The district said it would send an email when the last student had been dropped off Wednesday. That email came at 10 p.m. saying all students had been dropped off
They cancelled school Thursday and Friday after this…
From the area. The issue is state funding for transportation is down 84%. As a result what was 950+ bus routes for 96k students has been shortened to 550ish routes this year. It is a combination of drivers leaving for other jobs to no money to incentivise people who can work at the major ups here for double/triple the pay.
The smaller amount of routes for the same population means they had to do something different. This year they used an AI routing program to “optimize” the transportation which has led to longer routes (thus more variables), the crazy amount of start times, and busses having to hit multiple schools in a single run (3-4 on avg). The district is telling us they didn’t configure the AI properly while the drivers are saying during practice runs the last couple days, with zero kids on board, they haven’t been able to be within an hour to 90 minutes of their final mark.
There’s a lot more fine details leading to this but it’s all become one big cluster. School is already cancelled Monday and Tuesday also and there was a distinct lack of staying Wednesday+ wasn’t off the table.
Oh … Because of money and federal regulations they don’t have gps. The drivers literally have something printed out like the days of MapQuest.
Anyways just wanted to clear up some stuff.
Source: local, went through JCPS, coached in it, have a kid in it
From the area. The issue is state funding for transportation is down 84%. As a result what was 950+ bus routes for 96k students has been shortened to 550ish routes this year. It is a combination of drivers leaving for other jobs to no money to incentivise people who can work at the major ups here for double/triple the pay.
The smaller amount of routes for the same population means they had to do something different. This year they used an AI routing program to “optimize” the transportation which has led to longer routes (thus more variables), the crazy amount of start times, and busses having to hit multiple schools in a single run (3-4 on avg). The district is telling us they didn’t configure the AI properly while the drivers are saying during practice runs the last couple days, with zero kids on board, they haven’t been able to be within an hour to 90 minutes of their final mark.
There’s a lot more fine details leading to this but it’s all become one big cluster. School is already cancelled Monday and Tuesday also and there was a distinct lack of staying Wednesday+ wasn’t off the table.
Oh … Because of money and federal regulations they don’t have gps. The drivers literally have something printed out like the days of MapQuest.
Anyways just wanted to clear up some stuff.
Source: local, went through JCPS, coached in it, have a kid in it