for transportation.

3. Securing Sustainable Funding
The ESSER funds are a great example of how educational institutions can benefit from extra funding. Schools need to come together and petition to the government to secure funding that will allow them to create a larger and stronger transportation network. The government could perhaps work in partnership with the private sector to provide schools with assets that can help them reduce their costs, for example, bus drivers who work more than one job.
What Is the Future of School Transportation?
School transportation is at a crossroads, faced with challenges that highlight the need for systemic change. While the hurdles of driver shortages, transit deserts, and rising costs are significant, the solutions are within reach through innovation, collaboration, and strategic planning.
Education is a fundamental need and should be accessible to everyone. This challenge extends beyond schools to society as a whole, as education is the foundation for shaping the future.