Due to Prince William County’s inability to staff bus drivers, a shortage has been taking place since the pandemic, which causes many students who take the bus to be affected

Many students at GHS  arrive late to school every day due to buses going on double and triple runs each morning. For example, bus 283 has been an overcrowded bus since the 2022-2023 school year and has had to pick up even more students due to the incoming freshman class. 

The last stop that bus 283 is supposed to pick up has around 15 students, which is too many to fit on the already crowded bus. In response, a substitute bus is sent to this stop every day, usually bus 855, which already has 1 or 2 stops beforehand.

The “Here Comes the Bus” app is a useful resource for students to be able to track their bus in the morning and know exactly when it arrives at the stop. However, the 15 students at this one particular stop cannot see the bus on the app. The bus disappears on the map after doing its previous runs and the screen simply reads “The school district does not allow bus visibility at this time. The bus will be displayed on the map in the time window specified around your route.”

Students have to simply guess when the bus will pick them up, even though it’s slightly different every day. Students usually get picked up around 7:20 am, which is nowhere near 6:40, the time they are supposed to. The students at this stop and probably many other stops, arrive at school late every single day, which greatly affects their learning, as well as eliminates the time they have before the first bell to relax with their friends and get ready for the day.

Obviously, the bus drivers in PWCS are extremely overworked, which is unfair to them. The Department of Transportation must take the necessary steps to hire more bus drivers and get these students to class on time, instead of making them an afterthought.